Monday 18 March 2013

Haunted Design House 'A Divine Comedy'

Well I'm lucky to be here this week, I have been suffering with the Man Flu. and thought I might not have made it.
 Anyway we have just started our new challenge over at Haunted Design House the theme this fortnight being ' A Divine Comedy' or Dante's Inferno.
 We want you to create something inspired by the travels through the 9 circles that Dante faced. failing that any Hell inspired piece of work ;)
Details on the Circles of hell can be found on the Hdh page as well as some awesome inspiration from the DT.


 For this challenge I made a tag and a little box, I only started to feel human again on Saturday and my mojo seems to be under the weather as well.
I started by doing an internet search for Divine Comedy images and found a couple of Gustave Dore prints I liked, I think they may be etchings for old books. The image for the tag shows all the lost souls circling.I used the Andy Skinner mask Tornado and inked through with yellow and blue distress inks, I then with the mask still in place painted over with matt glue n seal.I then inked the rest of the tag with red distress inks getting darker towards the outside, I then swiped and blended the distress inks with a damp kitchen towl, the glue n seal acts as a resist so the colours come through.
The letters forming Dante are from Tim Holtz and have been buffed with treasure gold.


For the box I used another of Gustave's prints and made a little gluttony box, big enough for a stash of chocolate ;)
I used an image transfer technique over a painted bg, I tried to lay my bg down with the red where the body would sit and some cooler colours to sit behind the main demon.
The rest of the box was covered with modelling paste with some texture added. it was then painted with various reds and dry brushed to pick out the details. it was then finally given a rub and buff with some Treasure Gold in emerald to pick out the high spots. and to bring out the cooler colours in the bg.
the main image was given a coat of gloss varnish but this has made it a b**ch to photograph.







As always we would love to see you over at Haunted Design House and remember we are now a fortnightly challenge so there is twice as long for you to take part. Also head back next Monday to see what other inspiration the Dt have for you.

Oh and this theme was my idea so please play other wise they will gag me in the future ;)





24 comments:

  1. Even with your debilitating man-flu, you managed to create a wonderful set of projects. The tag is very cool. I like that tornado mask. And that box for fatties is brilliant! Beautiful work, Mark.

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  2. Loving your creations Mark - very inspiring. Hope you are over the Man-flu now...? xx

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  3. Oh wow - another amazing Project - wow so cool! OMGosh just marvelous!
    Love your style sooooooooo much Mark !
    XOXO SanDee

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  4. That's a brilliant set, Mark. Hope you're completely well soon. Suzanne xx

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  5. Brilliant Mark ! get better soon :)
    Von ☺

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  6. Totally and utterly brilliant... the new Andy Skinner mask is perfect to create the vortex of the circles of hell, with that poor pair teetering on the brink - sensational colours too! And the box - well, I'm slightly lost for words - maybe you should have man-flu more often, it's clearly good for your mojo!! Still hope you feel properly better soon though, obviously!
    Alison x

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  7. ...awesome work Mark, loving all the textures and techniques, love the idea of the gluttony box too, to lift the lid and find chocolate instead of a skull or a severed hand, you have the art of surprise too, genius and all on the back of man flu! impressive...Melxx :)

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  8. Love how you created a 'circle of hell' on the tag Mark, it looks absolutely amazing, love that new mask of Andy's! The box is fabulous and so right for stashing chocolate in, rather than something gory......only kidding. Hope you feel better soon. Anne x

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    1. I love how people think my box's would contain severed hands or something gory ;) lol x

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  9. AWESOME work Mark and I'm sorry you had the 'snots'. Hope you are fully recovered now xx

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  10. Brilliant creations Mark. The tornado swirl on the tag with the two silhouettes looking on, is incredibly powerful and inspired. And your box is fantastic with all those textures and the sinister colours. Hope you're feeling much better. Px

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  11. The best cures for man-flu... lots of hot squash, paracetemol and plenty of kids' tv shows. Glad you're on the mend though!
    The box is pretty cool, but it's that Tag that I think is fabulous! It's very Dante and reminds me of some of William Blake's paintings for Dante's Inferno (you probably saw some while you were researching?). Love the colours and the "circles" too. Pretty good work, for an invalid!

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  12. Fabulous makes, loving the new AS mask too.
    Glad the man flu is getting better :-)

    Kyla

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  13. All I can say is FREAKING WOW!!! That box is the bees knees. Seriously you need to get an etsy shop too like BD. x

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  14. Fantastic pieces Mark! Was wondering where you'd got to, hope you're all better now!
    Alison x

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  15. Gorgeous work! Oh how I wish that Andy Skinner mask was available over here. Beautiful creations!

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  16. The tag seems to be moving around, very well done!

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  17. Very nice project you did really like the colors. You're a good artists that for sure!

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  18. Stunning work Mark, the Tag and box are just FAB! :)

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  19. This is absolutely brilliant, mark!

    A very artistic tag and a stunning box!

    Claudia x

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  20. The box is gorgeous...but I fell in love with the very creative tag...amazing!

    kind regards, Alie :-)

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  21. WOW! I wish illness inspired such creativity in me! Glad that you are feeling better!
    The tag captures the inferno perfectly, giving the impression that we are right there swirling with the lost souls! And that box?! Brilliant for gluttony! Wonder if the demon image would deter me from eating too much...Nah! But it sure would be a joy to see that fabulous box each time I indulged!!

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  22. Ohh great use of the stencil Mark.... brilliant!

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