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This piece is a still-life acrylic on canvas board. When creating this piece I placed a skull on a table as reference and chose to use darker colors to create the extreme contrast. I was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe when deciding how I wanted this piece; originally, it was a traditional still life including grapes, books and a candle. I felt those objects made the piece too bright and I wanted to go for a simpler horror. I painted this piece in the style of the Dutch masters, starting with an under painting to exaggerate the shadows and painting over it in layers. I also decided against going the traditional route for the skulls coloring, black and white, and painted more of a white and dark brown to reflect real decaying bone.

 

When making this piece I used multiple techniques including dabbing the background for the blurred gradient effect. Because I had painted the skull to be a part of a larger still-life before I had to tape off its edges when deciding to change the style of my work. I created the gradient on the table and the background after the skull was painted. The process took about two weeks of working one hour a day.

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Magdalane Sama is a junior Animal Science major and UNCF ambassador. An Atlanta based artist, Sama has also worked with photography and sculpture. She draws her inspiration from literature, wildlife, and media, and her artistic inspirations range from the writings of Edgar Allen Poe to the fashions of Thierry Mugler.