Smoking Barrel
Artist: | Austin Madison |
Exhibition: | Encore II |
Art Width: | 10.0" (25.4 cm) |
Art Height: | 8.0" (20.32 cm) |
Medium: | Watercolour, ink |
Features: |
Framed
Signed |
Year: | 2011 |
Artwork
Dragons are infamous for snatching fair maidens from their castle towers. While it's true that maidens are a wyrm's favorite meal, they are far and few between. A plump aurochs is the most plentiful prey, particularly for the Draconis Dreadlochsi, or common Scottish Dreadloch. These plein air paintings, drawn on the spot in actual dragon territory, attempt to capture the behavior of the common Dreadloch in his natural environment. It took a while for the farmer and I to coax a dragon close enough to my easel for me to paint, but the art was well worth the work!
Inspired by Bill Watterson, Marc Davis, and Ronald Searle, the intent is to maintain a spontaneous line more interested in personality than perfection. Much like my previous work, the goal is to get a laugh, but also hopefully invoke some pathos for the characters. The food chain tends to be a common theme with past work, as well as blending the fantastical with the mundane.
Because of the sequential nature of my work, I invite collectors to consider "Loch, Stock, and Smoking Barrel" as one piece rather than three. Great care was taken to add small details to each composition to show the passage of time. These details are lost when the pieces are viewed separately. - Austin Madison