Casting a Dark Shadow...

[Dark Shadow]

...in my "foyer" for the season.

Finally finished my painting and framed it over the weekend in a vain attempt to make it feel a little more like the season it actually is. Still feels like mid summer here in So Cal (a hot & sticky one) and with Halloween only a few weeks away...well let's just say it's sucking the fun right out of the season.

I don't consider myself an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I can do OK with crafts & such when I put my mind to it. This was a huge challenge for me as I've never attempted anything this large on a stretched canvas before (22x28), nor have I ever attempted to paint a non-costumed/masked human before.

I'm happy with the result, and will enjoy bringing this out and hanging it up each year.

[Werewolf]

Very nicely done!

[Remco Monster]

Awesome! Nice work! Should be up all year around.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Fantastic! You could have fooled me about "not" being an artist! I'd definitely leave it up all year round. When folks come over that don't really know you, BS them about it being some old ancestor or something.

Chris

[Dark Shadow]

Thank you all for your kind reviews!

My other half said it should stay up year-round too…I thought he was just going easy on me. To me, it looks a little more cartoonish, or comic like, than it does an actual portrait...which is OK for Halloween fun. After applying the final coat of finish, that perception changed a little. From some angles and in certain lighting it looks more like a true painting, in others…not-so-much.

I used this image as my structural template (I have a small poster print that came out in the mid 90’s), but the color scheme is all wrong (washed out, drab, almost like a watercolor left out to fade)




So I used a clearer version of this image with richer colors (which can be seen on the Majestic action figure packaging (from the mid 00’s)) as a basic guide on the color scheme. I believe this image is a screengrab of one of the actual portraits from the show. The original was stolen from the set (I think around ‘68, or maybe early ‘69) and a replacement was made which looked slightly different from the original, in structure & coloring.




Three “wants” from my inner 5-year-old DS fan have been met: Ring, Cane(s) & Portrait. All I need now is my very own “Old House” and I can rest in peace.

[ZombieJimC]

Looks Great!!

[daz71]

i love it it's great .i know what you mean it has to be cold for halloween .it has to be cold for watching the fearless vampire killers i once tried watching it in the summer and it didn't have the same effect.

[ClaudeAtlas]

I concur with what others have said--Leave it up all year long! Looks enough like the real prop!!

[Mikey]

Wow, it looks like even the eyes follow you around the room

Really nice !!!

[Dark Shadow]

Thank you Zombie, daz, Claude & Mikey...apologies, I've been unavailable for awhile.

Update...painting is still up and will probably remain up for all of 2016 in honor of the 50th Anniversary. Hard to believe it's been 50 years since Victoria stepped off that train.

[MIB41]

Oh wow! I don't know how I missed this. Incredible work!!! Very nicely done!! Looks exactly like the actual painting.

[Dark Shadow]

Oh wow! I don't know how I missed this. Incredible work!!! Very nicely done!! Looks exactly like the actual painting.

Thank you!

Saw this one on eBay over the weekend...the creator of this painting really captured Frid's likeness. I was very impressed with her work.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/221984233291

[Figuremod73]

You did a very good job. I wish the show was being aired right now on any of these channels with nothing on it.

[Dark Shadow]

You did a very good job. I wish the show was being aired right now on any of these channels with nothing on it.

Thank you Figuremod73.

I've gotten very spoiled with the DVDs, and find it hard to imagine watching them again one or two per day. I like being able to binge, hop, skip, etc.; although last week I started watching it from the very beginning (episode 1) and intend to watch all the way through by year-end. That said, I like the idea of it being on TV whenever possible not only for those who don't have an alternative but for the exposure it lends to future fans.

I know Netflix mail service offered the entire series for quite some time, not sure if that's still the case or not? I know they dropped it from their streaming service, however HULU has some of the episodes available w/commercials though (original MPI box sets 1-9; starting with episode 210 which is the premier episode of Barnabas). I've seen the box sets going for around 300.00 - 400.00 for the entire series.

I bought several of the individual sets back in the day when they were first releasing them; then I took a long break and eventually purchased the rest of the sets for a really great price point on Amazon as they were placing the bulkier packaging on clearance in order to replace them with the slimmer packaging (which was quickly followed by the box set).

[PNGwynne]

I missed this thread initially, but I think you did a fine job. Perfect way to celebrate the 50th. (Quite a year with Batman'66 and Star Trek, too.) You should consider doing a Selby one, too.

I think I could become quite a Dark Shadows junkie if I could afford the DVD set; I still recall racing home to see reruns after school, but I guess the films had a stronger impression on me when I was a little older.