This page shows a growing number of large-format fantasy paintings that tell story episodes from the Goggol Universe. Some of them are still ‘works in progress’ and may remain at this stage for a long time (so, there’s no reason to hold them back).
They are acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 inches (91 x 122 centimeters).

The target audience for these paintings is adults and adolescents, but not children. In contrast to these paintings, my children’s books are set in a very mild and friendly corner of the Goggol Universe; they do not depict violence, cruelty or nudity. And their story is not framed by the extremes of good and evil, which are symbolized in my paintings using traditional Christian imagery and symbolism.

Most of the paintings comprise multiple scenes that each tell part of the painting’s story episode. Since I haven’t finished writing the story down, I have to leave it to the viewer’s imagination to decipher the paintings, using as cues (1) the brief explanations I provide under ‘Details’ and (2) the embedded visual references. If this leads to the viewer creating their own story, so much the better.

All paintings (showing episodes of a larger story) have some characters in common (although not all of them may be visibly present in every painting). These characters include, among others:

• A human girl (Emily) and a Goggol girl (Dominique). The two are the main characters in all paintings/stories, reflecting that, for these paintings, too, the primary audience will be my granddaughter (once she’s in her teens or older). They, accompanied by a group of friends, set out to find Emily’s grandfather, a master clockmaker. He was forcibly taken into the Goggol Universe by an evil demon who planned to use him to rebuild an old, mechanical time machine. This machine would allow the demon and his evil human and Goggol vassals to conquer Dominique’s village.
• The Goggol girl’s father (his name is Gustaf Gegenwind), a passionate cook and baker.
• Two elves who are missionaries for general decency and who look like marabous.
• The “Amazing Worm of Wisdom”, a yellow snake-like creature with black dots.

Clicking the link next to a painting gets you to a page with more details.

Style-wise, I apply some of the principles of traditional Eastern Orthodox icon painting. Often, I size characters relative to each other as well as their surroundings based on their importance for the scene, apply perspective loosely, and may collate several independent scenes into one painting.

More paintings to come.