Fashionably Late to the Party for the Gallery999 Hatbox Ghost Tribute Show

"Fashionably Late to the Party"; 8"x10" Gouache; 2016

Greetings Ghosties and Ghoulies!  Another Bats Day in the Fun Park Weekend is upon us, and that means it's time to unveil my Gallery999 painting for the event.  This year's show was called "Home Is Where You Haunt Your Hatbox" and is devoted to everyone's favorite returning star, the Hatbox Ghost.  The unspoken theme of the show is 'where has he been all these years'.  My concept was that he's been trying to figure out what hat to wear!

If interested in prints or the original, they will both be available exclusively thru the Bats Day website until mid June, at which point it will return and be listed in my Etsy Shop, The Crypt of DOOM!!

Show Flier below.

Happy 2016

"New Year's Gillian"; Holbein Acryla Gouache; 2016

Just wanted to try kicking the New Year off right.  Sadly I couldn't get to this until late night on the 1st, but it was still finished before heading to bed. . . so yeah.  First painting of 2016.  Here's to hoping that I can make more time for the people and things I love (like painting) in 2016.  Thank you, as always, for your continued support and may you have the best of luck and good tidings for the new year.

P.S. I will be taking a year off from my vending events.  So no Spook Show, Bats Day Black Market or Hollows Market for me this year.  In addition to that, my shop, the Crypt of DOOM will be closed for a year as well.  I'm taking time to make new art, and making things to sell at these events takes time away from that.

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!

New Disneyland Tourist Stickers for Bats Day 2015

Disneyland Tourist Gillian will be available as a 7" tall sticker.  Larger than all the others 'cause I made a mistake.  >_<

Well, with only one week left before my annual outting to the Bats Day in the Fun Park weekend, things are frantically coming together.  Last year I introduced my Disneyland Tourist sticker line featuring some of the Boogervampire's buddies.  This year I continued by adding two more of his friends to the lineup.

First up is Gillian!  She's a pirate lover (remember "Pretty-Pretty Pirate Playset" from a couple of years back?) and thought she'd probably love Pirates of the Caribbean and Captain Hook.  Well, more specifically probably love Peter Pan.  So she's decked out in some actual park mementos as well as some made up accessories.  She's got her little Peter Pan hat (her trusty Star Fish buddy is hitching a ride on it), a replica of Mr. Smee's t-shirt, Jack Sparrow's boots, Captain Hook's Sword and brought a little stuffed animal of "Tick Tock" along with her for the day.  She's getting ready to munch on one of those tasty Mickey ice cream bars too!

Disneyland Tourist Sheldon will be available as a 5" tall sticker and is in scale with last year's Disneyland Tourist Frannie.

Second is Sheldon.  Last year's second sticker was his girlfriend Frannie, so I really wanted to 'complete the set' by making Sheldon this year.  He's a bit of a gear-head so he totally loves going over to Cars Land at Disney's California Adventure.  He picked up a Flying Tire hat, a tasty beverage from the Cozy Cone and grabbed a finish flag from the Radiator Springs Racers (his car must have won)!  Sheldon has a ton of tiny little details including a Disneyland 60th Anniversary t-shirt and a Haunted Mansion 40th Anniversary Shag Hawaiian shirt.

Yes!!! @stickermule delivers awesomeness yet again. Tourist Gillian stickers arrived today! They are HUGE. (Okay, not HUGE but 7 inches tall.) They will be available at the Bats Day Black Market next Saturday, May 30th at the Sheraton in Anaheim, CA. Follow @batsday for more details. #batsday #blackmarket2015 #batsdayblackmarket2015 #disneylandtourist #creaturefromthepinklagoon

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on May 21, 2015 at 8:28pm PDT

