Day-Storms Studio

An Original Mixed-Media Plague Doctor Portrait

Some artworks begin as carefully developed ideas.

Others begin with an image that refuses to leave you alone.

For this mixed-media piece, that image was the plague doctor: an unmistakable figure with a long beaked mask, shadowed clothing, and a history surrounded by fear, mystery, illness, and attempted protection.

I initially approached the project as an experiment in multilayered gel plate printing. I wanted to take a traditionally dark Gothic figure and reinterpret it through bold colors, laser image transfers, and Pop-inspired textures.

As the layers developed, however, the piece began to mean something more.

It became less about the history of the plague doctor and more about the masks we wear when we are trying to survive difficult things.

It became about the possibility of bringing color into something that initially appears defined by darkness.

And that is how the piece found its name:

Not Defined by Darkness.

The Meaning Behind the Mask

A mask can protect us.

It can also separate us.

The plague doctor appears prepared, composed, and intimidating. Yet the mask makes the person underneath completely unreadable.

We cannot tell whether that person is frightened, exhausted, grieving, determined, or simply doing what must be done.

That uncertainty became the emotional center of the artwork.

At different points in our lives, many of us learn how to keep functioning while concealing what is happening beneath the surface. We wear the face—or the mask—that allows us to continue working, parenting, creating, caring for others, or simply moving through the day.

Sometimes the mask is strength.

Sometimes it is humor.

Sometimes it is silence.

Sometimes it is the familiar answer, “I’m fine,” when the truth feels too complicated to explain.

For me, this plague doctor portrait came to represent that hidden emotional space—the place where protection and isolation can begin to resemble one another.

Bringing Color Into the Darkness

I did not want this plague doctor artwork to remain entirely dark or historically traditional.

Instead, I surrounded the figure with brighter pinks, whites, purples, and textured marks. I even used bubble wrap (such high tech equipment!!!) to introduce pattern and movement into the background.

The unexpected colors created an intentional contradiction.

The subject is ominous, but the surrounding colors are alive.

The figure comes from the past, but the artistic treatment feels contemporary.

The mask suggests danger, caution, and emotional distance, while the brighter palette suggests creativity, survival, energy, and life continuing around it.

That contrast eventually became central to the meaning of the piece.

Difficult emotions rarely exist in isolation. Fear, grief, anxiety, uncertainty, humor, love, gratitude, and hope can all occupy the same space.

We can be frightened and courageous.

We can be exhausted and grateful.

We can feel isolated while still being deeply loved.

We can carry something heavy and still create something bright.

Darkness may be present, but it does not have to define the entire picture.

Trusting the Messy Middle

There was a stage during the process when my plague doctor looked less like a mysterious historical figure and more like what I affectionately called a “homely old salt.”

It was not the most encouraging moment of the project.

But that is often what happens when creating multilayered mixed-media art. There is a messy middle when the individual parts do not yet make sense. The colors may look strange. The image you imagined can seem very far away.

You have to resist the temptation to judge the finished piece while it is still unfinished.

That may be one of the reasons I enjoy gel printing so much. The process continually reminds me that one awkward or imperfect layer does not represent the complete picture.

Sometimes the areas we tried hardest to control are not the areas that ultimately give the artwork its character.

Perhaps the same is true of people.

We often judge ourselves during an unfinished stage. We look at one difficult moment, one mistake, or one painful season and assume that it represents the whole of who we are.

It does not.

Not Defined by Darkness

When I look at the completed portrait, I no longer see only a strange or frightening historical figure.

I see endurance.

I see the emotional armor people wear when they must enter difficult places.

I see the distance that can develop when protection becomes a way of life.

I see a person who remains hidden but is still surrounded by color.

Most of all, I see the possibility of bringing color into something that initially appears defined by darkness.

The darkness is still present. Pretending otherwise would make the artwork—and life itself—feel dishonest.

But darkness is not the only thing present.

There is light, color, texture, movement, imperfection, and life.

Perhaps this plague doctor is asking us to look twice.

To remain curious.

To be gentler with one another.

And to remember that even the most intimidating mask may be protecting someone deeply human underneath.

We may carry darkness.

We may move through darkness.

But we do not have to be defined by it.

Watch the Artwork Come to Life

I recorded the creation of Not Defined by Darkness, from the first laser image transfer through the final reveal.

The video includes the layered transfer process, color decisions, registration, background textures, messy stages, unexpected changes, and the moment I finally saw the completed artwork.

Coming to an Upcoming Day-Storms Studio Art Drop

Not Defined by Darkness is an original, one-of-a-kind mixed-media artwork that will be offered for sale in an upcoming Day-Storms Studio art drop.

Newsletter subscribers will receive advance notice before the art drop opens to the public. Joining the newsletter is the best way to learn when the piece will become available and to preview other original artwork included in the release.

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Thank you for following along as I continue turning unexpected layers, broken pieces, and occasionally questionable artistic decisions into bold new stories.