It's "Picture" Dammit 2013-W44

Ask most people to name that book/film where the guy stays young while up in the attic a painting shows him growing old and in decay, they will answer without hesitation The Portrait of Dorian Gray.  But, it's The Picture of Dorian Gray...  hope you didn't make it a true Daily Double!  They say there are no new jokes, just the same three jokes being eternally retold.  I suspect the same is true of many elements in Western Culture including narratives — so you have to credit Oscar Wilde (in his only novel) for coming up with a completely original concept for our soul-selling Mr. Gray.

In contrast to Wilde's memorable story, in Chicago our Halloween was not exactly one to remember...  cold and rainy all day.  Just a couple trick-or-treaters made their way up my porch steps and consequently I have a lot of mini tootsie-pops to get rid of.  I'll solve that riddle later.  While we're still in the afterglow of Halloween and the delayed-until-tonight parties, I thought it might be fun to paint myself as Dorian in the manner of the most famous version of his portrait.

It hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago, by Ivan Albright from the 1945 film, and it's quite a painting to behold.  Interestingly, the uncorrupted original was made by Henrique Medina, then as filming progressed Albright overpainted the decay and corruption elements to produce the final work we know today.  Fun fact:  for a time his daughter-in-law was former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.  Who knew?

Soon into the event of painting, I realized it would take a lot of work to end up with something Albright-like.  Ultimately what I got is not Mr. Gray but some aging zombie hipster, which nevertheless gives critical mass to a new series that I look forward to extending each Halloween.  And hey, with my fact-filled posting today you could possibly win up to 4 different bar bets; I conveniently highlighted them for you...  please have a boo-tiful weekend!

Paintbox of Horror IV:  Hey Dude, Got Any Brains?