Abattoir

I love this piece, and not just because I painted it. Let me tell ya, just because you make something doesn't automatically mean that you like it. Even paintings that were done technically well can be ones that I'm glad to see move on to other horizons. But this one... This one is special.
First off, what a sky! I didn't have high hopes for the sky right from the start because I knew that I wanted to do something with a gray, leaden sky and that's not easy to accomplish in an interesting way. But with that beautiful color sold under the title "Paynes Gray" I was able to make a sky that was brooding without distracting from the main feature of the painting.
This painting is based on a virtual painting found in Pathologic, and features the "Abattoir" which is a location in the game. The story of the game is something I've written about in another post, but this location was glossed over in my review. Essentially, it's a meat packing plant. The town that the player investigates only has this one industry, a vast and monolithic butchery who'se workers rarely see the light of day. The conditions inside are so subhuman that the workers have evolved over time into lumpy parodies of humanity which are shunned by the locals.
During exploration of the town, the player talks to a significant public figure. In this character's house is a painting of the Abattoir showing it gushing blood like a giant human heart. This foreshadows your eventual exploration of that location, and gives you a clue as to the brutal nature of the construct.
The painting is gloomy, ominous and morbid. Brilliant.
When I saw it, I knew I had to paint it. I expanded a bit on the colors, not by much. If anything, I added more sky and ground than the original to increase the feeling of desolation the piece inspires. The original work focused on the Abattoir for area, which is great but I do like the slightly distant view of the building.