AT THE DARKEST EDGE .....

Underwood/Flinch/Flinch/Underwood.

2012-01-22T09:26:00.000-08:00

Underwood/Flinch/Flinch/Underwood

You know how it is,you wait (?) months for something new to appear At The Darkest Edge then 3 appear at once .....These pictures are collage's created from my collection of U&F Based sketches /unfinished paintings .Cut up,rearranged,added to stuck down etc .In short, recycled to create new work .I like the idea of discovering an abandoned piece of artwork cutting it up adding it to another forgotten bit and a brand new idea being formed .Never throw anything away !!!

Underwood

Also a big thanks to Jon Cape for posting another collage 'Journey to the centre of the inkster's Hitlerian Parody 'on his wonderful Inksters Imaginarium site.You can find the Fantastic U&F inspired Hitler Parody video there, as well as a wonderfully Dark selection of Jon's work .Just pop over to http://inksters-imaginarium.blogspot.com/ .But take a torch ,it's Dark in there !!


Underwood/Flinch/Flinch/Underwood

art inspired by Episode 34

2011-06-26T06:04:00.000-07:00

Ah...Episode 34, a seminal episode ? I think so .Full of rich imagery and a fantastic narrative ,gripping stuff !
The recent episode have taken the U&F story in a different direction ,Mike reveals the story of Underwood's past .There is as always great depth in Mike's writing ,but this ,i think, takes that depth to an even greater level .The image below is titled ,From which corner of Hell 'and is inspired by a line in episode 34 .

The next image is 'John William Brook's is Dying ' completely different in terms of technique this one deals with the last moments of John's life ,handled so beautifully by Mike in the podcast .
Both these images and others can be downloaded Free from my DeviantArt page .Just click on the link at the top of this page .

David Flinch ,Cursed or Blessed

2011-04-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

Another David Flinch pic? Yep! carrying on the idea i had for ' David reveals his true identity' .This one is a little Darker but deals with the same theme, David's fears and concerns as he tries to fulfill his role as Guardian .The image is a many sides of David Flinch thing, an attempt to delve into his troubled mind .
The recent episodes of U&F have been fascinating as Lord Underwood reveals more about his past ,Mike's eye for Detail is as always breathtaking .I'm currently playing about with several new U&F inspired ideas so we'll see what emerges .....

Elegantly Twisted (Homage to The Sect)

2011-01-01T08:05:00.000-08:00

Elegantly Twisted (Homage to the sect)

The Sect ,gathered from different social backgrounds and professions ,united through a common goal .Worshipping and serving The Lord Underwood !
Elegantly twisted pays Homage to them. The Largely unknown members responsible ,together with The Guardian for the safety of Underwood .There is a sense of mystery surrounding 'the Sect' ,they have over the years infiltrated ,the key areas of 'The Establishment' . Police even MPs may be counted amongst the 'Sect's' members !!.There could even be one LIVING NEAR YOU!!!!!.
Worrying stuff ......still you could calm yourself by wizzing over to www.mikebennettpodcast.com to find out more about 'The Sect',and listen to the great U&F Podcast .
As always any questions or comments are gratefully received and i've made this image free to download from my deviant art page ,just click on the linkhttp://paulthewatchman.deviantart.com/#/d34zq7t

The Guardians

2010-10-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

                   The Guardians ( Tinted charcoal on dark grey Paper )
   The Guardians for centuries trusted with looking after The Lord Underwood ,now the task falls to David .This picture shows three of the Guardians Arthur,David and Methias .David is the central figure .Arthur and Methias appear next to him ,emerging from out of the mist .I produced this using tinted charcoal , a medium new to me ,but which produces beautiful effects . Once again i've made this available as a free download from DeviantArt ,just click on the link to find it .
Also i've updated my website and now have an 'Evil River' Page for the 'Darker' stuff .Have a look and as always any comments or questions about my art YOU KNOW WHERE I AM !
     http://paulthewatchman.deviantart.com/

