Show & Tell...

Hello Lovelies!

Well, it was a busy weekend for The Stapelia Company. I did the Picnic Art Show here in Portland and it was wonderful! The people were great, the work was spectacular and the people watching... well needless to say. I took some pics of the booth as promised and my booth-mate Meghan of Meghan Donahue's Jewelry and I even got into the local paper! Check it out...

Also, I am working on a few original pieces for the shop for Halloween. I am delving back into scratchboard because it's perfect for creepy Halloween work. This series will be entitled the Night Revery series. There will be 4 in all and they will come matted in mattes from The Curiosity Shoppe so basically they're going to rock. I'll keep you posted. Here are some preliminary sketches...

I am also working on 5 pieces for my gallery that will be part of the Down the Rabbit Hole exhibit for October which will of course be both Alice in Wonderland inspired and wonderful. These are in the very beginning phases so I will keep you posted my Lambs.

Speaking of wonderful, I have found a new letterpress studio that pretty much embodies my aesthetic in everything they do. I love it all. Aesthetic Apparatus does both design work via letterpress and pieces of limited edition artwork available on their site. If I had unlimited wall space and resources what wouldn't I buy from these kids? Really... Here are some examples. Check them out.

And let's wrap up with a new story, shall we? Of course we shall. Did you all read about the new drug Latisse that's supposedly able to thicken your eyelashes? Originally intended to help burn victims recover and thicken their eyelashes, this drug is now being purchased by women who feel their eyelashes are "inadequate." And speaking of facial hair, Brian Peterkin-Vertanesian recently petitioned the Guinness Book of World Records to recognize "Wally" his 6 3/8 inch eyebrows as the world's longest... Come on folks. Really? All the issues in the world and we have this? Unbelievable...

And let me say to wrap up, I just learned that Patrick Swayze has succumbed to cancer. What a damn shame. Poor thing. A great actor and a good person, he will be missed.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Lights in the Dark...

Hello Lovelies!

Well, I hope this post finds you all doing well. Things here are really busy as usual, in a good way of course. I am getting the last few things finished up for the Picnic Art Show this Saturday in Portland, Maine. I am making the booth look like a carnival tent complete with sawdust and peanuts! I've found some neat old boxes and barrels to hold everything and more surprises to come because I'll take photos of course. Come if you can!

All the preparation hasn't kept me from putting some new photography up in the shop. The 3 pieces below are entitled Neosho Nougat, Chicago Coin Carnival and Grapevine Hair respectively. Grapvine would go well with the other faces of various types I have in the shop. (Can you tell they're my favorite?) That and neon, and there's more of that on the way too! Oh, and I just started offering different print sizes for all of my photography so you can get the weirdness poster size now! ;)

And the buttons have arrived! I will post those this weekend, they're very cute.

Now on to some good discoveries for you Lambs. First, some of you may have seen the cult classic Carnival of Souls about a woman who dies in a car accident and then wanders through the whole movie as a ghost or whatever. Well, the creepiest aspect of the movie centers around a huge abandoned amusement park on the water. A little trivia for you, this park is called Saltair and it's located in Utah. Unfortunately, the websites on this park basically suck and it looks like they've restored it, but I've dug up a few good shots for you and it's still really odd and creepy in my opinion, thus, I'm passing it on to you Kids.

And speaking of creepy, how about a movie review? It's been awhile so here goes... If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing Black Xmas yet, you're really missing out folks. (The "X" is meant to differentiate it from the 1974 "classic" Black Christmas... riiight.) So, the basic plot centers around a sorority house (of course) full of moody horribly poor actors. As they guzzle booze and cat fight, the neighborhood insane asylum goes one loony short. Pour into a pan and bake folks because we all know what's coming. That's right, murder and lots of it! From suffocations to stabbings to getting baked in the oven and eaten like a gingerbread man, what this movie lacks in plot/acting/budget it makes up for in gore so of course... I'm giving it 5 full corn cobs. Check it out if you have a free night. ;) (And I'm not sure why she's missing her eyes down there, I don't think that happened in the movie...)

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Halloween Circus...

Hello Lovelies!

Prepare yourselves, this is going to be a long (but good) one. First off, I'm happy to announce that Cigar, Creeper & Dark cards are now available in the shop for Halloween or that eccentric friend. I even matted them with an old photo matte I scanned in and modified. Check them out!

