More Genesis Inspired Painting with "Can-Utility and the Coastliners" and Castle Squonkenstein Halloween Art

The Scattered Pages of a Book, By the Sea 

2017 acrylics and pastel on insulation board, 24 x 24 inches.

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Unearthing more finds from the basement artwork storage vaults.

I like how the lighthouse has crackled over time, some of the terrain as well. Needs more ocean - Am fairly certain this one was shown at the same Halloween theme exhibit as Castle Squonkenstein. Or was it The End of the World? "But the cause was lost, now cold winds blow ..."

The song in question from 1972's very British "Foxtrot". Always sends shivers up my spine. One of the best Mellotron solos ever, you feel the bass pedals as much as you hear them, and Steve Hackett's guitar leads the hopeless final charge. Great ending.

Pleased with everything going on with it except the sky. And it needs human figures, somewhere. A nice big shadow from a cloud. Tiny red "Fox on the Rocks" off in the distance. Have the rest of my life to finish it off, so ... Will post what comes of the notion.

Hogweed Thrall Studies

2017 acrylics and pastel on insulation board, 24 x 24 inches.

Studies for upsized versions of the Hogweed Monsters from my larger "battle painting" concept on canvas, which never got enough work into it for the monsters to be anything but half sketched in. Useful at the time but am pretty sure a few hirez pix will suffice and its surface painted over. Nice light sturdy 24x24 foam board, wide enough so it won't warp and tough enough so its surface could be lightly sanded off.

More on the Giant Hogweed series here, in itself an unrealized mural scale project from 2018 inspired by "The Return of the Giant Hogweed". Including the sketch painting seen in the short subject video below with a portion of the song.

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Castle Squonkenstein

2017 acrylics and pastel on insulation board, 24 x 24 inches.

I like the griffins up in the sky. Pretty sure it was in some Halloween show c.2018 (?) but the impetus for the somewhat out of character imagery was for (paid) use as a horror movie video/DVD cover which never came together.

The Genesis angle on this one is that the Witch or Warlock character was partly evoked by the scarifying stick-figure "witch" image the band would project behind them while performing "The Waiting Room" during the "Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" tour. I'd have flipped out if in the audience during that evocation of something dreadful. 

Squonk was also a college era nickname, with variations on it drummed up by my man Squidly like Count Squonkula, J. Robert Squonkenheimer, or in this case the Baron Squonkenstein. Very proud of this painting - will do more about the Baron's fictional universe.

One of the for the artwork inspirations including choice of colors, Halloween sound effects party album from 1972 or so. Coach Dodge used to play this for us every year in the gym at Tecumseh Elementary. Good times!

Glad that didn't sell! My approach to the figures almost works there, hanging guy looks great. Likely left as-is once the DVD project was abandoned. One more from today's heap ...

Pandemic Normal

2021, mixed media on canvas 24 x 36 inches.

That was end of the world horror movie, but it was real. Five other works like it from the time, none as yet shown publicly. More on the series soon.

Giant Hogweed Battle Video Remix with Combat Sound Effects & Tighter Mayhem

My paintings and videos both evolve over time. I'll go back and rework things as they hang there on the wall, if a better solution to hone down the intent presents itself. So here's a new "remix" of the Hogweed Battle painting video montage with what I think are improvements. Runs 90 seconds, with sound.

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Nice upgrade! Let me know if my sound elements prove distracting. Not trying to make a music video but animate the painting. Also the title is meant as a parody of 18th/19th century epic battlefield paintings with flowery descriptive elongated titles. In my case adapting some of Peter Gabriel's verbiage from the song itself.

Blog post on the project here syracuseartfreak.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-final-onslaught-of-mighty-hogweed.html which is unfinished business from 2018. Ready to get at it.

The Final Onslaught of the Mighty Hogweed, Threatening the Human Race

2018 Acrylics and pastel on canvas, 30 x 66 inches. Unfinished.

The full size work above, and it was when mixing this new edit's transitions that it occurred to me the figure at more or less dead center being torn asunder by enraged Hogweed shock troopers has blue hair. I have not had blue hair since 2016 but am fairly certain that was meant as the self portrait element, taken from (among others) Michelangelo portraying himself as St. Bartholomew's flayed skin in his Last Judgement.

Screengrab from Wikipedia. 

Still recall learning about this in art history and being like, "Dude ..."

My recollection had been that my person was meant to be one of the soldiers to the left spraying weed killer on the Hogweeds, but the guy being torn apart also has its internal pouring out which makes me think of my diverticulitis art.

Pretty sure. I have not worked on or seen much of the work since June/July 2018 and that was half a life ago these days. So yeah, Saturn devours his children or whatever. Or was it Jupiter?

Another upload with commentary on the painting series, and has the older version of the battle video. Feel welcome to email ideas etc or comment using the message system, you don't have to sign in to chime in.

New edit one more time. Much happier with it!!