"Digipixart" has scanned my 8" x 10" color transparency of my fantasy city picture, "City of Dreams." This is an excerpt from the big file they provided. "City of Dreams" has a name, it is "Al-Kyris, City of Dreams." "Al-Kyris" was the mythical city of decadence envisioned by author Marie Corelli in her 1889 fantasy masterpiece, "Ardath." I did this painting as a commission for the famous art collectors Howard and Jane Frank, in 1993. It hung in their collection for many years before they sold it to an author whose (self-published) book had used it (with my permission) as a cover. This would be the first of four fantasy city extravaganzas that I did in the 1990s. I will probably never match that insane proliferation of DEEE-TAILS again, as my eyes aren't that good any more. However, it might be possible for me to duplicate that style digitally in Photoshop, 'cause it allows you to zoom way in to the image if you want to put a single pixel detail in there.
Here's another detail from "City of Dreams." Corelli describes this gilded boat as the conveyance of the wicked and beautiful Snake Priestess. I could do endless illustrations from Corelli's books. She flourished from 1887 to 1925, writing fantasy and science fiction that was authentic "Steampunk," really from that era rather than a modern retro-fitting.
"Al-Kyris, City of Dreams" is acrylic on Masonite, 30" x 20", spring 1993.
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