New Painting: "The Fall"
Title: The Fall
Artist: foxestacado
Fandom: Sherlock (BBC)
Characters: Sherlock Holmes
Rating: PG
Distribution: Please do not reuse or redistribute my artwork anywhere, anytime. This includes using my artwork in any icons, banners, collages, wallpapers, etc.
Preview:
Sherlock BBC has been my primary fandom for the last two years, and yet, this is my first completed painting. I found it incredibly difficult and intimidating to try to paint Sherlock with the gravitas and subtleties I wanted my interpretation to have.
People on my friends list will be aware of the many iterations and doubts I had about this piece. I always wanted him to carry the skull in this piece, but at some point, I doubted that decision. When I thought about what this painting is to me, it became clear: the skull is his. His Fall, his illusion, his ultimate magic trick. In Season one, we see Sherlock the cold, self-diagnosed-sociopath, rationalist. When Moriarty threatens John Watson and wants to burn his heart out, Sherlock replies that he's been reliably informed that he doesn't have one.
But in season two, he does. He jumps, not because of an id the size of Australia, but because of the triumph of his heart. And of course, he falls in a way in which we know (and struggled through tears and snot to see that last parting shot) that he survives. But there is much more to the Fall than mere survival and living on the lam. It is a trauma to be separated from the familiar, from his friends, and John Watson.
Who knows what he's up to after the Fall. Who knows whether he's sustained bodily injury from the Fall. Who knows if he's really hunting down Moriarty's network (which is what my money's on) or if he's just kicking it back in France or Austria. But I'm sure, that to some extent, Sherlock Holmes is grieving and mourning the loss of something, his identity, his freedom, his freedom of having choices, his friends, John Watson, just as much as John and others are grieving him.
This painting is my metaphorical portrait of Sherlock after the Fall. He holds the skull in a moment reminiscent of Yorick from Hamlet: a stark reminder of mortality. At once, the skull, cracked and old, is also his own. His own decoy skull (perhaps he learned some tips from Irene Adler?), or a metaphorical one? If he had died at the Fall, that would be what his skull would have looked like. His body may be transport, but his mind is what makes him who he is, and if he did engineer his fall off that building, I'm sure it was a gamble to some extent, although I'm sure he has calculated the odds and found them to be survivable. But he wasn't just banking on surviving the fall, he was gambling the integrity of his mind and his brain. As a metaphor for a Fall, yes, I think a broken, shattered skull is just the thing to remind him of how close he came to losing everything, and that he still might.
I hope you enjoy this piece! This is really my first time painting so much water. I am not sure if I did the best job I could. I did rush to finish this and finished it after a marathon of painting for more than 16 hours. It was done at 3 a.m., and submitted to the printers soon after. I can't be sure if I was entirely lucid at that point.
Limited Edition Prints
This painting will be available as a beautiful 11x14" limited edition print, which will be signed and numbered, and printed on exhibition-quality paper, colors guaranteed for 100+ years. If you are interested in purchasing one of these prints, please email me at foxestacado@gmail.com.
Also, this painting will be seen at Ascendio 2012's Art Gallery and Craft Faire. The Craft Faire will be held in Tuscon II at the Portofino Bay hotel at Universal Studios, Orlando Florida, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday, July 13. I will have a limited number of these and other prints available for purchase.
I am also donated a framed print of this painting to the Ascendio Art Auction, to be held on Sunday afternoon. Proceeds from the auction will benefit HPEF and charity.
Artist: foxestacado
Fandom: Sherlock (BBC)
Characters: Sherlock Holmes
Rating: PG
Distribution: Please do not reuse or redistribute my artwork anywhere, anytime. This includes using my artwork in any icons, banners, collages, wallpapers, etc.
Preview:
Sherlock BBC has been my primary fandom for the last two years, and yet, this is my first completed painting. I found it incredibly difficult and intimidating to try to paint Sherlock with the gravitas and subtleties I wanted my interpretation to have.
People on my friends list will be aware of the many iterations and doubts I had about this piece. I always wanted him to carry the skull in this piece, but at some point, I doubted that decision. When I thought about what this painting is to me, it became clear: the skull is his. His Fall, his illusion, his ultimate magic trick. In Season one, we see Sherlock the cold, self-diagnosed-sociopath, rationalist. When Moriarty threatens John Watson and wants to burn his heart out, Sherlock replies that he's been reliably informed that he doesn't have one.
But in season two, he does. He jumps, not because of an id the size of Australia, but because of the triumph of his heart. And of course, he falls in a way in which we know (and struggled through tears and snot to see that last parting shot) that he survives. But there is much more to the Fall than mere survival and living on the lam. It is a trauma to be separated from the familiar, from his friends, and John Watson.
Who knows what he's up to after the Fall. Who knows whether he's sustained bodily injury from the Fall. Who knows if he's really hunting down Moriarty's network (which is what my money's on) or if he's just kicking it back in France or Austria. But I'm sure, that to some extent, Sherlock Holmes is grieving and mourning the loss of something, his identity, his freedom, his freedom of having choices, his friends, John Watson, just as much as John and others are grieving him.
This painting is my metaphorical portrait of Sherlock after the Fall. He holds the skull in a moment reminiscent of Yorick from Hamlet: a stark reminder of mortality. At once, the skull, cracked and old, is also his own. His own decoy skull (perhaps he learned some tips from Irene Adler?), or a metaphorical one? If he had died at the Fall, that would be what his skull would have looked like. His body may be transport, but his mind is what makes him who he is, and if he did engineer his fall off that building, I'm sure it was a gamble to some extent, although I'm sure he has calculated the odds and found them to be survivable. But he wasn't just banking on surviving the fall, he was gambling the integrity of his mind and his brain. As a metaphor for a Fall, yes, I think a broken, shattered skull is just the thing to remind him of how close he came to losing everything, and that he still might.
I hope you enjoy this piece! This is really my first time painting so much water. I am not sure if I did the best job I could. I did rush to finish this and finished it after a marathon of painting for more than 16 hours. It was done at 3 a.m., and submitted to the printers soon after. I can't be sure if I was entirely lucid at that point.
Limited Edition Prints
This painting will be available as a beautiful 11x14" limited edition print, which will be signed and numbered, and printed on exhibition-quality paper, colors guaranteed for 100+ years. If you are interested in purchasing one of these prints, please email me at foxestacado@gmail.com.
Also, this painting will be seen at Ascendio 2012's Art Gallery and Craft Faire. The Craft Faire will be held in Tuscon II at the Portofino Bay hotel at Universal Studios, Orlando Florida, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday, July 13. I will have a limited number of these and other prints available for purchase.
I am also donated a framed print of this painting to the Ascendio Art Auction, to be held on Sunday afternoon. Proceeds from the auction will benefit HPEF and charity.