Mint Green Suits & Coral Lipstick...

Hello Lovelies!

I hope this week finds you all doing well out there. Things here are busy, busy as usual! So many new things to share. To start, I just wrapped up a project that I'm very excited to share with you. I was approached to shoot an Audrey Hepburn inspired shoot for a client. She wanted to really channel some of the Breakfast at Tiffany's vibe, as well as just the playful, coy feel for Ms. Hepburn herself. So, I set to work, and created the following! (I think the mint green suit was a good choice, don't you?) You may view the rest of the shots from that series over at my Behance site! (A huge thank you to my model Caroline and my makeup artist Brenda for making it so beautiful!)

I have several other projects in various states of readiness and I can't wait to share those too! But until then, here are some candids from a recent portrait session I did. (No, they did not wear those masks in the portraits themselves, but I've found that nothing loosens kids up in front of the camera like playing beforehand! Those cameras aren't so scary then...) I should have that project ready to show in the coming weeks!

Oh! And some exciting news for my STAG shop! I have just reached 100+ sales! I can't believe I reached that goal so quickly. Thank you to all of my customers and followers. Many great things yet to come. I am always hunting up neat things, just for you!

On a totally unrelated note, I have been looking for a good watch for years now. I always used to wear one, and then the one I loved broke and with that, I stopped wearing one. I searched all over place, because I knew I wanted something vintage and high quality. Well, I finally found a watch from Russia that I am absolutely in love with and it just came in the mail this past weekend! (I am a bit embarrassed to admit how excited I was to receive it.) But you know how it is, finding the perfect thing, right? Take a look. The red face and those numerals are amazing...

I am going to wrap up by sharing promos from two of my favorite design studios. They have prints perfect for stuffing stockings or serving yourself some san serifed spoils! Ha!

The first is from Lab Partners. Visit their site HERE.

And Invisible Creature is having a giveaway with purchase HERE.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Bright and Dark...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are doing well out there! I have a lot to share as usual from the Mill. First, I have entered CMYK Magazine's Top 100 New Creatives competition and I'm really excited about the pieces I entered. I'm hoping for the best. Take a look at my entry page, their layout is really nice and puts everyone on an even playing field. Wish me luck!

I have scheduled a ton of shoots both for personal projects and for clients and I'm really excited about all of them. One of the shoots I'm especially excited about involves the outfit below + a swarthy looking fellow + mischief and maybe a black eye. It's almost as much fun preparing for these shoots as it is actually shooting them (though washing those pants in my bathtub got a little crazy). Standby for greatness!

Have I found some neat stuff for your eyes this week Kiddies! First, have you ever heard of Wladyslaw T. Benda the famous mask maker? Neither had I, but Etsy posted a blurb about him on their blog and I was blown away! The work is impeccable and the shots of the masks are dark and moody. I love it. {Most of these images came from Chromium Dumb Belle Blog, which is neat in its own right.}

And if you love days gone by/classic 1940's/50's life as much as I do, you need to stop by Neat Stuff Blog. Every post is chock full of great old snap shots of how people lived back then. The fashions and architecture and cars are fascinating. This post of Kodachrome shots of New York City is especially amazing. Here are a few of my favorites:

Let's wrap up with a bit of odd news, shall we? Apparently, there is a 103 year old judge still hearing cases in Wichita, KS. Now, I'd be the last person to say that working while you can is a bad idea, but really? He was literally appointed by John F. Kennedy and he says he'll be leaving office "feet first"... Wow. I hope Kansas doesn't get any cases that require a young mind, they'll be out of luck.

"As I've told you, and your father before you, and his father before him, and his father before him: Marijuana still isn't legal in the U.S. Now get oughta my courtroom!"

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Seeds of Darkness...

Hello Lovelies!

I hope you are all doing well. Things have been busy as usual here at the Mill. I am about done with a self portrait entitled Seeds of Darkness for my gallery show this Friday. The gallery space is actually moving and this will be our first show at the new space. (The theme this time is self- portraits and yes, those dandelion seeds are small skeletons.) Take a peek, she's almost done!

Oh! And if you liked the Masquerade series of little women, half of them have sold! The remaining 2 will be available at Lalo Boutique in Portland Maine. People really liked these... I may do more. Feel free to shoot me an email if you're interested...

I'm just going to bombard you with wonderful imagery and artists that I've found this week that I think you'll love! First up, this great photo (that sort of scares me in a good way) from Irving Penn that was featured on KillerBeeSting's Tumblr site:

Wow.

Kate O'Brien's work is also wonderful. I mean, that still life isn't a painting folks, it's a photo. Talk about taking painterly composition and using it in your photography. Oh, and she doesn't even consider herself an artist... what? It's true.

To the other end of the spectrum is artist/illustrator Fiona Hewitt who mixes 40's illustration styles, with Japanese packaging/lettering, with sentient veggies to create her candy-colored world of craziness. And that moving GIF on her homepage is adorable. The radish? Cute.

I have been hearing a lot about a (I wouldn't call it classical) horror movie lately that I've been intending to see; The Abominable Dr. Phibes. Heard of it? Yeah, it's Vincent Price (who I love) in all his glory. But really, I want to see it to get the following questions answered:

Is that a Weeble playing a piano?

Why are these bats sucking all up on that horse painting?

Could that chandelier be hung any lower? No.

I'll let you know what I find out next time Kiddies!

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Maiden Voyage

Welcome my Lovelies! 

Like the Titanic and so many other luxurious (and in some cases ill-fated) undertakings, I am taking my maiden voyage. With a sense of humor and a little luck I may entertain you dear readers. More importantly, I'll give you a peek into my world, into The Stapelia Company, into my art and into my random musings which may be the best part of this deal gang because I believe life is a comedy and I have front row seats. No, this isn't some self-esteem seminar, I'm talking about taking those little things you see and hear in everyday life that make you think: "Huh?! What?!" or "Wow! That's cool!" or "Huh...that's not right" and putting a funny spin on them or incorporating them into my art and passing these gems along to you.

Take for example this mask I have in my studio for some reason:

Yes folks, that's the same mask because it's reversible. Now why would you give a child, who can barely see through the eye-holes, the option to flip the mask around and then wander out into traffic on Halloween? And why were these mass-produced? We don't know. And this is just the first of many things I'll be pondering and sharing. 

Until next time... (in the words of the inimitable Elvira Mistress of the Dark) unpleasant...dreams.