“Who has not, a hundred times,
found himself committing a vile or a silly action
for no other reason
than because he knows he should not...?”
~Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Black Cat'
found himself committing a vile or a silly action
for no other reason
than because he knows he should not...?”
~Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Black Cat'
 |
| My NFAC entry: a tribute in oils to E.A. Poe, painted upon a 12x8 cat-shaped wood plaque |
After all my recent talk of gardening and cooking, we're now back to our regularly scheduled programming of arting and painting, as Nibblefest Art Contest Week swings its way back 'round, once again.
November's Nibblefest theme is: "Same Subject as the First Art You Sold Online". A bit of a different than the usual, no? After over a decade of monthly Nibblefest Art Contest themes, you can image how some of the more popular ones have made their trek around the block any number of repeated times. This one however is a first.
Thus speaking of 'firsts', my first ever online art sale was for the November '08 NFAC theme, "Christmas Trees" (my very first NFAC entry) via Ebay. But my first ever sale for the online marketplace *Etsy* was back in 2011, when I sold a wee, painted ACEO tribute portrait of the inimitable artist, Salvador Dali....:
 |
| A 2.5 x 3.5 watercolor ACEO portrait of Salvador Dali, my 1st Etsy sale |
So I'm using this as my 'first'. And indeed, I could certainly have painted another in a series of personal tribute portraits to Mr. Dali (as, for example, this one). Instead, I chose to focus upon the fact that my first-ever (Etsy) sale was of a famous and historic, dead, white, artistic male. Thus I'm entering Nibblefest this month with a tribute portrait of yet another famous and historic, dead, white, artistic male:
Mr. Edgar Allen Poe.
 |
| "Poe's Black Cat".... |
I believe this is now something like my 5th or 6th in a series of Poe tributes (previous ones can be found here, here and here). But he was actually painted a few months back....
 |
| On my easel, back in September |
I'd been hoarding this particular thrifted, cat-shaped plaque (sort-of-similar-yet-very-different to this cat-shaped plaque from a few years back) for forever, waiting for another Nibblefest 'Cats' theme to come around again. I was happy to finally have my chance this past September, for "Feline Nation". Only unfortunately, I fished around so long for an actual concept to paint, during what was already a really busy month, that I ended up getting started so late in the game I couldn't quite finish in time to enter him properly (because One-Day Nibblefest auctions feel just too risky for me....!).
Still, after posting him on social media, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a random invitation to display him for the month of October in a unique Halloween art show, called "Haunting at the Hive", at the Hive Gallery in Chester, New Jersey. So that's where he ended up for the month of October. Obviously I didn't make it to N.J. to see the exhibit myself, but oh, how I wished I could have -- if the photos and videos I saw of it were any indication, it looked really amazing.
Some stills of my Poe from the show:
 |
| Photo Credit: Vicky Knowles |
 |
| Photo Credit: Vicky Knowles |
In any case, I felt most honored indeed to be included with all those amazing and visionary artists. A big thank you to The Hive...!
So as you can see, Mr. Poe has already covered some mileage under his belt (and soon I assume to cover even more).....
My auction description:
"Poe's Black Cat"
Is there a Poe fan in your life...?
My
entry for this month's Nibblefest Art Contest (NFAC), the theme for November being 'SAME SUBJECT as First Art Sold Online', features a portrait created in loving tribute
to the esteemed 19th century American author, Edgar Allan Poe. Painted in oils upon an old, found, 12" x 8" cat-shaped wooden
plaque, this unique original is signed and
ready to hang.
“Who has not, a hundred times,
found himself committing a vile or a silly action
for no other reason
than because he knows he should not...?”
~Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Black Cat'
Years ago, my very first sale via the Etsy online art marketplace was a wee ACEO watercolor portrait in tribute to the artist, Salvador Dali (as seen in my photos). As such I took this as my inspiration for this month's Nibblefest theme of "Same Subject as First Art Sold Online". Only not literally another portrait of Mr. Dali himself, but rather the fact that the subject matter was of a famously known and revered, dead artistic white male. This, my November Nibblefest entry, is of ANOTHER famously known and revered, dead artistic white male, the venerable Mr. Edgar Allan Poe.
Mr. Poe wrote a well-known short story entitled, "The Black Cat" -- thus painting his portrait upon a cat-shaped plaque felt fitting indeed. Here's hoping you enjoy my little tribute and Nibblefest entry as much as I enjoyed painting it...!
.......................
......UPDATE~UPDATE~UPDATE....
Happy to say my "Poe's Black Cat" won the Big Chomp award in November's Nibblefest Art Contest -- a big shout out of thanks to all my lovely bidders...!
.
No comments:
Post a Comment