John Atkinson Grimshaw

"November"

I've just discovered a painter I had never heard of, and now he's one of my favorites. I want to cover my walls with his work. Now that I'm immersing myself in all things Dracula, he's the perfect artist to be studying. His name, appropriately, is Grimshaw.

John Atkinson Grimshaw is his full name, and he is an ideal representation of gaslight Victorian England. Although he painted many subjects (he painted 200 pictures) he specialized in paintings of the nighttime, specifically moonlight. I'm not sure I've never heard of a painter who specialized in that. He also painted many pictures of harbors, in places like Liverpool, London, and Whitby. Those who have read Dracula know that Whitby is where most of the action takes place.

Grimshaw was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, although he was not a member of the Brotherhood. He didn't have as many pictures based on Arthurian themes as they did, but he did paint two version of the Lady of Shalott and some of ancient Greece and Rome.

My favorites are the moonlight ones, and many are variations on a theme that can be seen in the picture shown here, "November." The streets are cobblestone, the trees are bare, soft light comes from the windows of the buildings, and there are no people--but wait, there is someone in the painting. Look closely, and you see a figure on the sidewalk to the right. He appears to be looking up at one of the houses, perhaps a lover--or a stalker. Maybe even a vampire.

I've always been fascinated by how bright moonlight can make night look like day, or at least a weird kind of day, the kind of light you see on a stormy day, a kind of greenish hue to the sky. One of the great drawbacks to living in Las Vegas, at least to me, is that pretty much every day is bright sunshine. Everybody likes sunny day, but not fifty of them in a row. We had a nice rainy day here last week and I loved it.

Grimshaw seemed to love the rain, and to love night. Eddie Rabbitt, who wrote a song called "I Love the Rainy Nights" should check him out.