Murder on the Orient Express... Whacked and Unwrapped!

I managed to finish the painting yesterday evening so here without further ado is the next chapter of 'A slice of Life' I will never be taken seriously as an artist will I (grin)


Pulling his peel closer around him to keep his core warmer Hercule PearO peered through the rain as he watched the train make its way towards the platform. It wasn’t as if rain was rare here – in fact it was rarely dry and sunny at this time of year, but there was something foreboding about this rain that made Hercule feel uneasy. The train came to a stop amidst a plume of steam and soot. As the steam cleared PearO saw before him a dimly lit carriage window illuminated only by a single burning candle. Suddenly he gasped and drew back. It was as if the dampness of the atmosphere and gloominess of this carriages interior were mirroring his own feelings and thoughts at this very moment for in front of him lay the remains of one of the very fellows he had come to meet, the lead investigator of the See Eye A.


It took him a few moments to collect his own juices before he was able to look through the rain smeared window once again at the gruesome scene that lay before him.


PearO’s mind raced as he surveyed the scene. Who had so viciously whacked and unwrapped his fellow investigator and dear friend? Why had they done this? Whose suitcase lay on the table beside the murdered agent Terry? And why was there some orange and apple peel discarded in the dimly lit other corner of the table?


These were questions that PearO knew he must investigate. Just where was that wretched fellow inspector Japp?

I hope you enjoyed the story. Rebecca and I had so much fun writing it.

Ona

Murder on the Orient Express. . .Whacked and Unwrapped WIP4

Hi everyone,

I've been busy painting today. I managed to get the champagne glasses painted, finish off the raindrops on the left hand side and begin the side of the train. I have kept the colours of the train quite muted but decided after much thought not to make it dirty or too wet as I had originally intended. I would like to have that contrast in the painting between the depressing scene through the window and the glamour and sophistication of the carriage exterior. I hope it will add to the emotional drama of the painting. I do have a few droplets of water to add though on the sill of the window.

... then we got caught up pumpkin carving with Rebecca. Ella our puppy was very interested to meet or was it eat our finished Pumpkin man. I hope you like this snapshot of her nibbling at his nose.

Ona

Murder on the Orient Express. . .Whacked and Unwrapped WIP3

I have darkened the background some more and then accentuated the vertical lines by adding darker streaks to create the wet glass effect and draw the eye down to the scene below. Colour is another key way in which I can convey emotion so I am trying to keep to very muted colours which convey the feeling that all the life and colour has been washed away. The colours I am mostly using are raw umber, sepia, naples yellow and indigo. My son says the painting reminds him of a very depressingly rainy day in the UK so I think I'm getting close to the emotive response I'm after. I also angled the flame of the candle so it is slanting away from the scene of the murder to add to the emotional effect of the painting.

Ona

Murder on the Orient Express. . .Whacked and Unwrapped WIP2

I must have been mad to decide to paint a window with water droplets on!! It took me absolutely ages to mask each tiny water droplet before I could begin layering on the background glazes but painting around each of them would have taken even longer. In total there are about 7 layers of colour that I have used to create the background but not every colour was put over the whole area.

As I was layering the glazes of colour I tried to build in a suggestion of vertical lines to mirror the lines of the drops of water. To me the vertical lines also convey a rainy depressing feel to the painting pulling you down to the horror that lies on the table.


Kandinsky described Expressionist painting as almost like a window into the soul of the artist. The actual aesthetic appearance of an object being less important than that of the artists own very private vision or emotional response to it. I think this is what really draws me to this type of art. When I paint, although I am not a true Expressionist because I do like to paint realistically, I also strive to convey more than just the ' bricks and mortar' but also the soul deep within. This is why I chose to create this background. Ok, the death of my chocolate orange is, in part, a joke and is intended to make us laugh but within the context of the story it is a deeply serious matter. My See Eye A agent if still alive might have been able to lead Hercule to the murderer. His death has now set the investigation back weeks and will cause terror, horror and depression in the fruit world. Why do we then laugh at it? We laugh because we react to the deep emotion and ok this time its just a chocolate orange so we can breathe a sigh of relief and laugh but we only laugh because we know what our emotions would be if it were a loved one or someone we know. To me Expressionistic art feeds off this powerful trait of human nature. Does it really matter what I, the artist feel as I am painting ? To me the success of this type of art lies in the fact that we are all humans with powerful emotions and will each be able to connect in some way with the subject matter.

Ona

Murder on the Orient Express. . .Whacked and Unwrapped WIP1

I'm sorry it has been so long but deciding on the components of this painting has taken me a while as I am trying not only to create the painting but also weave together the next steps of the storyline. I am now happy with my outline. First I would like to show you my original reference photo. The scene is set on a dining table on the Orient express train. Agent Terry the chocolate orange See EYE a agent is traveling upon the Orient Express on route to meet Hercule PearO. He has arranged to meet him to discuss his theories concerning the brutal murder of the orange and the interrogation of the lemons. Unfortunately during the journey he has been horrifically whacked and unwrapped (grin)


I have decided to make it a rainy evening so in my outline the window has drops of water on it that are catching the light. Hopefully the rain will help to heighten the emotional intensity of the piece. I have also included the peel of a clementine and an apple which will be lurking in the shadows. Why??? It's all part of the developing storyline which I will explain as I paint each section.


I am now choosing my colour scheme. Colour was very important in the Expressionist movement and was used to help convey emotion. I am hoping to make the painting quite dark in the background with fairly monochrome colour to heighten the feeling of depression, sadness. Agent Terry the whacked and unwrapped chocolate orange, however, will be painted in vivid colour to heighten the feeling of drama and horror . This will also hopefully help to create the mood and emotion of the painting.

Ona

..and so begins chapter 5 of 'A slice of Life'

So.... to the next installment of my 'Slice of life' pulp fiction novel. I'm still at the very initial planning stages but it's a lot of fun developing the story and deciding what the key elements of the next painting will be.

As many of you will know I began this story last year as a way of introducing my daughter to some periods of art history.

For those of you who are new and would like to know the story so far click on the links below to find out what has been happening.

Chapter 1 Keeping your Eyes Peeled
Chapter 2 What an Eye Opener
Chapter 3 Operation Lemonade
Chapter 4 Trafalgar 8139

So onto the development of Chapter 5 and its accompanying painting.

This time we are going to explore the Expressionist movement which began in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century.

"The term ``Expressionism'' can be used to describe various art forms but, in its broadest sense, it is used to describe any art that raises subjective feelings above objective observations. The paintings aim to reflect the artists's state of mind rather than the reality of the external world"
Web Museum; Expressionism

It will be interesting to immerse myself in this style. A lot of my art expresses emotion of some sort but at the same time tends to be quite realistic in style and colour. For this painting I would like to take this a step further and really push the boundaries of emotion. I would really like to play with light and colour to create the mood of the scene and to help heighten the drama and emotion of the plot.

"It is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an emotional effect.....almost without exception(it) has the capacity to move the viewer to strong emotions with the drama and often horror of the scenes depicted."
Wikipedia

What better style of art to choose to depict the next installment of the story "Murder on the Orient Express... Whacked and Unwrapped" (grin)

I hope you will enjoy following along as I develop this painting.

Ona