My Surrealist Art

 

I enjoy Surrealism.

I might even say that it is my favorite artistic movement. Surrealism has influenced many of my drawings and paintings and even my outlook on life.

Here are some of my best Surrealist paintings.

 

Satan Has Given Up Building Bridges (2016) Acrylic on paper.

So far this is my only abstract painting. It was inspired by the works of the Surrealist painter Yves Tanguy and the poem A Cooking Egg by T. S. Eliot. (My painting was originally titled The Red-Eyed Scavengers are Creeping after a line from the poem. You can see the red eye at the top center of the paining.)

A fragment from the painting The Was that Never Man (2016) Acrylic on paper.

This work was heavily influenced by the Italian Metaphysical-painter Giorgio de Chirico. The title comes from an episode of The Goon Show, a 1950’s BBC radio comedy show which was very surreal. The episode was “The Man that never Was,” however, once during the show it was referred to as The Was that Never Man. The statue that appears in the painting is a representation, from memory, of the statue of Henry Hardin Cherry on the campus of Western Kentucky University in front of Cherry Hall.

Detail.

Detail.

Pardon Me While I Fly the Grand Piano (No More Scones) (2017) Watercolor.

This Surrealist self-portrait was inspired by my love for the 19th century. The landscape in the background comes from a dream I had.

 

When the Roses Bloom Again

This is one of my latest drawings. It is entitled “When the Roses Bloom Again” and it was inspired by the Burnett and Rutherford song of the same name. It was created for a show of student artwork at a local gallery. The theme of the show was “Heartworks.”

The lyrics of the song run as follows:

They were roaming in the gloaming
Where the roses bloom so fair,
A soldier and his sweetheart fond and true,
And their hearts were filled with sorrow,
And their thoughts were of to morrow,
As she pinned a rose upon his coat of blue.

Do not ask me love to linger,
For you know not what you say,
For duty calls your sweetheart’s name again,
Now dearest don’t be sighing
If I’m not among the dying,
I’ll be with you when the roses bloom again.

When the roses bloom again beside the river,
And the robin red breast singing sweet refrain,
In the days of Auld Lang Syne,
I’ll be with you sweetheart mine,
I’ll be with you when the roses bloom again.

Midst the rattle of the battle, Came a murmur soft and low,
From a soldier who had fallen in the fray,
I am dying captain, dying
And I know I must go,
But I want your promise e’er I pass away.

In a far and distant city
Where the roses bloom so fair,
There’s a maiden who is waiting all in vain,
And it’s there I’ll have you take me,
I’ve been faithful don’t forsake me,
I must be there when the roses bloom again.

When the roses bloom again beside the river,
And the robin red breast singing sweet refrain,
In the days of Auld Lang Syne,
I’ll be with you sweetheart mine,
I’ll be with you when the roses bloom again.

When the roses bloom again beside the river,
And the robin red breast singing sweet refrain,
In the days of Auld Lang Syne,
I’ll be with you sweetheart mine,
I’ll be with you when the roses bloom again.

Some Of My Best Landscapes

This landscape is of the house that my Great-Great-Great-Grandfather built.

This is of the Porte des Allemandes in Metz, France. I think Porte des Allemandes means Door of the Germans, but I am not positive.

I have forgotten the exact name of the original painting, but the artist is Edvard Munch.

This is a cropped version of a larger landscape of Burg Fleckenstein.

My block print of the city of Furburg in Fleasdorf.

Some Sketches I Made

I used these for my sketchbook to apply to Governor’s School for the Arts.

Two drawings of an English parish church.

A steamboat.

Design for a museum.

English half timbered building.

Burg Fleckenstein.

Study of hands in style of Egon Schiele.

Excerpt from “Cannon Albrecht’s Scrapbook” by M. R. James.

Copy of painting by Edvard Munch.

Log cabin with outhouse.

Miscellaneous.

An outhouse.

Two Block Prints Of Mine

One of my favorite mediums to work with is linoleum cut prints. I taught myself how to make block prints several years ago. These are two of my best prints.

This print is of my favorite writer, Montague Rhodes James. He was a fellow at Kings College Cambridge and later provost of Eaton. He is most famous for his ghost stories.

This is the city of Furburg. This print is based on the woodcuts in the Liber Chronicarum or the Nuremberg Chronicle which was published in 1492. Furburg is my own invention, it is the capitol city of Fleasdorf. Fleasdorf is a country inhabited by dogs and cats. I hope to post more about Fleasdorf eventually.

Something I’ve Been Working On

While at Governor’s School for the Arts, I did this self portrait in a nineteenth century folk art style.Just after starting it. I did the underpainting in acrylic and then painted over with water mixable oils.Here it is again closer to being finished.