Atomic Tiki Terrors WIP Post #1

Sketch for my new, yet untitled, painting for Creature Feature's Atomic Tiki Terrors show.

Greetings again, all!

Well, as I mentioned in the last Bats Day follow up post, I'm getting to work on my new painting for Creature Feature's next group art show taking place in July over in Burbank,  CA.  I just wrapped up the sketch Sunday night/EARLY Monday morning and am chomping at the bit to get to work on the color comp.  I've only got about two and a half weeks to paint this one, so I'm already getting nervous.  Thankfully I've learned from my Sushi Gremlin painting how to handle bamboo so hopefully it goes smoothly.

The 4 movies I reference in my painting.

If you're curious, I'm referencing 4 different movies made during the mid-fifties to the mid-sixties in this piece:  Anna from Hammer Film's The Reptile, Janice from The Wasp Woman, Jan from The Brain that Wouldn't Die, and Gor from The Brain from Planet Arous.

I'm not sure if it's the weather over here in Southern Cali, or what, but there seems to be a lot of Tiki themed shows popping up here over the last couple of months.  Creature Feature's has decided to do a Monster/Tiki mash-up show and their description of the event is as follows from their event page over on Facebook:

The flier artwork for Creature Feature's Atomic Tiki Terrors show.  Opening takes place Saturday, July 19th from 12-5pm.

This summer, Creature Features presents Atomic Tiki Terrors!, a group art show that focuses on 50's and 60's monster movies, and vintage Tiki Culture, two seemingly disparate subjects...

Mid-century America, at the dawn of the Atomic Age... to dodge the concept of nuclear annihilation, our fine citizens found refuge in exotic worlds and fantastical situations:

Kids thrilled to Monster Monster movie matinees and collected Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, where mutants, giant bugs, and space invaders all tempered (and fed on) the fear of atomic armageddon. 

Adults escaped into an exotic, make-believe world of tiki bars and backyard luaus, where Polynesian trappings and rum-based cocktails took them away from their urban surroundings and allowed them to forget their radioactive reality.

Atomic Tiki Terrors! pays tribute to this fascinating era of fads and crazes, of tikis and terrors with artwork from over 50 artists in the fields of film & TV, fine art, comics, make-up & visual FX, children’s book illustration and more!

The show will also feature a Tiki Trading Post vending area in the lot behind the gallery, live tiki-inspired music, a special tiki cocktail provided by Tonga Hut (LA’s oldest Tiki Bar!), and more surprises to be announced.

The opening reception for the show is Sunday, July 19th, from noon until 5pm. The show will be on exhibit until August 9th, during regular business hours.

This event is free, and open to the public!

Exhibiting artists include:
Abbybelle
Atomikitty
Baï
Christine Benjamin
BigToe
Robert Bowen
Kevin Cannarile
Anthony Carpenter
Ken Daly
Eric Diaz
John Eaves
Kimber Grobman
El Gato Gomez
Gris Grimly
Michael Flemming
Dawn Frasier
Thomas Fernandez
Jake Geiger
Kenneth J. Hall
Mary J. Hoffman
Doug Horne
Robert Jimenez
Phil Joyce
Junkhauler
Lake Tiki
Rebecca Lord
MP
Scott Mabbutt
Chris Mason
Woody Miller
Ken Mitchroney
Ken Morgan
John Mulder
Nesshead
Eric October
Brad Tiki Shark Parker
Doug P’Gosh
Alex Quintero
Ken Ruzic
Matt Reese
Mireya Romo-Bowen
Michael Sbicca
Ethan Spaulding
Eric Swartz
Mark Tavares
Tiki Diablo
Tiki tOny
Michael Uhlenkott
Amy Watson
Paul Wee
Woody Welch
and More!

Hope some of you can make it out for the event!  If not, have no fear, you know I'll blog the final painting (once finished).

Bats Day 2015 Wrap Up and What's Next

"In the Key of X=?"; 5"x7" Gouache; 2015

 Greetings and Salutations, followers!

Bats Day 2015 has wrapped up and I'm somewhat back to normal after the crazy, fun filled weekend.  So I figured I'd give you guys a re-cap!

This year's Bats Day weekend started on Friday, as always.  My husband and I headed down to the Sheraton Park Hotel in Anaheim, CA after loading up the car.  Every year the organizers of the Bats Day in the Fun Park weekend always throw a party.  This year was no exception and they had a wonderful costumed event.  Every year, I never commit to the party because I'm a horrible procrastinator.  I'm never sure if I'm going to  have everything ready for the Black Market the next day and choose to leave the party night open in case I have any last minute scrambling to do.  So, although I didn't formally attend the soiree, I was lucky enough to slip in for 5 minutes to check out the Preview night for the Gallery999: Through a Child's Eye's art exhibit!

