Gothic

WHITBY | GOTHIC
Graphite and collage on plywood board
20” x 30”

As I was finishing this piece my small tribe of Whitby regulars and I were also planning the spring version of our twice yearly jaunt to the Whitby Goth Weekend. We’ve been going for over fifteen years now and the various events that take part in and around the official festival have always been part of the weekend’s attraction and, for the most part, have enhanced the festival rather than detracted from it.

However, the planning for this one proved to be a little more problematic than our usual flurry of B & B deposit sending and ticket buying as there was a clear discrepancy in the decision of which events to actually attend. There was a real danger, unheard of in all the years of our glorious adventuring, that the group would split up into different factions and attend (I shall pause for some dramatic effect) different venues! What, I declared, was the world coming to? Never mind the very dangerous precedent that this would establish, with gang members running off in all directions doing their own thing without so much as by your leave, but it just wouldn’t be as much fun if we weren’t doing stuff together.

Now I know what some of you are thinking; don’t be such a needy child and learn to be a bit more independent. If some of you want to do one thing and others want to do another what’s the problem? And I know what you mean but that’s not what we’ve done in the past and I just don’t think it would work. So that’s it, we’re not doing it.
The upshot of this (apart from realising that I’m still a child) is that we’ve gone for a voting system that resulted in the needs of the many outweighing what ever anybody else wanted. Hard luck and get over it was the bottom line although we all decided (after much weeping and counselling, especially for Helen who desperately wanted to see Auger) that this was the best thing to do.
Obviously we shall see how it goes and, assuming I survive, I shall file a report with my next piece of art.

Original Artwork : £290.00

And if you’d like to share that would be fab…

For those unfamiliar with Whitby, it’s a small seaside town in the north east of England with the notable claim of being the home of Dracula. Well not so much his home, more his first port of call when arriving in England on the ship Demeter, alighting as a large black hound.
Bram Stoker was staying in Whitby whilst writing the book and he obviously found the spooky charm of it’s narrow streets and ruined abbey something of an inspiration. It doesn’t quite have the gothic majesty of York but it’s only an hour’s drive (two and quarter if you’re on the Coastliner bus) and is a fabulous place to spend the night (or two) and take in some quality sea air.

It’s also home to the twice yearly Whitby Goth Weekend, where much merriment, dancing and watching of live music can be had by those brave enough to venture into its streets after dark. Actually the goths are a friendly bunch so you don’t really have to be brave at all, and most of them are happy to have their photos taken so there’s much entertainment to be had for photographers and those who just like to experience something a bit different.

Having said all that, the spirit of Whitby is not just its relatively recent goth persona, and although my current piece uses that as a theme I’ve also started work on a piece that uses the sea, a heritage that is far older and more deeply ingrained than the imaginings of a Victorian writer.

And if you’d like to share that would be fab…