Russell Runion

One of the oldest memories I have from when I was a very young boy, was being terrified of an image that would pop up on the television.

I loved the show that the image would appear in, watching it every chance I could, but went stupid with fear as soon as "she" appeared.

At that age, for me, nothing was scarier. I really don't know why "she" scared me so much, as there was really nothing too horrifying about her that set her apart from the other characters on the show. Besides, the image in question was only onscreen for a couple of seconds at best.

But, it was on long enough to make me do anything to not see it. The utter worse case scenario would be to walk in the room and look at the T.V., without a care, and to see "her" staring back at me.

Which did happen.

Too often.

Gran'mama from The Addams Family used to scare the living shit out of me.

However, it was only that first shot of her in the in the opening credits that made that kind of impression on me.

For some reason, it elicited the "BOO!" factor in me.

We all know that feeling: the couple of seconds we are so scared that we cease to be intelligent, logical and sensible humans. Instead our first thought usually comes out with one simple word: MOMMY!

Ever since then I've loved all the scary things and as I soon found I also loved to draw, it was always of monsters. First dinosaurs, then creatures from mythology, and finally the darker creatures hiding under our beds and in our closets.

What I have posted in my galleries are paintings and drawings I've done through the years. Most were painted fairly recently as I pretty much only viewed my art as a private hobby that I would do for myself. Having taken the last decade or so to start and raise a family, the desire to take my art to the next level took hold and resulted in me going public and showcasing my art and myself. Just prior to this I had started to teach myself to paint digitally, which opened up all kinds of possibilities for me. I took some of the sketches I had collected over the years and started painting like mad!

I'm having a blast and learn something new everyday. The ideas for new pieces come hard and fast, so much so that I don't have enough time to do everything I want to do. But I am trying to fit it all in.

Maybe one day I'll start doing some "traditional" fine art style pieces, and maybe I'll even enjoy it, but for now I'll stick to the scary stuff!