Nightmares during the night

Lately I've started creating my entry for the Addictive Hobby's contest 'Monsters and Nightmares'. The idea that came to me was quite obvious since it's my room I'm showing in the picture and I can be almost sure that the girl with her head under a pillow is me :3 Beware of monsters going out from your open wardrobes!

I've spent a bit of the night, lying in a bed, analysing what colours to use. My room has green walls but when it's night everything look so violet. The light from a street
lamp outside my window is orange, as orange as it can be. Here's how it looks:

I think it's too dark, though. It can be true but because it should be an interesting and inviting picture viewers should be able to see sth there (what's more there will be a lot of details in this picture!). So I needed to do something to make night less dark.

I've decided to check what famous artists did when they painted a night scene. Dozen of albums with reproductions on my bed, mug full of coffee in my hand and we can start.

I've taken photos of the works that are too inspiring to be true. Unfortunately on the photos the colours look much worse than in the books :/ But we all have imagination so there's no problem with that ^^

1. Guido Reni.
A dress of the girl is to die for. I'm lacking in words. Not for the last time here :P

2. Gainsborough.
I saw this work few times before and each time it makes me speechless. It's my ideal way of painting - not too smooth not too sharp, just right. You can feel the softness of Mrs. Siddons' face, you can almost touch the material of which her dress is made.
A M A Z I N G

3. Veronese
What made stop and stare at this work while looking through the album are outfits of men on the right, especially the one Alexander the Great has on. It's a wonder for me how those artists managed to create compositions consisting of so many people and not got lost.

4. Gainsborough (Oh, it's he again! I'm his newest fan! :D)
What I like in this picture is the sketchiness of it. Although it's not finished, I could already hang it on my wall without any doubts. How did he do that? (amazing once again!)

5. Botticelli
It's not about the whole work but only about Venus' face and hair. It looks like an illustration!

6. Botticelli
And here's another one! Damn illustration from a fairy tale! It's incredible that from 1485 to 2009 people still make similar works :D Look at this little satyr - his hand looks like drawn with a pencil. It would be a good idea to try making an illustration like this, this would be an interesting experiment :3

7. Boucher
And finally I've found a picture "during the night". It's quite bright but you can still tell that it's night when you look at the upper left corner. That's what my work needs - more colours and a different source of light from the inside of the room. Right now I've changed only the tone of the violet colours but it already looks better *nods in approvement*

Lighter and more pastel-like right now but wait a bit more and you'll see what I have in mind :)


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My sister's corner: work made when dad accidentally stood on our dog's paw and she (the dog - Tina) started crying out loud as she usually does, even if nothing happened. The picture presents our dad. He's thinking of "crossed out Tina" and he's holding dead Fryderyk the hamster in one hand and a knife in the other. Mum had to spend almost an hour explaining my sister that dad isn't a bad person and that it was an accident and that Tina is a hysterical old dog :P


A.