My long time college friend passed away last March. I have been working on a portrait to commemorate him since May of that year... Put it away for a while, came back to it. I am pretty pleased with it overall. Lots of symbols from Greg's life and work, as well as some favorite obsessions. The tornado is for his brief stint on Oklahoma, when a twister took all of his art, and almost, his life. The gateway on the hill was a favorite motif of Greg's, poorly imitated by me here. Cthulhu himself is appearing out of the rain and mist. The giant tentacle and the orca are for Greg's love of sea life, especially cephalopoda. The black wolf chasing the little girl is for his obsession with La Bete, a legendary French monster, kind of like the ultimate Big Bad Wolf. He always meant to visit France and do research on the stories. The skull and flower are for a painting he did. The clown is Pennywise from Stephen King's 'IT.' The airship is for Steampunk, a more recent enthusiasm of Greg's and the gasbag is shaped (probably inaccurately) like a cichlid, on of Greg's favorite fish groups. The snake is for one of his favorite painting motifs, a snake (always meticulously accurate, unlike mine), twined in tree branches. The hills of Sedona are in the background, one of Greg's favorite places.
Here's a link to download the high resolution image.
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