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In a mere week (September 12th) I will have a booth at the 2nd Annual Picnic Art Show in Portland, Maine. I am SO excited! This will be such a talented group of people, I'm glad I was accepted. Consequently, I'm stepping it up and I'm doing a circus theme in my booth. That's right, pennants, sawdust, peanuts, the full nine yards. I even made a pair of circus pants with suspenders (not to be confused with clown pants) for the occasion! [See the pic below.] I think it will be great. Oh! And I ordered some huge photo prints [16 x 20] to display/sell at Picnic from iprintfromhome and they are beautiful, truly. They're so great, I plan to offer large format prints in my shop upon request... so FYI on that. I will take plenty of booth pics and post them here next week. Wish me luck!

On to wonderful things I've discovered. If you haven't visited the Morbid Anatomy blog you are missing out! Covering everything from tombs to medical oddities to sideshows and circuses all with beautiful pictures, articulate write-ups and links, this is the cream of the blog crop in my opinion. Check it out.

Coming from this blog, I learned about a pretty cool place that I plan to visit if I'm ever in San Francisco, CA. The Musee Mecanique is a museum that houses the world's biggest privately owned collection of coin-operated machines, music boxes and slot machines. From the homepage with that laugh that makes you want to run for the hills or punch something to the dusty apparatuses themselves... this looks like it would be a hoot to see.

Totally random, the Halloween issue of Martha Stewart Living is out and I don't know about you, but I look forward to it every year. (I know, I know, it's Martha), but the ideas get me inspired to create some creepiness and ironically (since I'm making a hearse card set this year), Martha is on the cover as a haunted equestrienne. Check it out!

And let's wrap up with some humor, shall we? Sure we shall. Did you Gentle Lambs read about Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama's wife who wrote a book claiming she has in fact been abducted by aliens and taken to Venus in a "triangular-shaped UFO"?! She also believes Tom Cruise was Japanese in a former life. All of these adventures are chronicled in her novel entitled Very Strange Things I've Encountered... Riiiiight. I don't think I need to read that book to know the ending...

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Push the button see what comes out...

Hello Lovelies!

Well, as usual, things are busy over here in the mill. I have completed 2 paintings for my gallery that I probably won't submit for awhile, but here they are so you can see how they came out since I posted sketches last time. These are entitled Drink to me Only with Thine Eyes #1 & 2. I think they came out pretty well considering I was trying a new technique.

And, as I mentioned before, I will be putting some 1 inch buttons in the shop here shortly. The order has been placed and the buttons have been designed (see Ink and Chuckles below). I will be selling sets of 4 different designs to dip my toe in and if they sell, I'll design some more for you kids!

I have found 2 great artists that I'm sure some of you have already seen, but for the rest of you get set because this work is amazing. The first is Brandt Peters. Where to start really? I mean, he hits all of the themes I personally love; dark circuses, sideshows, popular culture, grit and he also paints on found objects and does sculpture, dolls and toys. I mean, really? You need to go to his website and check out his work. Wonderful stuff.

The second artist, Mike Shine, also touches on some carnival work as well as Nordic themes and old signage all on found pieces of driftwood etc. His site is amazing too, I love the way it flows and the dang random song he has on there and the creepy carny music?! Seriously. Check him out as well and don't forget to hit the Shack link... his house is amazing.

I think all of you have a pretty good sense of humor so I'm going to let you in on a gem of a website that literally makes me laugh out loud every time I go there. Awkward Family Photos is hilarious not just because of the photos (and those are pretty good, let me tell you), but the captions and the comments are also pretty chuck-a-licious. The 2 below are merely a taste of things to come...

And let's wrap up with some strange news, shall we? Did you read about the 2 families in a small town in Alabama who had been feuding for several years? (We don't know/care why...) Well, they had been feuding and apparently, someone shot out a window in the other family's house. This apparently led to a 150 person full-scale riot, with baseball bats, tire irons and whatever else they could get their hands on and ended with 8 people in jail. Now come on. You know most of those people didn't even know what was going on, but that didn't keep them from grabbing a broom and beating a neighbor! Nice. Sigh.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Baby Pools and Natural Disasters...

Hello Lovelies!

I hope you're all doing well. I have so much to share with you as usual.

First, I was featured in another blog that belongs to a fellow Maine team member and owner of Three Bridges Sewing Co. Thank you Peggy!

I have also added another character to the Cigar, Creeper & Dark Circus and Sideshow series. Madame Zora is my favorite so far because she's so dark, creepy and mysterious. Don't you agree? One more lady and then we start the men and they're going to be even more over the top. I can't wait to show them to you!

And I am doing my monthly paintings for the gallery. Here is a sketch to whet your appetite. I'm trying a new technique for this one, I'll be painting the background with acrylics and then I'll lay these little characters over the top in pen and ink on paper. Should be interesting, I'll post finished pics soon!