Only 2 and a half weeks left to prepare for this year's Bats Day Black Market on May 30th! (2015) got 3 pillows made this weekend and am halfway thru the Disneyland Tourist Gillian sticker. I will have 5 of these pillows with me at the Black Market and will last the leftovers in the shop in June. ALSO, you can kind of make out the brocade on the back of the pillow in this photo. #spoonflower #handmade #throwpillow #hauntedmansion #disneyland #r2D2 #starwars #graveyard #cemetery #tombstone #batsday2015 #blackmarket2015 #batsday #blackmarket #wip

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on May 10, 2015 at 10:41pm PDT

Next weekend, if you choose to come out and visit with me at the Bats Day Black Market, in addition to the two new stickers I'll also be debuting 3 new pillows.  I decided to turn the Haunted Mansion meets Star Wars painting from 2013 into some throw pillows.  They look really awesome and have a custom made brocade on the back.  Currently there are two color options, but only by accident.  The first batch of pillows' brocade was too dark so the second batch of fabric I ordered I fixed the brocade which resulted in a bolder,  more turquoise brocade.  The second and third new pillows are of the Kissing Bats design I've had around for a couple of years on pins, cosmetic bags and coin purses.  I'm trying two color styles with them.  The first is my 'classic' two tone lime green background color and the second is a two tone gray background.  I'm still determining the pricing for the pillows right now, but they will probably be $30, just like the Candy Corn pillows are.

I will also have my regular assortment of goodies with me next Saturday, May 30th (2015).  I did a relatively large restock of my regular assortment of Cosmetic Bags and Coin Purses after the Spook Show, so if you're finding yourself needing one of those, I'll have it!

So, once again (and in closing), if you're heading to the Bats Day in the Fun Park weekend at Disneyland next weekend, I'll be vending at the Bats Day Black Market on May 30th from 3-10pm at the Sheraton in Anaheim, CA (the one on Harbor Blvd.).  Hope to see you there!

Spook Show 3 Wrap-Up and Vending Event Announcement

My husband took this picture of a crazy guy running around in a full Barlow  (Salem's Lot) costume in 90+ degree weather.  That guy had to literally be undead to survive the day in that outfit.

Hey All!  It appears that 2015 will be the year of bi-monthly blog posts as I'm obviously off to a bumpy start posting stuff this year.  So, let's get this show on the road!!

Spook Show 3 happened back on the 7th of this month (March 2015, if you read this in the future) and just like all things, it had it's ups and downs.  Overall it was a fabulous experience, again, and I look forward to next year!

Here's the play by play of events:

As good as the booth could get.  The new pop up canopy has removable walls, so it looks fancier than normal.

My normal booth 'babe' Natasha couldn't make it to this year's event so my husband had to help.  He did a really great job, and I say that because at all my past events he usually just runs around the whole day having fun and buying cool stuff from the other vendors.  But this time he had to actually work.  He was super nervous but realized it was no big deal after a couple of hours.  I decided to invest in my own pop-up vendor canopy and decided to be rebel and get a purple one.  It was pretty sweet and made me feel so much more professional having not to borrow from friends.

I unfortunately woke up late so I couldn't get breakfast or a caffeinated beverage, so the first couple hours were the most stressful of the day because 1) I'm sooo not a morning person, 2) as I get older the angrier I get if I don't eat regular meals, and 3) if I don't get a Pepsi first thing in the morning to help me wake up, all hell breaks loose.  BUT, even though I didn't eat until noon, I was still able to get us to La Mirada in time for set up by 8:30am and we were rearing to go at 12 when the first attendee's arrived!

My husband took photos of one of the Hearses at the Hearse Show all lit up after dark with Purple lights.

I sold out of nearly all the cosmetic bags and coin purses and would have sold out of the three pillows I made, but I didn't find out until the end of the day that the one pillow I had placed on reserve for a client could be released to the public and they would buy one at a later date.  (GREAT NEWS:  There is one Candy Corn Pillow for sale in the Crypt of DOOM!! if anyone would like to snag it for themselves before I do a restock.)  I'll be receiving a restock of the cosmetic and coin purses very soon as I'm starting to prep for the events I'll be mentioning at the end of this blog post.

