Moon Pies For Misfits

 

Above is a painting I finished a while back. It's an acrylic on canvas piece I've titled, "Moon Pies For Misfits." You may or may not be aware I have a certain yen for the titular confection, and I guess the picture is autobiographical to a degree.  

Yes, I am aware that the band Hot Water Music has a tune called "Moonpies For Misfits," but I've not heard it. 

I wanted to make sure the scene outside the window was very sunny, bright and commonplace, and the interior, the focus of the picture, was dark and off-kilter. Not sinister, not "bad", just different. The point of view here, without giving too much away or forcing a viewpoint on the looker, is that on any given day, every street everywhere is filled with home filled with people who are out of sight, doing who-knows-what. And sometimes you get a peek into those sequestered little worlds and they can seem like magic, with strange rituals and codes of commonplace all their own. I'd like to think the central figure here, as odd as he may look aesthetically, is happily going about his business being himself, pursuing his own interests, and maybe rewarding himself with a Moon-Pie. Maybe he feels ostracized by the world outside his window, maybe not. But everyone needs a treat now and then.

Kashchey The Immortal (1945)

Here's an interesting Russian fantasy film from 1945. The version uploaded to Youtube here has the native Russian language audio track, with kindly provided English subtitles. It's based on a Russian folktale about Koschei (which I've seen spelled a half dozen different ways in the same paragraph in some sources), an evil sorcerer who has attained immortality through black magic, and can only be killed when his soul is captured. The twist is that in the various tales about Koschei, he's hidden his soul in various things that are nearly impossible to reach or catch, such as in a needle lodged in the center of an egg held by a duck that flies away when approached, or, in the case of this film, his heart (maybe changed in the translation?) is in the center of a black apple that grows on a black tree, which stands on a black hill. If one approaches the black tree, a single leaf will grow out of the branch, and a flower will appear, which will in turn produce the apple. Of course anyone who splits the apple to get at the heart will be turned to stone and frozen forever.

Georgy Millyar as Kashchey, The Immortal

The film is glaringly nationalistic, almost to a comical degree near the end when the hero's faith and love of his Mother Russia produces a literal army out of thin air. Our protagonist carries a bandana full of his native soil that he kisses and asks to protect him. At the moment in question, he tosses it to the ground and a phalanx of troops appears. Visually stunning, dramatically captivating and definitely worth the 63 minute running time. Starring actor Georgy Millyar as the titular Kashchey, a character actor who seemed to make a living out of playing grotesque creatures, sometimes with a comic bent to them, as in the popularly MST3K'd film Jack Frost (Морозко, Morozko, 1964).

Have I Got Noose For You!

Here's an impulse piece I made in my sketchbook. I wanted to do a bendy stage magician, the old fashioned type that used to travel from town to town, putting on shows at local theaters. I suppose that that's been a dead art for over half a century now. Now you mostly see "illusionists" at prom after-parties, corporate events and with residencies in Las Vegas or something. 

Anywho, I made this colored pencil piece up over the course of an afternoon. When I posted it on Instagram I got a lot of likes. Primarily from prestidigitators who will soon be sorely disappointed to learn I don't post a lot of magic-themed material.