They Come Out At Night



I'll make a zillion excuses for why this is so awful, but here's how it goes:
1. Working with acrylics--I usually use oils.
2. Have no reference pictures--this is totally a memory in my head of a place I was once on a hunt and the things I thought I saw in the dark.
3. It's only halfway done.
4. I haven't done a painting in like...forever!

I'm thinking, if I can keep the mental state with which I'm trying to recreate the scene, it may work out in the end. The problem with art always is that if someone comes in halfway through, they think you're a no-talent. You really have to go through the ugly awkward parts to get to the finished product. I admit that I'm going to give up acrylics after this attempt at a ghost hunt painting. I need my oils!!! It might be done this week some time and when it is, the (hopefully much more refined) painting will emerge. Right now, I just wanted to get things in the right spots and then work on the details. I can't believe I'm sharing this--it's like putting a picture of me in a bikini for all to see...

Comments

  1. Very good! The depth is wonderful. Don't give up acrylics, you are doing a great job.

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  2. Gail;
    Thanks. My ability with oils is just so much better--I'm a blender by nature and acrylics dry almost immediately and have a chalky look I don't really like, but it's a good test piece to see if I want to continue a series of ghost hunting paintings which I really want to do--but definitely in oil. I know my limits. Thanks for the feedback, it boosts my resolve to finish it.

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  3. Oh, I have to disagree with you! The walls are fantastic - there's a real sense of the texture. Also the image at the end of the corridor is genuinely spooky and threatening - I think the shadows on the wall really help to build the atmosphere. You're being hard on yourself. Good job!

    Steph Fey x

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  4. Stephanie;
    Thanks. I'm horrible about my art. You see, my mother was an art teacher and taught from home. I used to sit and watch them paint paintings and when I moved out and married, I started painting on my own with no education. I was afraid to paint because every time I tried as a kid, she'd take the brush from me and finish the painting. So, I've never had confidence about it. Plus, I kept recreating her art which isn't my style. So, I'm hoping to dip back into oils and letting my psychic visions come out in my art. The way things look inside your head when you're psychic are so very unusual and I hope to be able to recreate it. This is a good tester for me. These are all things I've seen on ghost hunting trips.

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  5. I think this is a brilliant idea. A perfect way to reject the past in a very unique way, but to harness it at the same time. I think the idea of bringing out your psychic world through your art is a really powerful one and a seam worth mining for sure.

    And as long as your mum doesn't have a Google account and become a follower of your blog then you're sorted (and safe)!

    Steph x

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  6. Looks good. I thought it was a photo in the preview on my blogroll.

    I never show anyone what I draw halfway through either. My stuff always looks awful till I'm finished. Then it just looks bad, lol.

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  7. Okay, Grim, so now you have to display your art. I used to draw all the time when I was growing up. I could draw people really well, but once I started using color--it all went to hell. This one is fun to tinker with. Really makes me want to pick up oils again. I just collected a bunch of rusty parts to start working on some steampunk jewelry so who knows. I try to do too many things at one time but I'm always trying stuff to find my niche. I've found with art, whatever music I listened to while doing it, I have to listen to while finishing it or I lose the mood. It's funny too because once it's done, it kind of needs to be seen while listening to that music. This was done with the soundtrack from "The Craft."

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  8. Steph;
    Thanks. It's crazy because she passed on like 12 years ago but I still find myself frustrated with the art and unable to break from her style. Every painting I've done always looked like she painted it. There's something to be said for genes. I think doing my psychic visions will be a real challenge but it's hard to explain to anyone what it looks like. A great deal of information is stored at different levels so the image is blurred, some parts of the details missing, and lots of different things in one vision. It should look like a Salvador Dali when I do one. As soon as this painting is done, I plan to pick up oils and begin my first psychic vision painting.

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  9. I think it's beautiful. It feels like I could walk into the painting. There's nothing bad about it...wish I had an inch of your talent. lol

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  10. Here's the place to post the first psychic painting when it's done.

    Onwards, Autumn Forest, onwards!

    Steph x

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  11. This painting is so mysterious and intriguing....It has so much to say...can't wait to see more...

    I agree that acrylics dry fast...you have to work quick with them and they don't give you the option to sit back and take your time...you can layer colors though...i've always been intimidated by oils...i think its the price that scares me off but i would like to try them...

    Your painting is WONDERFUL!!

    ~adele~

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  12. HOLY GUACAMOLE! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!! I can see why you prefer oils. (The whole blending thing. In school I think that's why I always went for them, except it's not until now reading your post 20 something years later that I understand that.)

    I have to say, this was my reaction when I first saw this post: "What an interesting picture. She must have caught this on a hunt or something. I didn't know she had a camera with night vision capabilities like this. It's neat. Yet, kind of colorful...didn't know pics would turn out like that. Oh wait..."

    Then I went on to read that you CREATED this with your own two hands! MARVELOUS! I love it! (Did I say that already?)

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  13. Oh, and another thing...my initial reaction was just when I first glanced at the pic leading the post. Then as I started to study it and saw the details, and the shadow people, and the one with the hands on the doorway as it's getting ready to come out (oh! that one particularly grabbed me!)...WOW! This is great. My kind of art! I'd buy it...if I could afford you!!!!!!

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  14. Thank you, all. I think I'm ready to go back to oils when this one's done. I was hoping I could convey a place I hunted and some things I've seen on hunts. The first oil I'm going to do will hopefully convey the first full body apparition I saw. I get chills just thinking about him, but he's burned into my memory, especially his awkward pose. I thought calling this one "they come out at night" was the ideal name. Oils are admittedly messy and smelly, but so worth it. I'll be able to get the rich colors and none of the chalkiness.

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  15. I love this! You made the orb look very real! The person standing in the side doorway is truly hair-raising!

    Here is a site you might like with pictures from abandoned buildings:

    http://quazen.com/arts/photography/urbex-the-art-of-urban-exploration/

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  16. Panademona;
    Thanks. I'll have to check it out. I keep a lot of them bookmarked but my favorite thing is to go to them myself and take pics because I have my own perspective I usually like to get. I can't wait to pick up the oils again and get to work with them. I'm getting no satisfaction from the chalky quality of acrylics. The orb was fun-I was in an abandoned prison one time and I saw this ball of light zoom by me and it was perhaps the size of a peach and greenish white. I never forgot how many tingles I got and I'm not sure if it's from seeing this thing or from some kind of charge...

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