Red Lobster, Pink Cupcakes...

Hello Lovelies!

I hope those of you in the US, had a good three day weekend and an excellent Valentine's Day! I played cupid a little this year and set flowers all around the house and baked some delicious chocolate cupcakes. In return, my Sweetie brought home a lobster for dinner... which was delicious!

I mentioned last week that I was going to see Garrison Keillor. I did. And I loved the show. He talked for an hour and 45 minutes straight, no break, no water, no faltering. I would recommend it to anyone who has the chance.

I recently found a wonderful photo stream on Flickr. The illustrator's name is Gemma Quevedo and I fell in love specifically with her Carnaval poster for a local competition. The rest of her work is equally charming, bright and contemporary. Oh, and she has an Etsy shop!

Another artist I found recently really moved me. His work is beautiful and dark and a bit lonely and mysterious. I look at his pieces (created in Photoshop to look like scratchboard, which is amazing), and it reminds me of Ray Bradbury, one of my favorite authors. Daniel Danger of Tiny Media Empire does posters and work for galleries and his prints sell out in minutes... maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to land one. Love his work.

I have found a store that I'm sure most of you will love. The Evolution Store has taxidermy, botanical posters, and all other manner of neat scientific tools and specimens that can make that house or apartment into a museum of dark things... which we love, don't we? Look at this stuff...

Okay Lovelies, I will be in Florida all next week, taking pictures of the old stuff, digging through the junk and wrestling alligators... I will have much to share upon my return!

(Me, next week...)

Until next time... unpleasant dreams.

Macabit...

Hello Lovelies!

Things are busy as usual here my friends. I have just completed another piece in the Cigar, Creeper & Dark Circus and Sideshow series entitled: Macabit the Sideshow Barker. A little bit of trivia for you faithful followers out there, Macabit is actually French Victorian slang for the bodies they found floating in rivers. A bit morbid, yes, but the name is beautiful if you don't know that and he's a little scandalous so it works out. More to come very soon with this series...

I have also recently procured a pair of lamps that are pretty much awesome. The detail? The great figural quality and the jewels? Needless to say... They are going to need a whole lot of work to get them to their former glory, but I'm just the woman for the job. I'll keep you apprised of my progress on them. It should be fun!

And random, I found this picture the other day and I thought it was really neat and needed to be shared. Those swim caps? The colors? I love everything about this shot. Perhaps it should be replicated with a Polaroid camera? Only time will tell...

I recently found a wonderful site for a design company and I thought I would share. Angel Bomb has some great work, they combine both design and letterpress capabilities and I'm a sucker for their letterpress in particular... see some of their work below.

I also found a wonderful artist that I wanted to share. Miss Mindy's work is a combination of Glen Barr and cartoon imagery and features little ladies and mermaids and whimsy carnival and I love it. All of it. It's cute and mischievous. Check it out.

Oh! I am so excited, this Thursday, I have tickets to see Garrison Keillor here in town for a sold out show. I grew up listening to Lake Wobegon and Prairie Home Companion and I am also a huge dork so basically I'm in bliss. I'll let you know how it is.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Cold Days...

Hello Lovelies!

I hope those of you in the Northern Hemisphere are staying warm. It's been cold here at the Mill for sure. I have so much to share as usual! First, my Time print was featured in a beautiful Treasury by a fellow Maine Team member. Great items here. Thank you!

And, since you all seem to like my tales of junking and salvage, I wanted to show you the cutest cocktail picks I found the other day. I really like vintage barware and the occasional cocktail pick or swizzle makes it in if it's especially unique. Look at these little guys! I believe these were made by Carstairs White Seal Whiskey, a brand that I think is still being made? I love the peppermint striped string on that one. Neat stuff.

While we're on the subject of salvage, I found the neatest salvage site the other day. Agent Gallery Chicago, is a high-end salvage shop that makes even everyday objects look like works of art. They have some dental/optometry items that are wonderful. Oh, I wish things like this were in my budget...

I have found a wonderful newish shop on Etsy recently that I wanted to share. Ghosthaus sells one-of-a-kind art pieces that combine conduit boxes, lights and old slides to create warm little vintage vignettes. I think these are wonderful and I plan on purchasing one soon. In fact, the shop owner is very sweet and said he would set aside any carnival/circus slides he happens upon and make one especially for me! Love it.

Totally random, I know Christmas is behind us, but I was on the Twig and Thistle blog the other day (which is wonderful), and I happened upon a circus-themed Christmas... Needless to say that's what I'll be doing next year. Aren't these ornaments the bees knees?

