Today is Boris Karloff's 117th birthday, sadly, due to illness I haven't had the time to do a new portrait for the occasion, which is a shame, because his is my favorite face to draw... But I hope you'll enjoy a second look at the various portraits I have done of Mr. Karloff.
Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849)
I have quite fond memories of my family gathered in the living room listening awe struck to my father as he read various poems and short stories out loud to us. His magical voice would turn the written word into something that even my young mind could comprehend, I may not have fully understood what the narrator of "The Raven" was talking about, but I understood that he was slowly slipping into madness.
My father would read a Robert Burns (my namesake) piece, or Kipling's "Gunga Din", and when he finished I would always beg him to read "The Tell Tale Heart," my first favorite short story.
Years later, my good friend Phill and I tried our hand at some spoken word performances, we took my father's video camera and headed off to the coolest cemetery we could find. I picked my favorite Poe poem "Annabel Lee" to perform, thank God that footage no longer exists. I must have tripped up on the word "sepulchre" about a thousand times.
Later in life as an adult, while visiting a friend in Richmond, VA. I took a walk by myself for a pack of smokes, and stumbled upon the house Poe lived in during his stay in Richmond, it was quite a nice surprise.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this weeks portrait! As always, you can order this, or any of my limited edition signed prints for $25.00 buy visiting the store or by simply clicking the button below.
For more Poe, be sure to visit the work of Edgar Allan Poe online here.
And check out this animated short film from 1953. Based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell tale Heart." Narrated by James Mason, this UPA Production was the first cartoon to be X-rated (adults only) in Great Britain under the British Board of Film Censors classification system, although watching it today its hard to imagine.
Anyone who grew up here in "El Mitten de los muertos" will remember Sir Graves Ghastly as portrayed by Lawson Deming on Detroit TV from the late 60's to the early 80's.
Here once again is Sir Graves Ghastly, my favorite Horror Host of all time.
Sir Graves and Adam West's "Batman" are my earliest tv related memories, I spent many, many, many saturdays curled up in front of the tv watching Sir Graves present everything from "The Bride of Frankenstein" to "Robot Monster." Its not an exaggeration to say that I wouldn't be what I am today if it wasn't for the Sir Graves Show.
I did a portrait last year of Sir Graves that I was never quite happy with, I'm much more satisfied with this one.
I hope you enjoy it!
R
And be sure to check out Keith Milford's wonderful site Sir Graves Ghastly.com. Keith has assembeled a virtual time machiene of Sir Graves video, images, and audio... fantastic stuff!
As always, you can order this, or any of my limited edition signed prints for $25.00 buy visiting the store or by simply clicking the button below.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937)
I first was introduced to H.P. Lovecraft through my life long love of the work of writer Robert E. Howard who was one of Lovecraft's closest friends as well as being a "Weird Tales" contemporary and a contributor to the Cthulhu Mythos.
My interest in Lovecraft was later re-sparked by writer (and fellow seeker of Forbidden Knowledge) Phill Weber who lent me volumes of Lovecraft lore, and to whom this image is dedicated.
