Sweet but Deadly...

Hello Lovelies~

Well, the holidays are literally almost here and things have been nutso here at the Mill. (In a totally good way of course.)

First off, I have less than 10 Zom-B-Vex 15-Month calendars left and I want them gone. So, I have reduced the price on those to get them moving. If you've been debating, now's the time to act!

I have mentioned my Dark Harlequins on here a number of times and I just finished a harlequin commission for a friend. She found this huge one at the Goodwill and wanted me to pretty her up. Which, I did. This will probably be my last piece in this series. I love painting on found objects! If you find something that you'd like me to darken up for you, shoot me a message and we'll chitty chat.

Those of you who've followed the blog for awhile know that my Sweetie and I are slowly renovating our mill condo. Well, we put down trim throughout our upstairs to finish off our hardwood flooring this past week. It looks terrific, take a look:

I have a few more additions to my Christmas decor this year that I wanted to share. (As you all know, I love old and strange things... ideally both.) I received this wonderful present from a friend last week. Yes, those are bearded lady ornaments she made herself. I about passed out from glee when I got them and they went right on the tree.

I also found this old Santa head that lights up for a steal! Once I got him cleaned up and hung, he looked great. He'll be creeping us out at Christmas for years to come!

For the final installment of the Holiday Gift Guide do I have some doozies for you. The item of the week, is not for sale (unfortunately), but I wanted to point it out nonetheless. I am finding some wonderful Japanese crafters and illustrators and Hine Mizushima is the latest great find. You may know her shop as Hine on Etsy, I mentioned her a few posts back, but check out this Octowreath... holy smokes. Coveting.

The shop of the week is Kush Kush. Their felt brooches and hair accessories and just general cuteness make me want everything in their store. It may be too late to buy gifts, but I may be gifting stuff to myself from this shop...

I will leave you with this great animated gif via Who Killed Bambi from Fritz Lang's 1927 Metropolis. I wish all of you Lovelies a happy holiday week. See you next Monday!

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Caged Skeleton Harlequin...

Hello Lovelies!

Hope you are all doing well. Things are busy, busy here gearing up for the holidays. I found another great harlequin litho from the 70's the other day, so I added yet another piece to the Dark Harlequin series. This piece is entitled Caged Skeleton Harlequin, and I pulled out all the stops; glitter, metallic paint, dark evil. He's mighty fine, take a peek:

If you are local to Portland, Maine, all of the remaining Dark Harlequin pieces will be on display at the Sylvia Kania Gallery for Merry Madness this Thursday. Merry Madness is a great way to get that last minute shopping done while supporting local businesses and artists. Stop by and say "hi", I would love to meet you!

It's been awhile since I've listed fresh photography in the shop, so I put up 2 new prints; W and Ripley for your viewing pleasure. They make nice gifts for yourself... or for others. Take a peek:

The Holiday Gift Guide shop of the week is a brand new boutique called The Nimbus Factory. This is their first year in business, and in fact their first product collection so show them some love. Because... they're going to blow up. Narwhale gift wrap? Animal Kingdom playing cards? The colors and design are impeccable but they still have a sense of fun. I want one of each please.

The item of the week is the strange and wonderful tarot deck of Bea Nettles. A little back story, back in the late 70's a photographer named Bea Nettles photographed models posed to resemble tarot cards... and she did the entire deck. One of the cards was even used on a Bruce Springsteen album cover. Original copies of this deck now sell for thousands of dollars. Bea recently found uncut press sheets of her deck and they're for sale here. Such neat work and what an original gift! Beautiful.

Let's wrap up with a movie review, shall we? Now, I am not a big David Lynch fan, in fact, I dislike much of his work to be honest. In my opinion, his movies use strong/obscene/confusing visual cues to elicit a response without the story line to back them up. So it was with reluctance that I watched Blue Velvet. (Yes, it's the 'dirty' David Lynch flick.) All I can say is that the scandalous aspect was completely overblown, but the plot was one of his more interesting ones. Dennis Hopper plays a complete creep. I'd give it 3 out of 5 corn cobs. It's worth a watch if you have nothing better to do...

...than watch Isabella Rossellini sport a bad wig.

Until next time... unpleasant dreams.

Island of Misfit Toys...

Hello Lovelies!

Well, today is the final day to enter the giveaway! Go here for details and to enter last minute. I will announce the winner tomorrow (Tuesday) and ship to the winner mid-week!

I have been busy as usual over here. First, I am doing some paintings for my gallery called The Island of Misfit Toys series, (somewhat inspired by the Rankin Bass film, but instead of you know, a pistol that can't shoot or a dolly that can't cry or whatever, I have a deposed bear king who's murdered by the Bee King who tries to make it look like a suicide.) Take a peek, they have not been "glittered" yet, a vital step with my pieces as you know. More to follow!

So, the art is sorta like this... only with murder and suicide.

I will also be listing more harlequin lockets this week, I have more chain and fun little jewels to make them all different and special.

I have found some more wonderful people to share with you all. Eugenio Recuenco is a photographer whose work is dark and dramatic and painterly and I truly love it all. I flipped through the portfolio and I couldn't wait to see the next image. Take a look:

Telegramme is a top-knotch design firm out of the UK. I found their site the other day and they have a ton of beautiful work, but their work specifically for the Queen of Hoxton, a bar/art gallery/movie house/totally awesome venue in London makes me want to go there immediately! Look at these monthly fliers, they're like mini works of art. If you live near London, go to Queen of Hoxton and tell me all about it!

I'm going to wrap up with a book recommendation. My local library had their annual book sale a couple of weeks back and as a library supporter and lover of books, I went. I picked up several books, and Burnt Offerings was one of them. Now, they made a movie out of this book and it has Karen Black in it, which means, it most likely sucks and I plan on renting it and telling you all about it. But, the book was really good. The characters and the descriptions were more than I expected from a 70's paperback. Go spend 50 cents and get a copy and let me know what you think.

Yeah, you won't find the "Face of Evil" doorknob at Home Depot...

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Hidden Treasures...

Hello Lovelies!

Busy times here as usual in the Mill! First, a reminder, that I am hosting a 100th Post Giveaway that runs until August 9th. Only a week left to win an original matted vampire scratchboard piece. $40 value and perfect for the upcoming Halloween season!

I have listed some brand new very cunning jewelry at the shop. The Harlequin Mask Locket Series features little ladies inside little lockets. Each one is different, more to come!

I have also listed Zom-B-Vex Mini Print Sets. These little prints measure 2 1/2" x 5" and it gives you a chance to collect 'em all without paying so much. For deadly darkness at your doorstep, get a set of Zom-B-Vex minis!

Okay, enough business talk. I have found some wonderful artists I want to share with you! Nishant Choksi's work is reminiscent of the cartoons in Playboy in the 60's mixed with a modern sense of humor. I love all of these bright illustrations, just look at 'em!

Most of us who grew up or had kids in the 80's remember the game Mouse Trap. I owned it, and found that it was more fun to just set it up and run the ball through it, than it was to actually play the game. (In fact, I don't even remember how it was played.) Regardless, someone at Maker Faire last year (yes, I'm a bit late here with this), created a life-sized version of the game. Look at that picture, it's mind-blowing really. Wow. To be there to see it work must be amazing.

And lastly, while we're on a funny/quirky kick here, Nadine Boughton's collage series, aptly entitled True Adventures in Better Homes and The Pleasures of Modern Living are both blowing my mind and making me laugh hysterically. There is nothing better in my mind than seamlessly executed and truly creative collage work, and this is a shining example of both.

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.