This is my telling tale of my Edgar Allan Poe painting.

I taught art in public school for 10 years, resigned to pursue my career in making art, and then the best blessing happened — our son was born! As new parents and working to balance what we needed to sacrifice, I put aside the idea of entering a local Poe-themed show. We’ve got a well-working system now though, and in Sept. 2023, I started flirting with the idea to paint Poe.  I did my research, rereading some of my favorites of his stories and some new. I chose visual elements from his stories that involve the passage of time and reminders of our own mortality.

Included is the one-eyed black cat from his story “The Black Cat,” which in the story is a reincarnation of a murdered cat that alerts the authorities to the location of the killer’s murdered wife’s body. The raven is landing on the bust of Athena Pallas from “The Raven.” Above Poe’s head is a swinging pendulum from “The Pit and the Pendulum.” My interpretation of the figure from “The Mask of the Red Death” appears before the ebony clock as it strikes midnight. I made two subtle references to Poe’s story “Some Words with a Mummy” too: I used a mummy face as a reference for “The Mask of the Red Death” figure, and I used a paint color called Caput Mortuum in the background, which was originally made from ground mummified human remains.

I had to include the raven. Turns out in the story that the raven lands upon his bust of Pallas, which is a less common name for Athena. She is associated with wisdom, so this leads us to question whether the protagonist is losing his mind or actually having a conversation with a raven. Pretty cool lil detail to me.

I ended with 3 strong compositions, each with different intentions in what emotions they would invoke. This was my inviting composition, where I wanted to show Poe as being approachable and proud of his creations, inviting us into the abstracted space of his imagination where these characters live.

I then began planning my painting logistics, quantifying how many days I needed to spend on each element of the painting and how long it would likely take me. I had enough days to complete the painting, so I committed myself to pursuing this competition. I painted for 10-14 hours a day, working late into the night, and ended up putting in close to 250 hours from concept art to finished framed piece. Each morning I took care of my son and painted the rest of the night. I couldn’t have done this without my wife. I can say I have won my own goals in my own heart. I’m proud of myself, and I’m proud of this painting.

While I was working, I listened to Poe audiobooks and played the show “The Fall of the House of Usher,” mostly listening and periodically glancing. While I work, I saturate myself in my subject before and during as part of my process! I remembered the first time I read Poe in my American literary class. It caught my attention as such a departure from the typical stories we would read, grateful that the school board approved of Poe for high school.

For my process, I chose my canvas and prepared it by applying 4 layers of gesso and sanding to a smooth surface. I sketched the composition, then drew in some more essential details and sealed the drawing with clear archival PVA so it would not smudge into the paint. Then I did what’s referred to as an underpainting, where you use one translucent layer of paint spread thick to thin (it acts as a sketch in paint). From there I built up some generic colors, then built up opaque and translucent layers. I painted the face 3 times, building up its layers and refining it through each layer, which took 5 days of work. I am proud of the likeness I was able to achieve.