Hildreth was perfectly named. Her parents, back in Germany, must have know that she would one day grow into the cunning warrior she was with a deep knowledge of strategy. The council selected her as the Battle Counselor of the occupying suvians in Baltimore before they even knew that her name indicated that she could live up to that role. Before this title was bestowed upon her, she filled her spare time as a life guard at Lake Roland. This was a favorite swimming hole for the suvians that lived in Baltimore, but not one that the humans would dare use. Her keen observation and her long-reaching tentacles made her great at this job, even though it wasn’t where her heart was. These days she spent most of her time in solitude, atop various buildings in Baltimore, observing the comings and goings of suvians, humans, and most importantly the unsavory grootslang and yaogaui from the Inmost. After much persuading from Ola (the counsel mystic), and her friend Alti, the counsel began to take head to the demands the Lords and Ladies from the Inmost. Their attempt at appeasement and trickery with the animated dead as an offering, instead of living humans, was still uncertain. No official reply had been made, but Alti (as well as other suvians) were being followed and warned. Thankfully these intimidating tactics were diminishing, but Hildreth was on guard all the same. Those that dwell in the Inmost may well outnumber the suvians that dwell on the surface, but they weren’t pushovers and many could match them in their ferocity. The day was gray and wet, but this didn’t phase Hildreth in the least. As a matter of fact, she felt the most comfortable in this kind of weather. A few degrees cooler would be perfect, but it didn’t matter much. She was content. The moisture filled the air and echoed sounds and refracted light from all around. She was saddened to find that some of the reanimated corpses that had been given as a sacrificial offering had made their way back to familiar haunts. Hildreth was uncertain whether or not the offering were simply escapees (which could happen at times) or if they had been rejected all together. It was an added bonus of her job, that if she were to find that any of these reanimated corpses had returned, she was given the authority to dispose of them by whatever means she preferred. Now she had been a vegetarian for almost four decades now, but in her opinion, eating these “zombies” were not taking a living soul. Hildreth had mistaken a few quite living humans for the reanimated ones because their mannerisms had been similar. Upon closer examination, she realized that they were on some sore of altering substance or they were reading their phone while walking. Both gave a similar appearance. Cars honked in the distance and the light rain drew the sound in circles around here. The setting sun refracted in the droplets that clung to all that was around and Hildreth settled into her spot, aware that it may be some time before she was needed, but she would be more than ready. Matt Dangler was born in 1984 and grew up on the Jersey shore. He graduated with a BA from Uarts in Philadelphia PA where he won multiple awards, but he settled back in NJ where he lives with is wife (who is expecting their first born) in their dream home “The little house on the lake in the woods”. For over a decade now Dangler has been working full time as an artist and his work has shown across the nation and the globe. His career first began in illustrating a couple children’s books, when he quickly realized that creating art for someone else’s vision did not satisfy him. Matt’s work has always come from deep within. A quite and meditative space that highlights his life and feeds his art in reflective illustrated narratives. Most of his oil paintings are surprisingly small for their detail. Often just a few inches wide and tall, but some of his work goes larger (like the painting I have highlighted here). Unlike like smaller paintings (which focus on a single creature portrait), his larger pieces focus on scenes of magic and mysticism that encompass fantastic landscapes and a wide variety of oddly familiar fauna that seem to have been conjured from the universe that Jim Henson exposed us all to. Matt has taken that inspiration of movies like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth and made something of his own out of it, with his very distinct vision. I have featured one of his larger oil paintings (36” x 24”) titled The Deep Dilemma which I love because it depicts some of my favorite subjects in his paintings all together - ghostly whips of smoke, living wax, an aquatic creature, and a puzzling lock and key scenario. Follow the brilliant work of Matt Dangler in the links below.
Website - http://www.mattdangler.com Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mattdangler Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MattDangler Twitter - https://twitter.com/mattdangler |
Blog StatementAs of October 2016, I intended to use this blog as an accompaniment to my Facebook page and Instagram page. On this blog I post information and updates about my work as well as once a month I highlighted an artist whose work I like (I stopped doing this when I opened my gallery www.GalleryBlueDoor.com). As of March 2017, I began posting a monthly Story Entry with an accompanying illustration of mine. In mid-2019 I took a break from this, but it will resume. Archives
November 2019
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