How To Spice Up a Dull Landscape Painting: Put a Monster On It
Slate reports of an emerging, curious inspiration phenomenon shared among diverse artists. Upon spying dated landscapes gathering dust in stacks in thrift stores and antique shops, likely never being sold but for their frames. A collection of artists have all independently come to the same conclusion about what’s missing: monsters. 
“According to Thryza Segal, the biggest challenge involves ‘making the [creature] inhabit the picture and interact with its surroundings.’ Often, this means using the same type of paint as the original work and standardizing texture with a coat of varnish.” She accomplishes the effect nicely here:
Todd Webb says, “‘Sometimes I see a landscape with something missing and I just … want to add a dinosaur,’ muses Webb. He says that the robot character is fairly easy to superimpose over existing scenes because it resembles a human. Here, it’s bummed out because it can’t eat the apple it’s holding.”
So, head to the thrift store this weekend for some inspiration. You’ll likely find a framed landscape for less that what you’d pay for a blank canvas at the art store. So, no need to worry about messing them up. (I don’t have much painting skills either)
Chris