Candy Corn throw pillows!!  6 more on their way soon.

Also in the great news category, the pillows had a very positive response from people online and at the event, so I've decided I'll be making a couple more pillows for future events!  Check out my Instagram and Facebook for working progress images or announcements as to when new product will be dropping.

Janice, the crazy happy owner of the Sushi Gremlins painting.

As for the Sushi Gremlins, we orchestrated a 'Extreme Makeover' type surprise for the recipient of the Sushi Gremlin original painting.  As I may have said in previous posts, I don't do commissions.  I'm just too busy and stretched too thin to add all the worry that is involved with custom work to my plate, but the Sushi Gremlins piece was an exception to the rule.  A very dear family friend asked me to 'do my thing' and paint his wife and two daughters as monsters eating sushi, the result was the Sushi Gremlins.  He told me their favorite colors, told me a little bit about their personality types, and most importantly he related to me stories of when they go out to eat together and what happens at the table.  Oh, and since they love Hawaii he asked if I could somehow make it look like they were eating sushi in Hawaii.

Anyway, our dear friend decided that he was going to bring his wife over that day, knowing that the painting was finished and that I had chosen to put it on display at the event.  She literally gravitated strait to it like it had a tractor beam engaged.  She just kept staring at it and smiling and commenting on all the little details.  My husband was as excited as I was to have it delivered and being admired by the person who it was secretly painted for, that he was like "Oh, so you like that painting huh?  How much do you like that painting?"  When she said she loved it we told her it was her's and that her husband had secretly commissioned it for her nearly two years ago.  She was overcome with surprise and joy.  It was the perfect ending and I couldn't have asked for things to go any better.  I just hope that their daughters like it as much as they do.

Got to see my old Neopets pal Irene!  Thanks for coming by Irene!  Oh yeah, that's me and my husband.

That pretty much wraps up Spook Show 3.  I got a chance to visit with followers, which always brings me great joy, visit with good friends like Irene, Alan, Tom and Nicole, and meet other vendors whom I only see at these kinds of events but are equally sweet and fun to be around.

Now, onto announcements!!!

Bats Day in the Fun Park WEEKEND!!!  May 29th thru the 31st, 2015

Yes, I'll be back at the Bats Day Black Market this year!  2015's Black Market will take place on May 30th at the really fancy Sheraton in Anaheim.  It's always fun and I'm planning on making two new pillows for this event!  I'll be turning the Haunted Mansion/Star Wars mash up painting that I call "Help Us Master Gracey, You're Our Only Hope" into a throw pillow as well as the "Kissing Bats" that you can see in my shop on cosmetic bags and a button.  I'm also planning on expanding the Disneyland Tourist Monster Sticker line up by adding two new stickers.  2015 will be bringing Sheldon (Frankenstein's Monster) and ONE of the following: either Prudence, Gillian (Creature), or Booger (as in Boogervampire).  I still haven't decided, but stay tuned in and you'll find out!

My 3rd year doing this event!  Past paintings were "Help Us Master Gracey, You're Our Only Hope" and "Little Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners"

Speaking of Bats Day, I'll also be participating in this year's Gallery999 Haunted Mansion Tribute Art Show again this year.  This will probably be my last year doing it, and I'm in a bit of a funk with the piece (if you've been following a while, you know I signed a contract that prevents me from showing any of it until it has debuted at the show on May 30th) but I'm hoping to get over that this coming weekend.

One of my two favorite Conventions!  This and Monsterpalooza are the only two I actually BRAVE crowds to go to on purpose.  It's that good!!  If an introvert with a fear of crowds won't miss it, you shouldn't either!

Lastly, I'll also be vending again this year at ScareLA!!  We sincerely had SUCH A GOOD TIME last year, that we couldn't WAIT to go back this year.  What's more exciting is that they've moved it from Downtown LA to the Pasadena Convention Center!!  It's a much larger place, and the lazy little turd that I am can't deny having it closer to home is AWESOME!!  You can get tickets now to the Event by visiting the official ScareLA website.

