The Circus has left town...

Hello Lovelies!

A lot to share as usual over here. First, as promised, I have listed the complete set of Cigar, Creeper & Dark pieces for one low price. Now you too can own all of the darkness at once...

I am getting ready to start a brand new photography project that I'm sure you will all enjoy thoroughly. I don't want to spoil it, but I'll give you some hints.

THIS:

PLUS THIS:

PLUS MAYBE THIS:

Yes. It's going to be epic.

I have found an artist who really sets the bar for diversified talent, and extreme talent at that. Igor-Alban Chevalier aka Black Frog can paint, draw, sculpt, he does character design, he blogs. All of his work is beautiful and really top-knotch. Look at these paintings and stuff, he's amazing.

I recently stumbled upon a site that's just chock-full of talented photographers from Holland. Most of the work is fashion and advertising related, but the portrait section is truly amazing. Some beautiful people beautifully photographed. The pieces below are photographed by Patrick Martens (the man) and Lone van Roosendaal (the woman). Lovely faces.

And let's wrap up with crazy news, because you all love it, and it's been awhile since we did it. Did you read about the 4 year old girl who was helping her mom bake? Well, everything was going swimmingly, a real mother-daughter bonding moment... until a piece of her hair got caught up in the mixer and was yanked out. But not before her face was slammed into the mixing bowl and her fingers were all tangled up in the mixer as well... She is thankfully okay. Who knew baking could be so dangerous? All along I thought the oven was the most dangerous part for kids...

But at least it makes her Halloween costume choice easier...

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Dark Lakes and Hot Winds...

Hello Lovelies!

A lot to share with you as always from the hot and steamy mill. First, here are some pics from the lake that I promised. I forgot my camera (Yikes!), so I borrowed a friend's and I just got these photos back yesterday.

That photo of the rusted car was the most interesting part of the weekend; we all went to an old dump full of glass bottles and metal parts and things. I found a full Pyrex juicer that was unbroken, and that metal can that I plan to paint something on eventually. I also found neat old brown bottles so I cleaned them up and I'm using them as candlesticks. It's amazing what people throw away Lovelies!

I have listed a ton of new photography in the shop for summer. Muscle cars, carnival rides and neon, perfect gifts for Dad or for yourself! Take a look at a couple below.

To wrap up business, I have completed the Cigar, Creeper & Dark Circus and Sideshow series finally and in the next week, I will put up a listing for the whole set as promised. One price, you own all 10!

I don't know about you Kiddies, but I love unique houses (I mean, I live in a mill), so when I found this Flickr set called Rich People Rooftops NYC, I fell in love. Sure, some would argue it's invasive to shoot a rooftop, but I disagree. Plus, these places are so beautiful, they need to be shared. It goes well with the Rooftop Houses article from Apartment Therapy. Love all of these.

Have you ever seen the work of Rimel Neffati? She does different things, but her self portraits are amazing. The makeup, the different photographic treatments, the selective focus, her face? I just truly love it all. Here are just a few examples.

I'm going to wrap it up with a TV show recommendation. I know, I've never done that before, but I felt this would be a fitting recommendation for you readers. If you haven't seen True Blood yet, you need to check it out. I was resistant at first because I thought it would be corny and the same old vampire thing. But the characters, the plots, the dialogue, are all fascinating. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Plus, this is the least annoying roll Anna Paquin has ever played.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Dark Lakes... Hidden Depths

Hello Lovelies!

For those of you in the U.S., I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. I spent the weekend with friends at the lake cooking out, having laughs, going out in the boat. It was a beautiful hot weekend and it made me realize why I love living in Maine all over again. I got some nice shots which I'll post next week for you Lovelies.

My weekend was like this, only no one ended up eaten...

I am starting a couple of little projects this week to keep things fresh. First, I will be listing some very small original paintings in the shop, more about that next post, but you'll want to check them out because they're going to be affordable and I rarely list original work in my store. I also may add more lockets to the shop. I'm down to one right now, and I think it offers something completely different for my Lovelies who like pretty things. Stay tuned.

