About this artwork

This is a depiction of two men who are members of a magical order invoking a spirit in a graveyard. This was based on true events and partly influenced by an old etching that I thought could be fitting for a cover for a personal music release so I adapted the ideas into this oil painting. It went through many changes with the tower and the windows as I tried to give it all a genuine and matching period look and also went through quite a few changes with the tree on the left. I wanted to create an area of disturbed earth look to the foreground and include some gloominess to it by creating that bare rooty look in the edges of the soil. It was an experimental journey with the overall aim of dark atmosphere, nightmarish with high contrast.
I like the way that many antique plate etching prints are quite distorted or off perspective (a little like Cloisonnism or the perspectives stylised on early Oriental ceramics) and this is exaggerated here within the angles of the church to give it a more surreal look by bringing out its gable ends and the entrance where these angles would not be seen as well. The sky had to represent some lyrics too so I made it all extra dramatic up top. I studied a little of Tudor period clothing and accessories to hopefully stay true to the authenticity to the figures too.