The Red Room

2010-07-18T12:31:00.000-07:00

The Red Room (Pastel on paper)
Inspired by scenes from episode 24 of Underwood & Flinch ,www.mikebennettpodcast.com .
Miguel remembers his first meeting with Lydia ,who was enjoying the delights?, of The Red Room .
The painting is a pastel that tries to capture the mystery that surrounds the Red Room ,when Miguel discovers it .I've used deep reds and cool light blues to create a mysterious /oppressive atmosphere in the room ,there are numerous sketches ,some x-rated ,and i believe Mike abandoned a graphic x-rated scene in episode 24 .
So if i've got my facts right, you never know Mike, you show me yours............
You can Download 'The Red Room' by clicking on the link below .As always any comments......
http://paulthewatchman.deviantart.com/#/d2snity

Underwood smiles.& Underwood ,the grown up's vampire

2010-06-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

"Vampires ,you mean like Twilight "! Oh Dear ,Dear,Dear ......No my teenage friend ,i mean VAMPIRES!
Nasty,Violent ,Homicidal creatures that you certainly wouldn't let a teenage girl go near .Phew ! there you go i've got it out of my system .

Two illustrations this time, one a sort of rough for a Graphic Novel (Stan Lee,if you surf this particular corner of the web ,I'm looking at you!).And the second a nasty pen illustration grabbing the Vampire Genre back from teenage girls.Oh yes! Get the hot's for this if you will!! No ? i didn't think so .......
After reading this you'll probably be Hot for a 'Vamp 'so why not pop over to www.mikebennettpodcast.com
Because let's face it we all have needs............
Special thanks to Jon Cape for answering the 'is Stan Lee still alive 'Question .

I am the Reality

2010-05-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

I am the Reality (pastel on paper)
This one is inspired by a line in episode 21 of Underwood &Flinch ,by Mike Bennett, listen to the episode at http://www.mikebennettpodcast.com/ .After a failed attempt to kill Underwood with a steak to the heart (fashioned from a cricket stump!),David learns from his Lordship that the steak through the heart routine is merely the stuff of novels ,therefore throwing all we know of vampires into doubt .
This is the starting point for the painting .I've shown the face of Underwood surrounded by a kind of turbelent aura ,as if there are forces at work that we cannot understand .
The painting is pastel on paper ,which i find a really versatile medium ,although all to often pastels seem to be used only for landscapes and still life's.Which is a shame .
Anyway i'm off to check the supplies of red paint and sharpen those pencil in anticipation of part 2 of Underwood and Flinch .

UNDERWOOD,Vampire (acrylic on canvas)

2010-04-14T04:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artofthewatchman/ UNDERWOOD,vampire

A sort of homage to Lord Underwood with a nod towards El Greco and my recent discovery of Voodoo art .The Lord Underwood stands before a kneeling hooded figure ,who holds aloft a goblet into which runs blood . Demons /followers? stare out from behind him ,all are engulfed in the flames that seem to rise out of Underwood .In his hand he clasps a Gold chain ,a reference to the Black Circle ?.
I spent a while on this ,building the image up from a loose underpainting ,and although i'm not 100% happy with this i've probably gone as far as i can with this one .There is another version of this where Underwood has a black 'censor' mark covering his fangs .I'll no doubt post this version at some stage .
As always any questions etc. you know where to find me !!!!!Oh and you can print or Download some of the Artwork by following the Flickr link to the U&F file .

Nothing but the breeze is left .

2010-03-25T05:35:00.000-07:00

Inspired by 'The Exterminators' from Hall of Mirrors .The style of this illustration owes a lot to graphic novels and those great horror novel covers of the 70's and early 80's .As a child i was drawn to those covers ,despite them scaring the hell out of me .