I have found another wonderful artist that I want to share. Lesley Reppeteaux's work is dark and creepy and also beautiful and graceful. The eyes especially are haunting; they're empty, yet convey emotion somehow. She has work in several shows right now, and I would love to see some of her pieces in person. Amazing stuff.

And have you seen the work of Femke Hiemstra? Another amazing artist who combines pop culture references with Mark Ryden-esque characters and paints on found objects; tins, books, signs. Her work is beautiful, detailed and wonderful. Take a look.

It's been awhile since I've posted some Covetables. (Items that I'm coveting in various stores on Etsy.) So, here is a fresh one for you. I decided to list an item I love from the most recent 8 stores I've hearted. Go check them out, they're pretty neat.

1.) curster

2.) enamorphoto

3.) kengarduno

4.) touristrevolution

5.) kecky

6.) helllllen

7.) flightpathdesigns

8.) inaluxe

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Dark Harlequins

Hello Lovelies~

I hope all is well in your worlds. Things are busy as usual in the Mill. I just wrapped up 4 paintings for a new show at my gallery entitled the Dark Harlequin series. This is the first series I've done where I've painted on found objects. In this case, I took some lithos from the 60's and embellished them with darkness. Take a look (more images here).

I will finally be wrapping up the Cigar, Creeper & Dark Circus and Sideshow series with a final piece in the next couple of weeks. Once that piece goes up, I will also be listing the entire set of prints for one price if you've been watching the series and like the whole thing, so keep your peepers peeled for that.

Oh! And I promised to show you all my cool art find from Brimfield in this week's post. Here she is. It's a large stencil art vampiress that I plan to hang in our guest room to freak out visitors... hehehe. I love the colors and the execution and I'm lucky to have it.

I found another great illustrator on Etsy, but his portfolio is even better. Ken Garduno's work is by turns dark, cartoonish and sexy. Look at the two illustrations below, very neat work. Oh, here is his shop.

And in anticipation of my new photo series that I will reveal soon, I wanted to share the work of Joshua Hoffine who also does very dark photography. (My new series won't be this dark... yikes.) One of the most interesting things for me about Josh's work, is he explains his process on his blog and it's fascinating to see how he does his shots. Plus, his work is effective in that it makes my skin crawl. I think that's the point?

Until next time... unpleasant dreams.

Piranha...

Hello Lovelies!

Happy Monday to you all. I have just returned from two sunny days of junking down at Brimfield. We had some beautiful weather and I found some great things. Some of them are pictured below. (Yes, that's a taxidermied piranha ashtray down there folks and unlike newer ones that usually have fake doll eyes, it looks like this one's eyes were left intact... scary that I know these things really.) The best piece though, I will show off next week. I have to figure out how to hang it first and then I'll take a photo for you Pretties. You can see more photos from Brimfield here.

I think I've mentioned House Industries on here before. Specializing in font design, House also has some wonderful products, an interesting blog and an impeccable design aesthetic. Everything they do is beautiful. Including their printed font catalog (I keep all of mine, that's how pretty they are), like this one I just got in the mail the other day. Neat huh?

I have found a wonderful shop on Etsy I wanted to share. Miniature Rhino, heard of it? Well, you need to stop by because they carry a beautiful assortment of vintage and vintage-inspired items that are classy and beautiful. I mean, that little cabinet of curiosities down there? I wish I could fill a glass vial with simple, random things and make it look that good...

Check out this work by artist Alex Varanese. I don't usually go for the 70's aesthetic, but the preponderance of orange and green mixed with the impeccable layout of these pieces make them fascinating to take in. I look at his work and I honestly don't know how he does some of it and that highway one below reminds me of those slides they have at the fair that you use a mat to go down. Very nice.

Another great artist I found this week is Alexander Korzer-Robinson. His work is really unique and wonderful, but the way he does it is even more interesting. Apparently, he takes an old book and cuts away the pages he doesn't want showing through and creates collages with what is left. But the pages aren't removed from the book, they're left intact and it creates the interesting pieces here. How did he figure that out? I just don't know. Very neat.

Some fresh new work will be posted next time Lovelies, so stay tuned!

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...