The House as Muse

When I don't know what to draw, I draw a house.

The House as Muse
Homefront - charcoal, acrylic paint and marker on recycled paper - 2021

When I don’t know what to draw, I draw a house.

At its most basic, it asks only 5 lines: 2 for the roof, 2 for the walls and 1 for the foundation. You might even be able to get away with 4, if you can accept a bottomless house. From there, infinite complexity and detail can be added; but no more is needed for it to be recognizable.

Paper House - grid ruled notebook paper, glue - 2023

Houses are containers for life; existing so something else can.

It feels possible that some of the lives lived within them would leave traces on the walls, like soot upon the ceiling. Everyone hopes a house will shelter happy times within from stormy weather without, but humans have a way of bringing the storms inside. When calm returns, a house may find its inhabitants have gone with the rain.

Woodbine & Forest, charcoal on recycled paper, 2020

There’s a compelling sadness about an empty house. A house that is new, but never lived in, is not sad in the way that a vacated house is. A new house is full with a kind of promise. But one that has been left behind has something in common with all who have lived long enough to feel their worldly purpose threatened; people, places, or roles that previously felt inseparable from our senses of self have evaporated. We might go through a period of understandable bitterness when forced to face existence without a clear understanding of what we're still here for.

Hill House - charcoal powder and pencil on paper - 2024

It doesn’t seem fair that something born empty should feel somehow emptier after a temporarily fullness. Perhaps this is why, alone at night, we fear that the soot on the ceiling will drop away and become shades stalking the halls. Emptiness is not a problem. But aching for fullness can become one.

Some of the houses I draw are obviously empty. Others, momentarily full. But somehow the promise of their essential emptiness keeps pulling me in. Not to fill them, but because I detect something holy in a purpose derived from emptiness. Perhaps it is not the worst thing, being a container for life, for now. Perhaps we might be so lucky.


If you find yourself feeling a bit bewitched, let me recommend these five works on houses and pathos:

The Little House - Animation - Disney - 1952
A surprisingly affecting reflection on mortality, the inevitability of change and finding peace.

8 minutes and 18 seconds

Anatomy - Video Game - Kitty Horrorshow - 2020
At once, an absolutely terrifying video game, and stunningly beautiful piece of writing. It inspired parts of what I wrote above. I recommend watching this walk-through of someone else playing it (make sure to turn subtitles on), unless you have the guts to play it yourself. (I don’t.)

37 minutes and 39 seconds

Anatomy, Control, and the Legacy of the Haunted House - Video Essay - Jacob Geller - 2020
If even watching someone play Anatomy is too much for you, then this video essay on it (and other games that deal with haunted houses) is definitely worth your time. Jacob Geller consistently makes the case for the consideration of video games as art.

20 minutes and 32 seconds

House on Loon Lake - Radio Show - This American Life - 2001
"The true story of an abandoned house, discovered by a young boy in the 1970s, and the mysterious family who disappeared without a trace."

I first heard this on the radio in the car during a foggy morning drive with my mother. I was transfixed. We sat in the car, even after we'd arrived at our destination, waiting for the story to finish. Years later I found it again online with great gratitude. Save this one for a rainy day at home or an overcast drive of your own.

57 minutes and 50 seconds

The Haunting of Hill House - Novel - Shirley Jackson - 1959
This book is often praised, and deservedly so. It's the quintessential haunted house story, but does a great job of leaving you wondering whether the house is haunted to begin with, or if the ghosts arrived with the guests. Read it and decide for yourself.

182 pages


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