Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!

"Dream Girl"
11" x 14" Acrylic

Hope so far everyone is having a great Halloween!

I created my first spider artwork about a month ago, specifically for a Halloween art exhibit at Gallerie 13. Since it was for a Halloween show, the artwork was meant to be somewhat ominous and have a spooky atmosphere. That seemed appropriate not only for Halloween, but because most people (including myself most of the time) feel that way about spiders: That they are SCARY.

But I've said many times that I really enjoy showcasing the beauty of bugs (insects, arachnids and the like) and helping people appreciate them.... even if maybe they don't necessarily like them in real life!

So I created Dream Girl.
The name is significant for a few reasons.
The first is that the idea for the painting came to me in a dream. The background was the same as this, bright and simple, but the spider was black and white, and was showing its belly rather than its back. The position of the spider was the same as the other spider drawing I did, and I wanted this to be different. As I researched some spiders, I discovered these and thought they were so beautiful that I had to paint one. It most closely resembles a Wasp Spider- not exactly as I took some creative liberties, but close.

The other reason for the name was that I was trying to make a spider that was beautiful and appealing, so I wanted it to have a name that fit that description.
Part of that name came from a funny song by "The Lonely Island" called "Dreamgirl." It's about a Dream Girl who isn't much of a dream girl by most standards... sort of like Spiders to most people.
I invite you to have a listen here:
http://blip.fm/~fodxi

Hope you enjoy, and this artwork will be for sale soon- still need to get an image capture and seal the painting. :)


2 comments:

Doris Sturm said...

I like this one a lot and to a spider, I'm sure she would be very beautiful...look at those colors.

I like your painting very much. I like what you did with the highlights, especially on the legs to imply smooth and shiny surface...I also like the faint streaks of light in the background making her look like a star in the spotlight.

Samantha G said...

Thank you Doris! I went back and forth with the highlights on the legs. The other streaks in the background are her web, but I tried to make them faint so as not to take away from her :)

Thanks so much for your comments!