Friday, September 24, 2010

Death and the Maiden


Given a pretty free brief for the IGI Offset event "Laundry" which is on in Dublin next Wednesday, I set about creating an image that reflected many of my own deeper pre-occupations and visual fixations.
Here is the painting that resulted.
I'm not sure what a shrink might make of it.

36 comments:

Sadami said...

Dear PJ,
Very impressive and blood on the Death's bones looks so real... Thank you for sharing a wonderful work. I wish I could ask you my portrait there.
Kind regards,
Sadami

JG O'Donoghue said...

cool lovely work boy

PJ Lynch said...

Many thanks guys

Jo Bingo said...

seems pretty appropriate to me; the original poem/song had romantic/ sexual connotations - though her violent struggle against death is less present in your painting - you were thinking of Schubert's Death and the Maiden, right?

Pickle said...

Ooo, how fantastically creepy! Very nice

Anonymous said...

As with almost any image of a skeleton, a bit disturbing, but, *damn*, also incredibly beautiful. There is a poignancy to the curve of the skeletal hands that is amazing and the young woman is youth, beauty and purity incarnate. Another masterpiece.

davidgoughart said...

This is so incredible, I wish I'd realised it myself.

PJ Lynch said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
PJ Lynch said...

Many thanks for those great comments guys.
You are all too kind.
Glad you liked it Jo Bingo. I wasn't thinking of Schubert's music particularly. Death and the Maiden is a motif that has recurred through Art since medieval times...I wanted to explore it without being too literally illustrative.
PS I had a great time drawing your sister on Friday night. I'll post the result soon.
PJ

Anonymous said...

i'm enjoying poking around your blog. lovely work - you are quite gifted. your various illustrations for children's books especially caught my eye as i am a writer and am considering writing a children's book. your illustrations are exactly what i would want to have in my book. keep creating and sharing!

PJ Lynch said...

Thanks Suzi
And best of luck with your book
PJ

Erika Moen said...

I really love this painting.

PJ Lynch said...

Many thanks Erika
PJ

Rayne said...

This is absolutely beautiful. By far one of my favorites.

uke_chick8 said...

I am so inspired and taken aback by this picture. I am not exaggerating when I say it has changed me. I wonder if there would be any way of purchasing a copy of this picture? I simply must own something with this on it.

PJ Lynch said...

Many thanks Rayne and uke_chick8
I am delighted you were so touched by this piece.
I haven't made prints of it yet but I might well do so.
In the meantime, Uke_chick8 if you send me an e-mail with your email address on it , I can send you a higher res version that you can print out yourself.
All the best
PJ
info@pjlynchgallery.com

q u i n o ƒ ƒ said...

Excellent work, I love it!

Anthony VanArsdale said...

Hi PJ, I hope you get this since it's so far back in your blog history. Beautiful piece, as always! Did you use gold leaf for the gold elements?

Best Regards,
--Anthony

PJ Lynch said...

Thanks Anthony,
It is indeed Gold leaf.
Pretty easy to use and not as expensive as I used to think.
It's great to discover your blog. Your work is terrific.
PJ

Anthony VanArsdale said...

Ah! I haven't used gold leaf before… I'm anxious to play with it.

Thanks PJ! It's always a pleasure to visit your blog!

Kate said...

This is an absolutely beautiful painting. I just came across it on Tumblr and I googled 'Death and the Maiden' to find out more about the original (at the moment it's got over 483 notes in case you weren't aware). I just think this is an absolutely gorgeous work.

Kate

PJ Lynch said...

Many thanks for that Kate, I'm delighted that you liked it.
PJ

Anonymous said...

I just saw a painting like this in an art gallery and wanted to search for 'death and the maiden' on google and out of all the images that turned up as results your painting is the best I could find.

PJ Lynch said...

Thanks very much for that Anonymous
PJ

Gareth said...

I was searching for a good illustration of "Death and the Maiden," and stumbled on this one. I hope you don't mind that I used it on a blog posting about Tennyson's poem "The Lady of Shalott," (http://garethseducation.blogspot.ca/2013/05/a-close-reading-of-lady-of-shalott.html) along with a link to this page, of course. (If you have any objections, I'll remove it.

-Gareth Jones

PJ Lynch said...

No problem at all Gareth. Thanks for the acknowledgement
regards
PJ

Rhissanna said...

Wow, someone just shared this on facebook and I an in love. What a glorious image.

d'Elfe des 2 Ailes said...

très belle vanité !

PJ Lynch said...

Many thanks Rhissanna and Delphine
So glad you like this one
PJ

Vanessa said...

This is so beautiful! Are prints available anywhere yet, PJ? I NEED this in my life!

PJ Lynch said...

Thanks for the lovely comments....
I will be selling signed posters in a month or two when I am less busy and can set up an on-line shop, Vanessa. Keep an eye on my blog or send me you email address if you want to go on my mailing list.
Thanks again
PJ



PJ Lynch said...

Hi All,
"Death and the Maiden" is now available as a high quality poster.
Each poster individually signed by me.
Order by the 6th of December for Christmas delivery

http://pjlynch.bigcartel.com/product/death-and-the-maiden
Best wishes
PJ
PJLynchgallery.com

Kristine said...

This is a beautiful piece of work, I kept stumbling upon it while looking for pieces for various assignments for my history class. I was instantly drawn to it and have decided to use it for my final project. With that being said, can I ask, what is the medium and/or size of the piece? Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I would like permission to take the picture to illustrate a music history textbook, with due credits.

PJ said...

Hi boulangevin
Please send me an email on peeejaay@eircom.net with details and we can discuss it.
In practice I am happy for people to licence my images but there is usually a fee involved.
Regards
PJ Lynch

Unknown said...

The young lady in your beautiful painting is an absolute doppelganger of my daughter! Unbelievable!