And I have found the most wonderful photographer that you need to check out. Lori Nix's work combines small models and dramatic lighting to create scenes that address catastrophic events and strange situations. They're amazing. My favorite is Bounty (pictured below) part of her Lost series. The other piece is fittingly entitled Blimp and is part of her Accidentally Kansas series. Lovely.

I want to recommend an author to all of you if you haven't heard of him yet. Steven Millhauser's work is pretty wonderful. I can't really put it into a category but if pressed, I would say it's fantasy set in the real world? I read The Knife Thrower and Other Short Stories and loved it. He's also written more famous novels like Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer that won a Pulitzer. His books are quick wonderful reads, so go pick one up and let me know what you think.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Darkness...

Hi Lovelies!

I hope this Sunday finds you all doing well. I've been busy up in the mill as usual!

First, my Penelope the Sword Swallower piece was recently included in a great treasury put together by my friend Chrisy over at Sophism Press blog. She also has a wonderfully eclectic Etsy shop called Art Decadence that is definitely worth a look-see (I've always wanted to use that word in a sentence). Thank you Chrisy!

I have been finishing up a submission for the October show at the 6 x 6 Gallery in New York. I'm happy with how it came out. It's entitled She Wore a Pearl Necklace after the (was it ZZ Top?) song with the same title. Totally different meaning however because these little buggers are out to kill! (And of course, I couldn't resist my usual glitter/gold paint embellishments.)

Halloween will soon be upon us and since this is both my favorite holiday and marks the one year anniversary of Stapelia, I will have a Halloween section in my shop full of cards and random tidbits. One item I am especially excited about is the Circo de la Muerte 4-button set. Some of the preliminary sketches are below. The set will feature scandalous circus employees offing people in an attempt to either; gain money, gain power, gain love or all three! The 1 inch pin-back buttons will be nice on that coat or coffin cover and will come in a cute little package and the back story should be a hoot! Are you slathering for Halloween yet??? I thought so...

And speaking of slathering, as you all know, I collect antique and vintage items for the house and I wanted to show you the packaging on my latest find. This is the box for a set of Striptease drinking glasses. The basic premise is, you have glasses with clothed women on them, you put in a liquid, they strip. Except these are old and damaged apparently because they're nude... all the time. But it gets better because the box (shown below), depicts a group of men and women in someone's shag-carpeted basement laughing it up with Striptease glasses... like women circa 1975 would be caught DEAD with these glasses. Please. I personally find it hilarious.

Oh! And before I wrap up, this week, keep an eye out for the latest woman in my Cigar, Creeper & Dark Circus and Sideshow series... she's the best one yet!

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Full Moons and Kowloons...

Hello Lovelies!

Well, it's been a bit since my last post so let me fill you all in! First, a good friend was in town and we went to a restaurant I've been wanting to try for a long time. If you're ever in Saugus, MA for any reason, stop in and have dinner at Kowloon. It's an enormous Polynesian restaurant in the best 1940's Trader Vic's tradition. The food was great, the menu was overwhelming and there was seating in a catamaran for the love of Pete! The best part was when a car hit a power line outside and the whole restaurant went dark and they started giving out tea lights for the tables. Good times, I loved it.

Oh! And I was interviewed by my wonderful friend over at the Where Eagles Dare blog, go check it out! (And if you haven't seen K's shop yet... go here and take a look; beautiful tattoo-inspired work.) Thanks K!

And not one to rest on my laurels (or rest at all on anything for that matter), I have completed the latest art photo in the Cigar, Creeper & Dark Circus and Sideshow series entitled: Dahlia the Albino. I think she came out swimmingly, don't you? I will be posting the last of my ladies later this week and then it's on to the gentlemen so keep an eye out for that one.

The Stapelia Company finally has a website! Yay! I'm pretty excited about that. One place for all things Stapelia, which will make it easier on you Pets as well. There is a button on the right hand side of the blog that will take you there.

Oh, and have a discovered yet another wonderful Etsy seller for you Kids. Frankenkitty truly sells some nightmare-worthy photos including the two below, as well as some beautiful artistic shots. Plus, she's super nice so stop by and take a gander. She'll be happy you did.

So, I thought I would wrap up with a book suggestion for a change. My Sweetie picked up a copy of Zombie Haiku for me the other day and I didn't think I'd like it because it was so short. (I didn't think it would creep me out enough.) But let me tell you folks... it did. It's sort of a series of haikus that tell a story... about zombies. Eeek! It was good. So go check it out and keep your light on while you're reading it.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams!