Chris Dowgin: An Illustrator from a quirky little town called Salem.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Pyle, Parrish, and Wyeths...Oh My!!!

If you are ever outside Wilmington Delaware in Penn., make sure you stop by the Brandeywine School where Howard Pyle taught Maxfield Parish, NC Wyeth, and many others.

Find Out More:

Brandywine Museum Home Page

A Furore Normannorum Libera Nos, Domine...

Vikings in Salem? Yes.
There is a reason why Salem State University's mascot is a Viking. Also a glacial erratic shaped like a head is called the Norseman Rock on Bakers Island. There was an Orkney prince who believed Salem was Vinland or maybe even Norumbega.

Prince Henry Sinclair sailed from Isle of Orkney with two Venitians and a cast of characters of Norwegian descent in a Knarr, a larger Viking Ship used by merchants, might of sailed into Salem harbor. They were following ancient maps that described access to Vinland through a point marked by two islands in the harbor with two rivers heading inland. Some say he was dissuaded by life in Europe and he was looking for a Utopian (Translation in Latin as no where.) society he could find in Vinland.

He first lands on Oak Island off Nova Scotia. Some say the famous "Money Pit" was created by his band to hide treasures of the Templars. In March 1314 with their grand master executed by the French king the Templars went into hiding throughout Europe. It was said that the French respected the Old Alliance between them and Scotland and settled around what became the Rosslyn Chapel in Roslin. By June of that year they provide Robert the Bruce with the calvary to defeat England at Bannock Burn.

The Sinclair's were a Norman French family. In 911 Rollo a Norwegian war leader was forced by his Danish men to kiss the feet of Charles the Simple of France in Saint-Clair-sur-Epte which created the providence of Nomandy. The first duke being Walderne Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, or the holy light of the well. At that time before the Battle of Hastings the Saint Clairs were dukes of Orkney. They would be later granted Roslin in 1068 by William the Conqueror. In 1390 Prince Henry would build Roslin Castle and Rosslyn Chapel. Eight years later he sails to find Vinland.

Oak Island was one of the first pairs of islands next to two rivers heading inland. Not convinced, he sails south. The next location he finds fitting the description was Salem, MA with the Two Misery Islands and the North and South Rivers.

Eben Norton Horsford took it seriously. He built a Norumbegga Tower on the Charles River, Erected the Leif Erickson Statue in Cambridge, and had a hand in the Viking ships on the Longfellow Bridge. He believed Naumkeag was an old Norse name for Salem.

So the story goes the group of Vikings sailed into Salem and ventured inland. Eventually arriving in Westford, MA. Here Sir James Gunn from a Viking pirate family that settled in Scotland dies. They created an effigy of him in a rock that you can still see next to a grammar school in Westford. He would become the Westford Knight.

Sinclair's adventure's might of even been chronicled by local Indian tribes. Glooscap a Mi'kmaq god might of been Sinclair. Mi'kmaq pronounced MicMac sounds Gaelic. When Leif Erickson and his group traveled over here they did notice some Natives to be taller, wear white robes like Irish monks, and speak a mixture of old Norse and Gaelic. Later Mi'kmaq would be called Red Vikings during the Taratine War because they attacked the coasts in fleets of boats. One battle happened in Naumkeag in 1622.

So did later day Vikings travel to New England in 1398, making two trips before Columbus sails the ocean blue? They even say Columbus was following old maps of Vinland too. Possibly given to him by Templars.

So who knows, they might of ! What do you think?

Crazy Legs at Lowell Folk Festival

What's That Nigga On....

Well that was one comment. I have been a public spectacle for now over 25 years on the North Shore. To some I give a good laugh. Others love to see me dance. Inspiration to many to dance themselves. See I distract the audience to look at me so you can feel safe no one is watching you. If you need to be center stage, don't worry I usually find my own corner. I am the ice breaker or comic relief.

At times I have found out that through dance you become the sixth instrument in the band. As a dancer you keep a second rhythm. You and the band feed off each other making new compositions as you go. Sometimes you provide the inspiration for a band to do miraculous things when they started off with a lackluster crowd. Afterward, the place gets jumping and the band hits the spot.

