Curious Portraits at Curiosa

I am so thrilled that Curiosa in Toronto is now carrying Curious Portraits in their delicious new shop! They had their grand opening this summer and chose some favorite Gothic and Victorian prints and cards from my shop as part of their inventory. Though their website is still being finessed, you can see photos of their wondrous products on their Facebook page, Curiosa Society and Instagram feed @curiosasociety They have a tantalizing selection of cards, jewelry, quill pens, sealing wax, prints, and more, plus all manner of Harry Potter themed items. Everything a Steampunk, Gothic, Victorian loving person such as myself could want. I may just have to schedule a trip up to Canada and see for myself!

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These are some of the eclectic selection of prints they'll be carrying.

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Favorite 19th Century Authors - Edgar Allen Poe

Reading has always been one of my favorite pastimes; since early childhood I remember my Father encouraging me to journey to the far ends of the world through the pages of a book. I am so grateful for that advice and continue to explore all sorts of different worlds and time periods while safely curled up in my armchair. One of my favorite genres is the mystery and like many others my first love was Edgar Allen Poe. If only I could re-experience the thrill of reading each of his stories for the first time! The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Gold Bug, Murders in the Rue Morgue; each one terrifying and exciting in it's own way. So when I decided to pay homage to some of my favorite writers from the 19th century for a series of paintings, the first one simply had to be of Edgar Allen Poe. I decided to keep them in a sepia toned palette, reminiscent of the daguerreotypes of the time. Since The Raven continues to be his most popular poem I favored that image but also incorporated a scarab, a heart and a black cat from his other stories into the background wallpaper. I am so excited to be working on these illustrations and am already up to my elbows in the second portrait of the series featuring Jules Verne!

Edgar Allen Poe Portrait - Lisa Zador Illustration

Edgar Allen Poe Portrait - Lisa Zador Illustration

New Halloween Portrait - The Raven

   

 

This year for my Halloween portrait I chose the subject of one of my favorite poems, Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. I find such delight each year at this time in reciting Poe's poems out loud. His words just tumble and roll off the tongue. I imagined Poe's raven would be well groomed and dapper as was the style of the day and portrayed him as such.