That's it for this month!  Hopefully I'll have stuff I can post soon that's new or in progress, but until then, head over to the Crypt of DOOM!! before I get to busy at work and have to close it again.  Going to try leaving it open for another week.  Fingers crossed things at work stay calm enough that I can handle both with out pulling all my hair out!  LATER ALL!

Sushi Gremlins and Spook Show 3

Sushi Gremlins; Gouache 8"x10"; 2015

I'm relieved, and overjoyed to say that this last weekend I was finally able to finish my Sushi Gremlins painting.  I started it back in November of 2013 and is the most time I've ever spent on a single painting.  I honestly lost track of how much time I invested in it, but I'd say it was close to 600 hours (if not more).  It's the most detailed piece I've managed to pull off and probably the most fun.

I also want to announce my participation in the Halloween Club's 3rd Annual Spook Show in La Mirada this March 7th (2015).  For more details, see Halloween Club's Facebook Event and get your free tickets are available here.

In addition to prints of the Sushi Gremlins, I'll have a new sticker featuring one of the gremlins available which you can see here:

Picked up my #sushigremlins #stickers this morning! @stickermule did a fantastic job, yet again! These will be available at the 3rd Annual Spook Show @halloweenclubs in La Mirada on March 6th! #sushimonsters #stickermule #spookshow #spookshow3 #sticker #vinylsticker #spookycute

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on Feb 6, 2015 at 1:58pm PST

And testing new product of the following items.  I'll only have one of each on hand, so be sure to get there early if you'd like to take one of these bad boys home:

Alright everybody!! I'll be testing new product at @halloweenclubs #spookshow3 next month. I'll have only one of each of these available on March 7th in La Mirada. Check their Facebook event page for more details and links to getting your free tickets! (The Mothra bag turned out freaking adorable!!!) Pictured: 2 canvas tote bags featuring my Godzilla and Mothra paintings, one cosmetics bag featuring my Museum of the Weird painting and one coin purse featuring a Sushi Gremlin. #cryptofdoom #boogervampire #spookshow #newproduct #kaiju #cutekaiju #sushigremlins #museumoftheweird #cthulhu #godzilla #mothra #spookycute

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on Feb 17, 2015 at 7:26pm PST

Hope to see you there!

Ten: A Magical Collection Show

Greetings Guys and Dolls!  I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween full of spooking people and eating way too much garbage.  Time for the next event announcement, and an apology that it took so long to announce it.  My hiatus came to an end back at the beginning of October and things have been screwy the entire month as I readjusted to the schedule and workload.  Anyway, NEXT SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT!

Ten: A Magical Art Collection By 10 Fabulous Females
Opening Receptions Friday, November 7th, 2014 from 6-9pm
The Animation Guild's Gallery 839, Burbank, CA

For more info please visit their Facebook Invite:

https://www.facebook.com/events/350475755111742/?fref=ts

A month or so ago I was invited to fill the spot of an artist who unfortunately had to drop out at the last minute.  I'm really excited about this show for two reasons.  First is that I've never had an opportunity to hang a bunch of my paintings in the same place for the same show.  Well, never outside of my living room anyway.  Secondly I'm excited because this will be the first time I've had the opportunity to put the original of the "Pretty-Pretty Pirate Playset" on display.  Since the painting was done for fun and not specifically for a show it's just kind of been quietly sitting on a wall in my home.  Below you'll see a sampling of the original paintings that will be on display, and for purchase at the gallery thru the month of November.