"Rap on a Table"; 5"x7" Gouache; 2015

You can see my finished pieces above.  I did two small paintings for the event this year.  The first, the Trumpet playing ghost, is titled "In the Key of X=?".  It's a 5"x7" gouache painting on watercolor paper and turned out pretty darn cute.  The second, entitled "Rap on a Table" is also a 5"x7" gouache on watercolor paper painting.  I'm particularly fond of the little lamp behind the ghosts head.  At this time, the "Rap on a Table" painting is still available on the Bats Day website for $75.00 (plus tax and shipping) if anyone is interested.

Speaking of the ghosts, the companion piece I was working on didn't quite get finished in time.  Which really bummed me out.  I'm going to work on it and try to have it finished in time for ScareLA, and will have the original and prints of it on display there this year.  (Hopefully.)

@osoamelie and I are as ready as we'll ever be! Come see us. Please? Bats Day Black Market; Sheraton Park hotel in Anaheim. Here til 10! #bats #batsday #batsday2015 #batsdayblackmarket2015 #boogervampire

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on May 30, 2015 at 3:05pm PDT

So, the next day was the Bats Day Black Market, the spooky vending event.  I had to trim stock a little bit in order for everything to fit on the table, but what I didn't display wasn't really missed much (hair clips and earrings).  I took 4 different throw pillows to the Black Market this year:  the Candy Corn from the Spook Show in March, plus a pillow of the "Help Us Master Gracey" painting (R2-D2), and a Black and Green versions of the Kissing Bats I have available on Cosmetic Bags in my shop.  Since it's Bats Day (the day the Goth's take over Disneyland) I'm sure it'll be no surprise to anyone that I sold out of the Black colored Kissing Bats pillows, and the R2 pillows.  I do thankfully have more fabric on hand and will be making a few more to throw in my shop when I open it for business this Saturday, June 6th.  The new stickers went over well, and the surprising big seller was the Sushi Gremlin sticker. I sold out of a few of the Coin Purses and one of the cosmetic bags.  I'll be placing a reorder for those items in the next day or two so they'll be back in stock in time for ScareLA but not for the shop opening this month.

As far as non-stock related stuff and the Black Market, I just have to say Noah and the Bats Day team went above and beyond this year.  This year, the hotel layout was fabulous.  Everything in one place and it was clean, air conditioned and the bathrooms were easily accessible and tons of parking. . . my personal fave about the hotel?  STARBUCKS IN THE LOBBY!!!  I know, I shouldn't be so excited about Starbucks, but seriously, I need some caffeine or I'm cranky.  I had a wonderful time vending next to Ish and Jason from My Vicious Boutique and was super happy to be able to run in and chat for a second with the amazingly awesome Drew Rausch, the artist on IDW's limited Edward Scissorhands comic.  I got to chat with John, the man behind the awesome Killhouettes line, Kimmy from Moonlit Studios/Spooksieboo, and my good friend Queenie from Pocket Full of Posiez.

Overall, Black Market was a wonderful success this year and I'm contemplating doing it again next year (was thinking this might be my last year for a while)!

Your pal the Boogervampire made it into the LA Weekly!  I'm front and center, looking like a dork.

Big news about the actual Bats Day in the Fun Park event, that happens every year on Sunday of Bats Day Weekend, is that I went for longer than an hour this year!!!  Last two years I was so exhausted after the Black Market that I'd go long enough to people watch a tiny bit, eat some food, buy a droid at the Build-a-Droid stand and then bounce.  We were actually there most of the day and actually ran into people I know!!  I also had the great opportunity to meet a few people I didn't.  Overall, it was a great weekend.

So what's up next?

The Atomic Tiki Terrors Group show @ Creature Features in Burbank, CA  July 19th, 2015

Up first in July is the "Atomic Tiki Terrors" Group Show at Creature Features in Burbank, CA.  I just started the sketch and am hoping that I'll get it all wrapped up in time.  So follow the Instagram to see work in progress pics.  Let's just say, I'm putting a lot of brains into this one.  :P

All you need to know is in the picture!

Next, a month after the "Atomic Tiki Terrors" is ScareLA!  As I said in an earlier post, ScareLA is moving to Pasadena this year and if you haven't gotten tickets yet, guess who has a discount code?!  That's right!  Use your special Boogervampire discount code to get 25% off until June 22!  Just use the code: SCAREBOOGER at checkout.

That's it for this blog entry.  Later!