Some artists find inspiration in the light; others choose to let the darkness in and find their muse in the wandering mists.
Hannah Jenkins, also known as Countess Creates, feeds her spooky spirit with the creation of moody, ethereal art that brings her comfort the same way others might find it while wrapped up in a blanket.
“Being strange or letting your strange out just felt so comfortable, and when I’m creating art, it’s for my comfort,” she said. “It’s just total freedom to explore some emotion or feeling or atmosphere that might make people a little uncomfortable that you can find such great community in the discomfort.”
A learning support teacher by day, Jenkins lives in Grande Prairie with her husband, where she continues to develop her style. She studied art history in college and learned from artists like Aubrey Beardsley, a 19th-century English illustrator whose work used ink and took inspiration from Japanese woodblock prints.
Jenkins primarily uses oil and ink for her own art now; it allows her to build layers and create depth and texture on an otherwise flat surface.
“I’ve always had this sort of sketchy, textured, lots of lines approach to making artwork because it feels so tactile to me,” she said.
She is a firm believer in sitting with discomfort. Not everything is sunshine and rainbows, and sometimes we must be uncomfortable.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with just living in that space for a little while and just seeing what comes of it,” she said. “There’s good and bad and dark and light…people talk about while finding the light, it’s like, well, what happens when you find that dark piece a little bit and just explore that for a little while?
“Art is a great safe space to do that.”
Jenkins has a deep appreciation for horror movies and often uses them as influences in her art.
“Me and my husband every Halloween will sit down and watch The Shining. I will watch Hellraiser. He will not,” she laughed. “He’s not a big fan of the Cenobites. We can agree to disagree, that’s okay.”
The current ‘horror renaissance’ taking place in the movie industry is one Jenkins finds especially fascinating. She’s also a big fan of video games, especially survival horror games. She’s drawn characters from Alice: Madness Returns, Bioshock, and Silent Hill.
“I’m a big video game person, and with that comes playing those games…I’m working on a liminal space painting, and I think it’ll be so cool.”
Over the last year, Jenkins started taking her art to conventions, including Creek Con in Dawson Creek and Mile Zero Fan Summit in Grimshaw. She also attended the Grande Prairie Renaissance Faire. Her work may not be for everyone, but Jenkins has found there are more people who vibe with her work than one might expect.
“People who resonate with my artwork, which isn’t everyone, but the people who do, it’s always a connection,” she said. “You can feel what I feel, and we can be our kindred spirits in that feeling and just be there together. So in a weird way, the dreary artwork and the heavy themes have helped me find a community of people that we all are actually really happy and really enjoy it.”
You can check out her work on the Countess Creates Instagram and Facebook pages, or visit her website countesscreates.com.
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