"Madame Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners"; 11"x 14" gouache; 2014

"Ice-Scream Social"; 8x10 gouache; 2011

"Truly Outrageous"; 9"x7" gouache; 2009

"Pretty-Pretty Pirate Playset"; 5"x7" gouache; 2012

"Wee Emily Dover"; 8"x9" gouache; 2013

"Dear Prudence"; 4"x6" gouache; 2014

Also, since it's the first week of November, I want to start prepping people for my one week holiday opening for this Christmas/Chanukah/Winter Holiday of your choice over at the Crypt of DOOM!  I will open the shop on Black Friday (November 28th, 2014) and close it at midnight the following Friday (December 5th, 2014).  This will be the only time the shop is open for the holidays this year as it's become difficult to run the Crypt of DOOM properly when I'm at work.  So if you'd like to get someone special from my collection of products, please do so during that first week of December.  Also, it'll give the post office proper time to *fingers crossed* get you your packages before Christmas.

That's it for now.  Until my next update!

ScareLA Weekend Recap

Greetings Boils and Ghouls!

The last few weeks leading up to the ScareLA (or Scare Los Angeles) convention have been full of wild craziness.  Most anticipated (making new product and restocking stuff) and some was unexpected (my car breaking down while out purchasing last minute supplies for the convention).  But after all was said and done, ScareLA was just as wonderful, fun, stressful and tiring as I had been told it would be.

My always wacky and supportive husband posing at the table  on the morning of Day 2.

Let's get strait to business in this post first (that way if you get bored and decided to stop reading you'll at least get the important news first)!

If you had been patiently waiting for the "Help Us Master Gracey, You're Our Only Hope" (a.k.a. R2D2) coin purse and cosmetic bag restock, I do have bad news.  I sold out of the coin purses over the weekend and need to order new ones, again (it'll be about a month).  I do have ONE cosmetics bag left after the weekend and it's live, in the shop, right now.  I've reordered some of those as well and should expect them at the same time the new coin purses come in.  I also sold out of the "Kissing Bats" coin purses, the BRAND NEW "Wee Emily Dover" coin purses (still ONE cosmetics bag of that left, btw), the "Truly Outrageous" cosmetics bags, and quite a few necklaces.  I'll be gradually listing the new product that was made for ScareLA thru out the week, so check the Crypt of DOOM! frequently to see what's popped up!

One of the many new necklaces I made for ScareLA.

My newest cosmetic bag and coin purse design went over so well I have to reorder!  At the time of writing this, there is one Cosmetics bag left available over in the Crypt of DOOM!

This little guy found a new home this weekend!  Goodbye my little Batty friend!

Decided to offer a new, larger size option for the "Master Gracey" prints.  They were popular.

One of 3 sketch cards made for the event.  The left overs will be listed in the Crypt of DOOM by the end of the week.

Business done, now is time to wax poetic about the weekend!  I had a wonderful time.  It was my first two day event and it was overwhelming, at times, how many people would be at the booth at once.  I ran out of one of my more popular business card designs and almost ran out of a second (I now have 6 design options for people to choose from at events).  If I can judge by the amount of Prudence post cards I have left over, since I was giving them out to people who bought something, I made a lot of sales because there is barely any left of the 100 I had made.  I discovered that I'm not the only one that loves Prudence, the Boogervampire's sassy older sister because she had a LOT of new merchandise with her on it sell this weekend.  I tried making sketch cards for the first time on this outing, and although none sold, people's reaction to them was positive.  I got to meet a BUNCH of my Instagram and Facebook followers, and fellow artist Lupe Flores came out to say hello and brought me a beautiful print of her work!  (Thank you, Lupe!!)  I got super socially awkward when artist Gris Grimly stopped and looked at my "Little Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners" painting, and at one point Director John Landis was walking the floor and leaned in to look at my table and smiled.  It was so exciting.  As usual though, I only ever left the table to use the Ladies Room so I didn't see too much.  Thankfully that's where my husband comes in.  He runs all over these events taking photos and showing them to me later.  I hope that one day, after I've gotten used to going to these kinds of things, I'll feel confident enough to leave the booth and go take a look at my surroundings more.

The print that the talented Lupe Flores brought to me on the 2nd day of ScareLA.  Thank you again Lupe!

