My collage for the fifty-sixth installment of @shaka's @LMAC contest is based on a classic horror story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The story was written by Washington Irving in 1819, and is rich in the culture of New England (USA)--especially the culture of the Hudson River Valley. Irving is the author of another well-known classic, Rip Van Winkle.
Rip Van Winkle Statue, Irvington, New York
Image credit: Daryl Samuel. Used under a CC 3.0 license. The statue, sculpted by Richard Masloski, is life-size and is in the center of Irvington, a town named after Washington Irving.
When Irving penned The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, he was living in Europe. However, he had been born in New York City and eventually took up residence in the Hudson River community of Tarrytown.
Washington Irving's Headstone, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Image credit: James P. Fish III. CC 3.0 license
The plot of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: An ungainly schoolteacher, Ichabod Crane, hopes to marry the daughter of the town's wealthiest landowner. Ichabod has a sensitive temperament, and is superstitious.
One night, Ichabod attends a party where he hopes to finally seal the deal with the prosperous young lady. Unfortunately his hopes are dashed. Throughout the long night, revelers regale party goers with gruesome tales about local legends. One especially frightening story told of the headless horseman. The horseman, it was said, rode the dark lanes at night and stole the heads of hapless travelers.
The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane
Image credit: John Quidor, 1858. Google Art Project. Public domain.
Ichabod's journey home that night is filled with terror. He sees goblins and evil spirits all around. The ghost stories are alive for him. Then he spies a caped horseman. The horseman has no head! Ichabod flees, but the horseman pursues and tosses what appears to be a head. The object strikes Ichabod.
The next morning, Ichabod has disappeared. What townsfolk find is a smashed pumpkin on the bridge next to the town cemetery.
Washington Irving and New England History
Washington Irving and New England HistoryNew England culture figures so prominently in Irving's story that it is almost another character. The Headless Horseman, for example, is rooted, possibly, in the life of a historic figure. During the American Revolution, a Hessian soldier was decapitated by a cannonball while he was fighting in the area.
Cotton Mather
Image credit" Peter Pelham. 1700. Public domain.
Irving refers several times to Cotton Mather. Mather had a hand in the prosecution and execution of 'witches' at the Salem Witch Trials. Mather authored a book, "History of New England Witchcraft", which is one of Ichabod's few possessions. Ichabod treasures this book, and is a "perfect master" of Mather's writing. As a matter of fact, Washington Irving writes, Ichabod believes in the book "most fervently and potently".
Twenty people were executed at the Salem Witch Trials. Nineteen of those who died were hanged. The twentieth was pressed to death with stones. He received this harsh sentence because he refused to plead innocent or guilty to the charge of sorcery.
Some who were charged with sorcery were not executed, but died in jail as they awaited trial.
Giles Corey Being Pressed to Death by Stones
Image credit: The oil drawing was published in Witchcraft Illustrated, 1892. The original artist "may be" Ridpath. Picture is in the public domain.
My Collage
When I saw @shaka's template photo:
I knew immediately that my theme would be The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Wow, @shaka, you are an amazing photographer.
As I thought about the collage I could envision the bridge (courtesy of Paint 3D), the background with a moon (Pixabay), and the Horseman (Pixabay.) In the Pixabay picture, the horseman was a statue. I had to take the cape off, and then his head. He also needed another foot, and a pumpkin (Pixabay.
The ghoul hands came from Pixabay. I had to change the color and clean them up a bit. Then I had to paint over them repeatedly so they would change shape and look as though they were grasping (in a GIF).
Ichabod was hard. I can't draw, so I looked for a picture of someone who was running. This was the best I could do: (*Pixabay* )
I kept playing with this figure until I got Ichabod:
I gave him a hat and a scarf. Hat from Unsplash, scarf Pixabay.
The stream came from Pixabay:
accent, from Pixabay
Finally, the floating scarecrow came from Pixabay.I put a little glint in the creature's eye.
I used Paint, Paint 3D, and GIMP to create the effects and the GIF.
I think that's everything. If the description is a little chaotic, that's because I made the collage once, started over and then kept reworking it. It's hard to trace the steps :)
Thank you, @shaka, for the challenge and the entertainment. To everyone who reads this blog--join in. You don't need tio be an artist (look at me!). We have an LMAC school, taught by gracious @quantumg. There are prizes, and there is a welcoming, supportive community. Check out @shaka's blog to see the fun collages that have been submitted so far.
