One of the end of term exams I had while attending evening art classes was to paint an A2 studio canvas on the theme of Spooky Pictures. We were given the theme a few weeks in advance, and were expected to submit draft drawings of the proposed work. The whole thing had to be completed in the two hour assigned period, and it was a brushwork only exercise. That year, 2004, was the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal Chemical Disaster, a terrible industrial accident in  India in which over 2,000 people were killed, and more than half a million were injured. The incident involved the accidental leak of  a deadly gas. More about the Bhopal Disaster can be found in this Wikipedia article HERE.

This is the kind of art piece where you are trying to both communicate a message, and generate a negative emotion. Such pieces are not meant to be attractive and decorative, just contemplative and thought provoking. I seldom do this kind of work, as I paint more for own interest and pleasure rather than try to communicate to the viewer any particular insight.

Here is the finished exam piece...

Gas Masks of Bhopal

I did several preparatory sketches that could be referred to during the exam, but I can only find the one below.

This drawing was used as a reference piece during the exam, it is a water soluble pencil, and watercolour paint sketch.

Still gives me a spooky feeling when I look at it. Two hours is not much time to work on an A2 canvas, so brushwork needs to be rapid, quick, and without hesitation.