This show will be up and on display until August 23rd, 2014

Saturday night, in addition to the all day convention, I headed over to Creature Features in Burbank, CA to check out the Creature from the Black Lagoon 60th Anniversary Tribute Show.  I had submitted my painting "He's So Dreamy!" into the show when I realized I didn't have time to create anything new.  I was overjoyed (and a bit sad at first) to discover that my "baby" had sold.  I only hope that whomever purchased her finds joy every time they look at it and love it as much as I do/did.

Green dots are bittersweet things!  Goodbye my friend, you'll be missed.

A pic from just after He's So Dreamy was completed from November of 2012.

There were many amazing, fun and nostalgic pieces in the Creature show, in addition to mine.   My inner geek loved the Uncle Gilbert costume from the Munsters TV show!  If you're in the Southern California region you might want to head over to the shop and check the show out before it ends on August 23rd (2014)!

Come on out and see my latest creation September 6th, 2014!

Up next?  Well, against my better judgment I couldn't pass up an opportunity to take part in the Museum of the Weird Tribute show for Imagineer and Animator Rolly Crump that will be taking place at Creature Features next month.  I hopped on board a little late so I only have until September 6th to conceptualize and create the piece.  Wish me luck!

That's it for now.  I'm going to go crawl into bed for about a week.  Until the next update, LATER GATORS!

Pink Parlour Wrap-Up and the Next Big Event!

Visit ScareLA's website for more information and Ticket Info.

Greetings again, boils and ghouls!

The Pink Parlour Festival is a wrap, so what's up next?  Well, I am attempting my first two day event!    I'll be vending this August 9th and 10th at LA's premier Halloween enthusiast convention, ScareLA!!  I'm really excited about this one.  It's the convention's second year and they've been dropping teasers left and right as to the panels for this years event and it sounds great!  I would especially love to sit in on the 45th Anniversary panel for Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, but I'm pretty sure I'll be super busy at my table and will have to send my minions in to take photos for me.  (And by minions I just mean my husband.)  I've reordered a lot of my products for the ScareLA event and I even added a new cosmetic and coin purse design to my inventory.  I'll also be coming up with a new sticker or two for the event (possibly a new Disneyland Tourist Monster and a Halloween themed sticker) and making up some new necklaces.  So follow my Instagram to see work in progress images as I prepare for ScareLA and I hope to see some of you there!

The ad used for Instagram.  Facebook had a similar one.

Now, back to the Pink Parlour Festival re-cap!  It was wonderful to get out and visit with all my followers and make new ones.  Got to meet a few people whom I speak with on Instagram, got to meet with Dahlia Deranged and apologize that I can't take part in the Hollows Market that they're organizing for the end of next month (which you should check out if you live in the Los Angeles area and love gothy-spooky goodness), as well as touching bases with the FABULOUS AbbyBelle and Eva Rose from Evil Rose Designs

My table was table 78 and I was fortunate (and unfortunate) enough to be right near the stage.  We had all sorts of fun live entertainment to listen to while we worked at this event.  Quite a few bands, a fashion show and a pin up contest were just some of the events on the main stage.  Only down side is that as I get older my hearing gets worse so I had a HORRIBLE time trying to hear anyone that came by the booth, but I managed.  ;)

Prudence Stickers turned out awesome and are now available in the Crypt of DOOM.

The new Prudence stickers made their debut and were received well. . . not as well as the Disneyland Tourist Frannie stickers, but well.  The left over stickers have been posted over in the Crypt of DOOM and are $4 each if you'd like to pick one up.  We were excited to see a large number of items sell out for once.  All the Disneyland Tourist Frannie Stickers are gone, and have been reordered.  The "Help Us Master Gracey" coin purses as well as the "IceScream Social" coin purses all sold out and have been reordered as well as the "IceScream Social" cosmetic bags.

A 'Lil Parisian Mishap

And the first painting of 2014 is here!  Technically this piece started back in December.  We had a charity art auction for the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles at work for the Holidays and I wanted to contribute a piece of non-work related art to the event but a whole bunch of random things happened all at the same time and the painting got shelved.  It was a good thing it did too!