I have been called Crazy Legs, Dancing Guy, That Guy, the Salem Dancer, and the Dancing Viking. I inherited the icebreaker role from my aunt Gloria. It's genetic. My Uncle John on the other side also dances as much as I do a week and he is in his eighties.

I have seen people videoing me for years, even before YouTube, but I only found 3 videos of me dancing. There is rumors that there is years of Salem Access TV shows of me dancing at various festivals? So if you find me dancing, post your videos below in the comments. My future kid could blackmail me in the future or have an understanding of who I am through the years.

So if you see me, come out and dance! It will do your soul GOOD!!!

Cheers,
Chris

Gustave Dore: Illustrator of the Week

To Hell with Him...

Gustave Dore

He is one of my favorites and also one of three artists who I enjoy immensely that would die on my birthday, 01/23. The other two being Dali, and Durer. Today he is most famous for his angels and his work illustrating Dante's Inferno. He also was the inspiration for the look and feel of Terry Gilliam's Baron Munchhausen.

So check him out and enjoy!

For More info:
List of Books in Public Domain
Complete Illustrations from Dore's Bible Gallery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Dor%C3%A9

Paint Dancing

Slam Dancing, Sword Fighting, Keystone Cops, and Painting...

For twenty years I have been dancing and painting behind live bands. What I have found out is throughout the performance the audience are creating in their minds several images before I finish. They end up doing far more work than I do. Before I am done they have created 20 separate paintings in their mind for every time they look back and pay attention to what I am making they create in their mind another image of what the finished piece will look like. Even after I am done, their different experiences and attitudes still interprets my finished piece different than my intention. Which is Awesome. The painting takes a life of its own after I give birth of to it. Paintings take their own life like children do and then you let them go.

I have done this in nightclubs on small easels, large chalkboards, and large canvases. Other times the venue could be in public parks and at music festivals. I have inspired someone in New Orleans to make a living painting large murals as he runs on scaffolding in a jazz club. Sometimes I get the next generation of artist to come up and paint these canvases with me. The youngest being 3 years old.

Dance Painting is great. I get to dance back and forth to the music and apply the paint as I go. Is it more dancing or painting, who is to say but it is definitely gestural... At times I have straight men or women paint with me. Once I had a model in a bikini pose for me. For two hours I would not let her move or almost breathe. What the audience had seen which she couldn't was I was drawing stick figures which had nothing to do with her. Than at the end of the performance I painted her head to toe. Her boyfriend thank me the net day and I have heard she still treasures the shorts I painted her in to this day 20 years later. I also had another person I painted with who I shared the canvas with. We slammed dance and wrestled to get space on the canvas, painted each other, slapped one another with brushes, dropped kick a corned beef and cabbage at each other, and painted over each others' work.

It has been a fun time. Keeping look in different venues and parks this summer, you might just see me there. Plus I am still hoping for someone to catch me painting and dancing at the same time in these picture. But for now, I can only hope...

Cheers,
Chris

For more info on Chris and his illustrated books visit www.salemhousepress.com. Plus you can email him at chris.dowgin@salemhousepress.com to book him for your venue.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

How an Illustration is Made

So That Is One Way...

Well my mom had always said I was warped. Here might be my backwards odd way of making illustrations. I tend to scan in the different steps of my illustrations just in case I screw up, as an offshoot you get to see the process to make the various books I have written. Some people like the process of art better than the finished piece. Each to their own...

So enjoy the sketches below from A Walk Above Salem.

Cheers,
Chris

Sketches and illustrations from A Walk Above Salem, the final book in the Salem Trilogy. For more info on Chris and the Salem Trilogy visit www.salemhousepress.com.

Jon Tenniel: Illustrator of the Week

Off With Their Heads...

Jon Tenniel

Jon Tenniel was the lead illustrator of Punch, creating over 3,000 caricatures. Then on top of that he is the original and still the most respected illustrator of Alice in Wonderland. Others illustrating it is like someone trying to out do Gene Wilder in Willie Wonka... Take a look!