Finally, I found a couple of books that I really loved while at the IMMA, including one that I purchased, Gothic: An Illustrated History. It goes over the concept of gothic and gothic horror, from architecture to movies to books. Over the past few years, gothic horror has turned into one of my favorite genres. Thinking about this series I’ve been working on, I think I’m drawing from elements of gothic horror with the idea of duplicates of self, the uncanny, and even touching on planetary and cosmic horror (the idea that an alien took over myself). It was a great find, and I’m just grateful I could fit it into my carry-on.

Another book I saw, but did not purchase, was Mario Andres Robinson’s Lessons in Realistic Watercolor (although I may purchase it now). While I took watercolor in undergrad and feel really comfortable with the medium, this book goes into techniques that I think would benefit my current work. He uses glazing techniques (blocking out the value with an underpainting and then layering over it), which is something I know how to do and know my work would flourish from (but somehow conveniently forgot). I’m testing underpainting in the watercolor studies, using different colors (not just using grayscale).