Site update-Portraits gallery

 To showcase a selection of portraits and commissions from the last few years, there's a new gallery on my site entitled 'Visage', and you will find Samuel Beckett (above) in grand company amongst the likes of William Burroughs, Ziggy Stardust, Frankenstein and Lana Del Rey:

http://davidgoughart.com/visage_gallery.html

The Bride

My wife-Lani-is a huge fan of the Bride of Frankenstein, and so as a surprise gift for the holiday's, I painted Elsa Lanchester in her most iconic role.  

 As you can see she was very happy with the results.

Edgar Alan Poe-Spoken Tales of a Tortured Genius

 

Edgar Alan Poe has always been one of my favorite authors, and so it was an honor and  welcome surprise, when the founding member of the rock band-Tourniquet-approached me late last year, to commission the use of a painting for the cover of their album-'Spoken Tales of a Tortured Genius.'

Titled 'Thus said'-the painting dates back to 2006, and depicts the author surrounded by symbolic props, representative of his life and works.
  
It's the perfect frontispiece for the album, which contains seven classic Poe stories, read aloud by seven rock performers to an ambient backdrop by Ted Kirkpatrick. The albums track listing is as follows:

The Tell-Tale Heart: LES CARLSEN - Bloodgood
The Haunted Palace: FRANK MARINO – Mahogany Rush
The Cask of Amontillado: LUKE EASTER – Tourniquet
The Raven: ERIC WAGNER - Trouble
The Masque of the Red Death: JAMIE ROWE - Guardian
The Oval Portrait: ROB BECKLEY – Pillar
The Raven: WARREL DANE - Nevermore

Having listened to the album, the vocal performances lend a gritty, world weary feel against a gothic rock backdrop, beffitting its dark colonial origins.
You can purchase the album from the bands website: 

http://www.tourniquet.net/audio.html

Or listen to preview Here

Notes from an Easel-Nocturnally Yours

Title: Nocturne
Medium: Oil On Board
Size: 11" x 14"


The vampire hangs like some distant horror in the psychological recesses of our imagination, so for me it was all about a beast borne of something primeval in a dank cavern,deadly and certainly female.

I wanted to produce something that was a homage to the kind of late 70's British horror you'd see on pulp novels,film posters and comics, of a kind that doesn't really exist anymore, which is a terrible shame. Time permitting I'd love to do a graphic cover mock up.

It was also painted in the same week as Frazetta's passing, so I was certainly mindful of that.

I like that depending on your preference, you can look at it from upside down, or right way up, which itself was a sort of play on the title. I've submitted it for inclusion in a special vampire themed art book, so as soon as word comes that its been accepted, I'll confirm it here.

Its certainly a diversion on the more avant garde themes I've been pursuing for gallery fare of late, but I have to keep an eye on some kind of commercial market in the hopes that commissions for illustrations are more forthcoming, at least between sales and showings.