Originally this piece was supposed to be a companion piece to "'Lil 'Zilla's Wish".  It was going to have a similar color scheme as well as a similar theme.  The natural, woodsy color scheme didn't look  as nice though and during my winter vacation I approached the piece from a different angle and I think I'm happier with it.  Below you'll see the original daytime color scheme and the sketch.

Things have gotten a little crazier than usual over at the day job.  Next Season's American Dad episodes are in production and have a little more involved than usual so I've got a heavier work load.  Taking this into account I decided it would be best to close my Etsy Shop, the Crypt of DOOM, for 6 months (until my break between seasons starts).  As with my other shop closure times, if you need any of my more popular prints (Ice-Scream Social, He's So Dreamy and Truly Outrageous to be specific) you can pick them up at Halloween Town in Burbank, CA.

Getting in the Spirit

Greetings Boils and Ghouls!

Not much to report this week, but at least I've done two posts this month (so far)!  I've got two gouache paintings I need to finish pretty quickly and since the last painting was acrylic I did this little Boogerbat to ease into the medium again.  It's kinda tough finding a background color that looks good with my dear friend the Boogerbat.  I kinda got married to the idea of him being a darker shade of periwinkle about 10 years ago and as much as I try, it just doesn't seem like him if he's not that color.

This is available in limited quantities for the Holidays over in the Crypt of DOOM!

Enjoy!

Boogervampire Mini-Painting and Another Monster Girl Challenge

"Snotty Big Slurp"; 4"x6" Gouache; 2013

 Greetings all!  It appears that I let half of July slip away from me again.  I recently looked back at all the posts from 2006 and back then I updated like CRAZY!!!  Now I'm lucky if I remember once a month.  So sad.  Of course, every time I start to think about how I'm not updating my blog I remind myself that it's been over a year since I've truly updated my website and then that makes me feel better about the blog.

Technically the 13th color comp was the charm.

Anyway.  So remember that "Boogervampire Mini-Painting" I did some color comps for a month or so ago?  I FINALLY had the opportunity to get back to that!  I wound up sitting down and doing one last color comp.  I truly wanted to do a purple and green background and although the other backgrounds were great and fun, at the end of the day it just wasn't what I wanted.  So I figured out how to make it work.  Why was I so dead set on the purple and green color scheme?  Well I'd like to use this little guy to help with website promotions (#1) and I've had a frame floating around the house for over a year that I wanted to use really bad.  And it was lime green.  Wanna see?

Lime green frames are always awesome.

July 1st, at 12:01am I closed the Crypt of DOOM down for an extended hiatus.  Since then I've already been up to all sorts of creepy cute fun stuff.  Specifically, I decided to take on the second round of the 30 Day Monster Girl Challenge.  I had so much fun back in February, that I wanted to see if I could challenge myself to do it again!

Day 1: Nymph

Day 2: Werewolf Girl

Day 3:  Yeti Girl

Day 4: Minotaur Girl

Day 6: Gorgon Girl

Day 6: Golum

Day 7: Selkie

Day 8: Witch

Day 9: Ghoul Girl

Day 10: Reaper Girl

Day 11: Banshee

Sadly, I've been slipping up on my dates, but I'm trying to get on track.  Here you'll find the first 11.  I'm hoping to catchup in the next week or so.  There have already been three I'd love to take the time to render digitally.  I'm thinking when I go on hiatus from my day job in August I might try teaching myself (or, take a class on) how to paint in photoshop.  As times change and evolve, I need to start adapting as well.  BUT, I'm never gonna stop painting for real.  I HAVE to disconnect from the computer or I'll go nuts.

So what's next?  Let's see. . . I still have to finish the wedding thank you card, which as I said previously, I'll spare you the in-progress shots of; trying to learn how to paint in photoshop; and possibly starting a Macross themed art piece for a Macross convention in August.