And finally, the whole Alice in Wonderland craze has everyone getting into the act and my favorite artist Camille Rose Garcia is no exception. She has illustrated a brand new version of Alice and it comes out tomorrow! I have already pre-ordered mine via Amazon. Wonderful things here...

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Flower Clowns...

Hello Lovelies!

As usual, a lot is going on this week at the Mill. First, I thought I would show you some initial sketches of the new stickers I will be using for my packaging. I decided to combine bunnies with clowns to create a bright new design. One boy and one girl. I'll show the finished ones off next week. If you place an order, you may see them in person very soon!

I have added some new work to the shop this week entitled the Flower Clown Series. The first of the series entitled Chester is below. They combine vintage portraits I've collected over the years with floral photography that I've taken... with of course a dark twist as usual. These would make perfect Valentine's Day gifts for that art lover.

And those of you who follow my circus series, I am doing a photo shoot next week and I should have someone new to show you next post!

I mentioned last week my greatest junk find of all time and I told you I'd post it this week. Well, here it is as promised. I found this huge mantle on Craig's List of all things and it was in pretty rough shape when I picked it up. Almost a year later, I finally finished refinishing the entire thing and we have it in our living room. It is over 6 feet long, it has speaker boxes and space for record storage and a mini bar with a light. Solid oak. Grand total: $60. Crazy, huh?!

I have featured the work of Mike Shine on here before. He takes creepy worn carnival-inspired art to a whole new level and I love his color pallet. Well, he has a new show up folks called The Mike Shine Show and if the pictures below are any indication... it's fantastic. I love those wooden milk bottles!

On the carnival theme, I stumbled across an amazing carnival themed wedding on the blog Once Wed (which is a beautiful blog by the way). Some pics are below, but the barn? The cake topper? The yellow and white bunting? Not to mention the invitations. This looks like it was so much fun. The pictures are amazing, click on the link.

Let's wrap up with a funny news story, shall we? Did you read about the German teenagers who (during school?!?!) drank hot sauce that was literally 200 times hotter than Tabasco sauce?This of course, put them all in the hospital. YIKES. Ouch. And, as I'm typing this, I don't know if I'm more amazed that there's an actual scale for hotness (the Scoville Scale), or that Tabasco is in the Google dictionary... huh.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Dark Snow Bunny...

Hello Lovelies!

It is a snowy morning here in Maine. A foot on the ground and it's still not done. Perfect weather to hole up and get creative. (Too bad I have to work instead...)

Those of you have have been following my Cigar, Creeper & Dark Circus and Sideshow Series will be happy to know that I am getting ready to do another shoot in 2 weekends to add to the series! Only a few more left to go and then I am designing an art print poster featuring all of the people of the CCD Circus and Sideshow. Keep an eye out for that.

Not surprisingly (since my work somewhat has an aged aesthetic), I am a collector and lover of all things old and worn. On the weekends, I love nothing more than to go junking and find things that I can clean or refurbish and put in my home to enjoy. (I'll post pictures of my greatest find ever next week.) So, imagine my delight, when I found Lost Found Art, a business dedicated to finding collections of things for people who don't have the time or skill to locate these things themselves. These collections are then installed in the customer's home as art. As you can see from a few of the shots below, anything can be collected and anything can be beautiful if displayed properly. Perhaps Stapelia should start offering this service... Hmm. :)

I have found another wonderful artist from the UK recently. Polly Morgan's work combines taxidermy (all animals were found dead or were donated by pet owners) and humor to create beautiful and somewhat funny pieces of art. Polly is both a photographer and a trained taxidermist and really, does a cooler combination of skills exist? I think not... (And yes, that is a bird head bouquet. Brilliant.)

I also found a blog called A Dark Whimsey that you Lovelies should check out. It's chock full of great artists and artwork that is dark and somewhat humorous. Go take a peek.

And let's wrap up with a weird news story because, well, it's tradition at this point. Apparently, up in Kodiak, Alaska, there was a bomb from WWII that had been displayed outside of a bar for years. The bar decided to donate it to a local museum for their display. The museum director examined the bomb and determined it was in fact not a dud and was a live bomb. A local military bomb squad was called to detonate it and did so safely. A fragment of the bomb is now being displayed in the museum. Wow. I'm glad the museum director knew more than the thousands of people who went to that bar over the years... past a live BOMB. Whew.

Whoopsies.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...