The title is taken from mike's brilliant piece of writing near the end of the story and i've tried to capture something of the sense of unease that is apparent in the story .An eye cautiously peers through the hole in the wall ,after it's owner thought he heard a rustling noise ...hmm...

Well you know the rest ,and if you don't then visit http://www.mikebennettpodcast.com/ to hear the story .

I'm currently working on another Underwood picture .a sort of Homage thing which i'll no doubt post here at some point ,so as always any questions etc....

The One

2010-02-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

Something a bit different this time .

This is the first of the 'Graffiti' pictures ,inspired by 'One among the sleepless'.I've had rough sketches and ideas for months but haven't been able to pull anything together that did this great story justice .I felt the illustrations had to be contemporary and taking my inspiration (in part)from the underpasses near my home i settled on the Graffiti idea .This one shows the 'Petrol'

scene (if you're not familiar with the story go to http://www.mikebennettpodcast.com/ to find out more).

I've used ink ,pencils ,spray cans ,sandpaper and bits of text from old magazines to create a stressed and worn surface to paint the images onto .The trick with these pics was to work very quickly and not worry too much about how accurate the drawings were .this i hope has acheived something that has the spontaneous feel of Graffiti .

As always listen to the story and please feel free to comment .

As the moon rises...(pastel on paper )

2010-01-27T04:41:00.001-08:00

The more i see this the more it looks like a companion picture for ALL HAIL!

A kind of before and after thing ,this one shows a calm Underwood caught at the moment of change .Colours and patterns swirl around him as the moon rises ,settling as he is transformed in the vampire Underwood!.As always check out the story at http://www.mikebennettpodcast.com/ and any comments are always well recieved.

Underwood's Gramophone (The Bleeding Gramophone)

2009-12-19T04:12:00.000-08:00

Underwood's Gramophone (The Bleeding Gramophone)

Inspired by the closing scenes of U&F part one . Where David enters the room to find Underwood listening to music ,while the body of Gavin lies a few feet away .This is a great scene ,made i think by the production . The choice of music is inspired and really sets the mood for the closing scenes .With the Gramophone picture i've tried to draw on the uneasy calm of the scene .I have two versions of 'gramophone ',this is the more graphic of the two ,and the more disturbing !.As always pop over to http://mikebennettpodcast.com to listen to listen to this great podcast .

Point of entry(acrylic on canvas)

2009-11-08T09:26:00.000-08:00

Strange one this .....!

Strange ,that it seemed to almost produce itself .I took Mike's idea of an entry point into the Hall of Mirrors that was always moving ,well that was my take on it !,and portrayed it as a moving ,breathing ,living thing .There is obviously a surreal feel to this painting and i hope a touch of humour as well .

And the shovel ,well that's a reference to a couple of incidents in the Hall of Mirrors tales .

Visit Mike's site www.mikebennettpodcast.com to find them if you like ,or contact me .

And i will reveal all!

The last words of Geoffrey Leech (acrylic on paper)

2009-11-03T12:26:00.001-08:00

One of my favourite images ,inspired by the H.O.M.story 'Salvation'. This idea came very quickly and is meant to portray the hopelessness of Geoffrey's situation .The tape over the mouth represents the frustration of being in a situation that no one would believe . I was also reading AH POOK IS HERE by William Burroughs at the time which contains a line 'screaming without a tongue without a voice'.So the image is a sort of merging of ideas from the two stories i suppose.

The image is painted using Acrylics ,a medium that i seem to be using more and more these days .

My local gallery did recently tell me that this and some other recent work ,'wasn't really their thing'. So i don't know if that's a good or bad thing really.Still i don't do' sheep in fields' or 'still life with vase '

Sadly Underwood and Flinch has come to the end of part one .If you haven't heard it you should get over to www.mikebennettpodcast.com because it really is a great episode ,well done Mike !

All Hail !! (pastel on paper)

2009-10-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

An attempt to create something not scary as such ,but a bit disturbing .
I was after capturing the moment his lordship turns to the sect after being ressurected ,after tasting blood!.The image started as a doodle and just grew into a portrait of Underwood ,over a period of a couple of days .It is very hard to produce an image that is scary ,because we are bombarded with images every second of every day ,but a friend recently saw 'All Hail' and told me 'that looks well fucked up!'.So job done there then .

I've also created a U&F file on my flickr page www.flickr.com/photos/artofthewatchman/ ,where you can also find an illustration called 'Monster' inspired by the poem of the same name from Mike Bennett's 'MissWong ,someday we'll meet again' poetry podcast which can be found atwww.mikebennettpodcast.com or itunes.

So pop over to Mike's site and have a listen !

Underwood lives!

2009-10-04T06:30:00.001-07:00

Inspired by U&F episode 16 ,this captures the moment when the blood starts to enter the bearded Underwood's body ,and life starts to to flow through him !
I also tried to get a sense of worshipping Underwood into it by the use of the hands ,so "all hail ,the lord UNDERWOOD"! (Oh ,and don't forget to become a follower of U&F and this blog !!,but don't get killed in the rush to do that !!!).
As always any questions ....

where surrealism meets the Hall .....

2009-09-03T23:38:00.001-07:00

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0Afq4Y2v3If17ZDR3Mjg3NV83Yzg5ODVuZzU&hl=en

Because nothing is as it seems . (Acrylic on card)

This was an attempt to create a powerful image ,based again on the 'Trolls' story.
my pictures are greatly influenced by the surrealist artist ,and this image was an attempt to create a memorable image that combined the strangeness of Mike's story with surrealism .
I'd posted another picture called 'Troll's'onto Mike's site and also produced an Acrylic painting on canvas called 'Layers',which can be found at http://www.myspace.com/paulthewatchman .
This is my favourite of the 'hoodie' pictures ,as i feel it captures the mood of the Hall of mirrors stories .Pop over to www.mikebennettpodcast.com and listen to 'Troll's' to see if i'm right!.

I am the dancer ,with his six fools (mixed media)

2009-08-28T02:11:00.000-07:00

This image is inspired by the 'Hall of mirrors'tale THE GREEN MAN .As i've said before most of the images you'll find on the blog can be found in the user gallery at www.mikebennettpodcast.com

This image ,however didn't get posted.It is one of two images i produced (the other one is titled'I am the face in the trees) Both take their titles from an old English rhyme ,about the Green Man .

I was trying to combine the feel of Mike's story with the mystery of the rhymes text . I posted the image seen here onto a couple of sites recently ,and it has recieved some good feedback .

So let me know what you think ,and more importantly pop over to Mike's site and listen to The green man !

2009-08-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

David Smith has a secret ,his real name is David Flinch.That's all i'm saying !

Visit http://www.mikebennettpodcast.com,to find out what that means for the poor guy.

This image is :David reveals his true identity.(collage)

I used 3 or 4 images of David and Underwood ,which i kept cutting up and arranging until i produced something that i think shows the different sides of David's personality.

Anyway listen to the podcast and judge for yourself!.

ATthe darkest edge :art inspired by mike bennett podcast .

2009-08-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

My name is Paul ,i also use the online I.D of THE WATCHMAN .This blog is designed to show artwork created over the last 18 months or so, that has been inspired by either the 'Hall of Mirrors ' or the 'Underwood & Flinch ' podcast .These podcast are written and performed by Mike Bennett and can be found at http://www.mikebennettpodcast.com/ ,or itunes.

So ;first up it's this image

In the hands of the narrator .(pastel on paper)

The narrator will be familiar to any one who listens to Hall of Mirrors .I have tried to depict him as this all knowing being who is ,like a puppeteer ,playing out a scene he has played out a hundred times before . I used pastels to enable me to soften certain areas to give a dreamlike feel . Feel free to comment on the artwork and visit mike's site !