Yep, We Went There...

Hello Lovelies!

I hope this week finds you all doing well out there. Things here are busy and very good! I have a ton of projects in various stages of completion, so let's hop right in, shall we?

To start, I finished up my Mermaids of the Maine Coast project and submitted it to the Water, Water Everywhere competition this week. This was one of the funnest projects I've done in quite some time. (We always have fun, but this was too much.) All humor aside, I feel these shots from an execution/editing standpoint are fairly strong, so fingers crossed! And a huge thank you to the boys who wore the tail... thank you, guys! The mermaid photos are also available as fine art prints in both the Stapelia shop and over at Society6, so if you're interested in decorating your walls with crazy, place that order!

And speaking of Society6, that is a site for fine art prints of all sorts; paintings, photography, illustration and so on. A ton of very talented people are represented in that community of artists. Out of all of the prints made available on the site, Society6 also sub-curates a group of prints to feature/sell in their company store. Yesterday, I found out that 3 of my Zom-B-Vex prints were selected to go in this store, which is very exciting! So, now you can find Baseball Boy, Scout Master & Businessman up in there. Yay!

What else? Oh! I was in the studio all this past Sunday photographing sets of twins for another contest I am entering very soon. What a great group of people. I had a lot of fun. We were throwing confetti and balloons and party things all over the studio. I believe my favorite quote of the day was, Me: "And why are you laughing?!" Model: "Because confetti is funny..." So true. Look out for those shots next week!

This was not the actual confetti used, but I've flung it around my studio so many times, I had this shot available for illustration purposes...

The weather is getting so nice up here and I've been working almost constantly, so Saturday, I decided to take a break and a friend and I headed to a place called Savers down in New Hampshire. Now, I am not a native New Englander, but I find them to be a frugal people. Consequently, there is no shortage of discount stores, thrift stores, salvage stores and the like up here. Which (as someone who loves to repurpose and resell vintage items), is fine by me. Savers was a new one to me and I was not disappointed. 50% of the fun was the customers. While searching through the records, a woman who was leaning all in my personal space, remarked to her boyfriend: "Give me some room, I don't want to fall on this lady and this ain't my good leg." Wowza. But I found some things for STAG as well as a couple of great records, including this Harry Belafonte record with my favorite song of his on it: Suzanne. Not my favorite version, but still good. And that cover? The colors and font are just great.

And these records I did not buy, but maybe someone can tell me about this Ding Dong School, or why that rabbit is all creepy up in the park with all those kids... no one? That's what I thought. Yikes.

And we wrapped a great day at an adorable place called The Friendly Toast, which is full of great vintage advertising things. I want to take up residence in this place, truly. Oh, and the food was also good... Haha.

Until next time: Unpleasant dreams...

Things That Go BUMP in the Night...

Hello Lovelies~

I have so much to share this week, so I'll just jump right in. First, I am done with that Addams Family portrait commission I told you about last week! They came out just great, I think. Here are a couple and the rest can be seen on my Flickr stream. Such fun!

I also have some exciting news, a piece from my Everything's Alright Here series was selected by Society6 to be sold in their store as a fine art print! Very flattering and exciting.

And, while we're on business news, the big secret project drops in exactly 2 weeks and it's time for Clue #4 in the contest. It is pictured below, Lovelies. And as some of you know, if you collect all 5 clues and are the FIRST PERSON to post them in order on the Stapelia wall October 3rd (release day), you will win a secret prize! (Descriptions are okay.) So, keep a list going faithful readers, you'll be happy you did.

Recently, I went to the Brimfield Antique Show in Massachusetts as I do twice a year and it was a great one. I found so many neat things I can't even share them all; old Halloween decorations, dime store toys, nude shotglasses, the works. But here are a few of my fun finds and some more pictures here. What's the best thing you've ever found junking?

I've wanted horse ribbons for years, and I found a whole group of them this time!

Oh! And the other day a friend gave me a great gift that I just have to share with you Kiddies. I opened the box, and there inside, were a whole family of dollies, two of which had multiple faces and one was missing a head, all covered in plastic spiders. Weird, yes. But it made me laugh. She knows me too well! Perfect gift for the fall season I think.

It's time for these dollies to meet their new friend: Creepy Clown... hehehe

And speaking of fall season, check out these beautiful pumpkins I found over the weekend! I can't wait to get carving, Folks. This is my favorite time of year.

Let's wrap up with a story, shall we? So, near my house there is a piece of land that has a ton of old junk and railroad stations and signs and mannequins just spread all over. It's a strange place and I've been curious about it for years. Well, Saturday, I went there with a friend and got the grand tour! I took the pics below of some of the sites... but really, they don't do the place justice. It's surreal. Maybe I'll ask the owner if I can do a shoot out there. Hmmm...

