The Eternal Midnight Sonata is a mixed media project I started in early 2008 around the same time as The Other View. The project was left untouched for almost a year because in it's early stages, it didn't turn out the way I had hoped and the innovation I was looking for just wasn't there. In January of 2009, the project would get renewed interest because I became inspired by artwork from artist Ayami Kojima, who's well known for her artwork from the Castlevania video game series. The Eternal Midnight Sonata was finally completed in April of 2009. One interesting thing to point out is the placement of the skeleton. While it looks like a portrait of a skeleton, it's more a portrait of skeleton pieces. This is because teeth are missing as well as the skeleton's arm.

The Eternal Midnight Sonata was created on a 16" x 20" oval canvas. Burlap was carefully measured, cut, then dipped in watered down casting plater in order to maintain some of the texture. At least 4 pieces of burlap were used to create the frame. In it's original conception back in 2008, a background was painted on the canvas using black and white acrylics as an undertone, then was mixed with a pumpkin color which created a beautiful evening sky. The skeleton, which was based off of a photograph I took of my college's model skeleton was painted over the background, though I was very dissatisfied with it. After almost a year of leaving the project alone, I decided to restart everything with the exception of the plastered burlap frame. I gessoed over the work that was already done, and I deliberately created a canvas with more texture. After reading up on how Ayami Kojima creates her artwork, I decided to use similar methods. Conte crayons were used to create an overall drawing of the skeleton. Black ink was used around the eye and nose areas, then mixed in with conte crayons. After being sprayed with fixative, diluted white acrylic paint was used to blend the light and dark area of the skeleton together a little more. The background was built up using layers of molding paste, which was implied using a palate knife. Watered down black and white acrylics were used as an undertone while shades of watered down cyan and violet were used over the black and white. I smudged some of these colors together using my fingers. Two colors of metallic paint were implied over the texture of the molding paste using a palate knife. Watered down polymer gloss was used to give the whole piece a nice gloss finish. Finally, the frame was spray painted using black glossy spray paint.

The Eternal Midnight Sonata was one of the most ambitious art projects I have ever done and one with a great story behind it. It started out as a project that was going nowhere, but eventually ended up becoming one of my most recognized pieces. Also, it blended even more drawing, painting, and sculptural elements than any previous project I had completed. I also like the fact that I used so many mediums in a single piece and successfully made them all work together. I really have Ayami Kojima to thank for this. Without looking at her Castlevania artwork and taking the time to figure out how she did it, I'm not sure how this would have turned out. Although, the plastered burlap was something I started doing a while ago. Much like The Other which, which was completed a little earlier than the Eternal Midnight Sonata, working on this project has given me new ideas to work with for future