Yeah, that's a jail cell. Just sitting there. A jail cell, Folks.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Monkey Cobwebs...

Hello Lovelies!

I hope this Monday finds you all doing well in your respective grottos, dens and tree houses. I have a lot to share with you kids this week. First, a little piece of business, the Chasing Pirates illustration I shared a couple of weeks back is now available as a fine art print on Society6. It will not be a shirt for the foreseeable future, so this is one way to get your mitts on it!

Also, I have some very exciting little pieces of original art coming to the shop very soon. They will be dark and used and pocket-sized and perfect for gift-giving so keep your peepers peeled for that announcement. Eeek! I'm excited about these!

And speaking of used, do we have any junker-lovers in the crowd? I know we do. Later this week, I am going to the Brimfield Antique Show in Brimfield, MA with my Sweetie and my family. We go to the May show every year and talk about crazy. So much junk, so many weirdos and of course... fair food. I will share my plunder next post! Wish me luck...

I have found some people/sites that I want to share, to start off, Jason D'Aquino's work is fantastic. Take a look below. Yes, those are matchbooks folks. Jason calls himself a "miniaturist" which I've never heard used to describe an artist's work, but it makes sense. Those little matchbooks have full drawings on them. Fascinating and beautiful stuff here. (This inspired my new project mentioned above, I'm dipping my toe into matchbook art.) He also uses old paper and ledgers and random things to draw on and I think his work is just great.

It's no secret that I love all things Coney Island, so when I stumbled upon Uhuru Design's Coney Island Line, I was in heaven. The line contains 5 or 6 designs made from reclaimed pieces of the actually Coney Island boardwalk and each piece is named after a famous Coney Island landmark. The Cyclone Lounger is picture below. Amazing. I want one of each.

There's a great blog out there called Sci-fi-o-rama for those of you who like science fiction related art, design and randomness like I do. All sorts of great artists I'd never heard of before are featured on this jewel of a blog, as well as horror artists, pinball machine art, it's just amazing, you have to go see for yourself. Allow a few hours...

Let's wrap up with a sci fi movie review while we're on that topic. I'm sure most of you have at least heard of the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers. There have been several versions made and the 1978 version is the best in my opinion. (And by best, I mean, the least difficult to swallow...) The basic plot involves a gas or pollen or whatnot that comes to Earth from outer space and it mutates, infects the local plants and before you know it, pods are replicating people and the world is ending. The 70's version surpasses the rest on at least three scores: the alien replication is somewhat realistic (if you start from the premise that none of this is realistic), Jeff Goldblum was still somewhat attractive in this flick (pre-Fly), and Donald Sutherland's permanent is glorious. Check it out kids, it rated 4 out of 5 corn cobs on my scale.

Now go back to Wal-Mart and tell them I want a refund on this Ogilvy permanent!

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Jeckyll, Hyde, and some eyes in the dark...

Hello Lovelies!

Well, I have been super busy over here in the Mill as per usual. I mentioned doing a Jeckyll & Hyde piece for my gallery's Ugly/Beautiful show. Well, here are some beginning process shots. It's coming along quite nicely I think. I will keep you all posted as I go. Still a lot to do on this one!

Also, I recently entered a very exciting illustration contest and I did a new piece for it entitled Eyes on Spring. It's below, sort of a "mind's eye wishing for spring flowers" piece. I don't usually do collage, but this was fun. Wish me luck!

Last piece of business, I will be listing some great new photography in the shop this week. I will post all about it next week, but stop by and keep an eye out for that!

I recently found a photographer whose work is right up my alley. Denise Grunstein puts kids out in the woods in masks in the mist and then has them do stuff that's so eerie it both fascinates me and makes my skin crawl... I love it! This little guys look like they'd bite though.

Speaking of wonderful photographers, have you all heard of Tim Walker? Well, if you haven't, you need to get right on it. His work is fantastical, beautiful and I love every one of his pieces/want to live in his world. Check out just a few photos below. What I couldn't do with his budget... sigh. Oh, and he has a book out that I'm coveting as well.

And can we talk for a minute about how awesome the old steam billboards used to be? If you aren't familiar with them, there's a picture below and some info here. Camel Cigarettes really took it to the next level and had them in a lot of different locations across the US. But Lipton Tea also used the technology and they're used very occasionally today. I just love the idea of steam looking like smoke animating these hand-painted billboards... but then, you all know I'm a sucker for vintage.

And speaking of vintage, let me wrap up with a song recommendation. If you like 1940's music, look up Jen Southern's Occasional Man. It sounds old, but I'm not sure if it is. Great song.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...