Story Time Group Show at Monkeyhouse Toys

"Wee Emily Dover"
8"x7"; Gouache; 2013

"Wee Emily Dover
Laid amongst the clover.
With her trusty bear she'd play
and color the night away.
Until the Sandman made her yawn,
Which coincided with the dawn."

Greetings all!  Well it's been a few weeks since the last post. . . and painting.  I should have never taken that week off after finishing the "Tech or Treat" painting for the Macross World Convention.  It took a good two weeks AFTER the week off to get back into the groove of things, but thankfully I DID get back into the groove.

This past Saturday was the Opening Reception for the "Story Time Group Show" at Monkeyhouse Toys.  The show, as I said before, had a fun concept.  Take an original character and tell it's story.  At first I was going to just use some of my other monster characters, but at the last minute (about two weeks til deadline) I decided the time had come to cross a painting off of my "to do in the future" list.

The more defined sketch for the painting.  Tombstone designs were figured out later because I wanted to make sure they were different than previous one's I've done.

The color comps.  So many of them.

About three years ago I told my husband about this idea of having a cute little skeleton girl coloring in her coloring book with her stuffed animals. . . in a graveyard.  Every now and then I'd doodle what I thought the little skeleton girl should look like, but I could never get her right.  I'd put the painting idea on this list I keep in the back of my planner of ideas that I'd like to eventually do when I feel my skill level has improved enough to do them justice.  And it was here that the little skeleton girl idea sat, until a three weeks ago, when everything fell into place.

Below are pictures from the opening reception.  I went early to check out the artwork and because I got sick on the last day of finishing my painting. :(

The Wall o' Art at the Story Time Show opening.

A giant standee of one of the Bleenkies for people to take photos with.

I found Emily on the wall!

Macross World Convention 2013 and Deculture: A Tribute to Macross

**UPDATE**

Just got the Flyer in for the show at the Convention.   You may continue. ;)

Over the last week I've been working on completing painting number 4 out of the 6 paintings I have to have completed by November 1st.  Sadly, the painting affiliated with the above poster for Macross World Convention 2013's art show "Deculture: A Tribute to Macross" is another "contractually obligated to not show before a certain date" painting.  Which I BARELY caught in the fine print at the last minute cause I was so tired.

Just before my birthday I was contacted by the organizers of the Macross World Convention.  They are having their first ever gallery/art exhibit entitled "Deculture: A Tribute to Macross" and they asked me if I'd participate.  I was hesitant at first because I don't know very much about Macross and it felt strange doing tribute/fan art for something I've never really seen.  I was honest with them and told the truth, but when they wrote back and said that they just loved my style and would be curious to see what I came up with in.  Then they were nice enough to give me a crash course in the world of Macross.  How could I say no when they were so nice about things?

You'll have to wait until October 6th to see the new painting, but, I can tell you I titled it "Tech or Treat" and it'll probably give someone a cavity.  Gouache, as usual, for the medium and pretty small.  As I get more information I'll try to do a follow up post with more specific info.

NOW I finally get a much needed week off (just in-time to watch season premiers on CBS) between painting number 4 and painting number 5. . . and then I'll get a whole 2 and a half weeks to complete painting number 5!  Believe me, I could use it.  What's the next show?  Why thank you for asking.  Up next in mid-october is "Story Time" a group show organized by Oscar Rosales of Bleenkies fame at Monkeyhouse Toys in Silverlake, CA.  Just check out the flyer for more info.

Godzilla's Paper Cranes: Part 3 and Wrap-up

"Little 'Zilla's Wish"; 6x6 inch Gouache on watercolor paper; 2013

 So, as a way of practicing for future show's where I may be contractually obligated to wait to post images of my paintings until the opening, I thought I'd practice on "Little 'Zilla's Wish".  He was soooo fun to work on, as I'm sure you gathered from the other two posts.  What started as a smart ass, sarcastic  conversation to a friend turned into something truly endearing and fun.

Details!!  if you look super close at the shoreline you'll see some white squiggles.
Yeah, they're actually seagulls.  I got a little lost in the pretty.

I actually saw someone comment on tumblr (yes, I have one of those too) that if they thought my piece had anything to do with the non-fiction kid's book "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" they were going to start balling.  I can honestly say, I wish my imagination was capable of something so moving.  The idea of everyone in the world, including Godzilla, trying to help that little girl finish her quest to make 1000 paper cranes after her death is indeed touching and would make me cry too.  Sadly, as I stated in the last post, it's just because he doesn't like humans and wants them to go away so he doesn't have to resort to violence.  Considering how many Godzilla movies there have been, I think we all know he didn't finish his 1000 cranes.

The other pile of cranes.  He's a long way from hitting that 1000 mark.

So, yeah.  The last few pictures of this and then we'll move on to other, boring, projects.  Namely finally getting the thank you card made for my wedding which was nearly a year ago.  According to the etiquette guides I still have time. :P  Unfortunately, according to my conscience I'm about 4 months over due.  Don't worry, I won't post that one up til it's finished.  No one really wants to see more Halloween themed wedding crap, do they?  Exactly.

Not the best pic, but here's all the pieces on the wall.  Wonderful show!!

My dear friend Natasha Kline's piece "Bean's Beach Bungalow" turned out beautifully!

Oscar Rosales' Bleenkies pieces always bring a smile to my face.  The little book below is now part of our collection.  Carlos couldn't resist a little piece of kid's art called "Mr. Poo Poo's trip to Vegas. 

Even more of the artwork.  The random hand is pointing to Jason Leung's Moby Dick inspired piece.

Look!  There's the painting!  Monkeyhouse Shows are always so diverse.

So lastly,  I'm taking an extended break from my Etsy Shop the Crypt of DOOM!  I've basically taken too much on for one person to manage and something's gotta go.  Right now it's the Etsy Shop.  I'm hoping, if things go well, to have the shop open again in time for the holidays (probably around November 1st, 2013).  The plus side of closing is that #1) my husband won't feel so neglected anymore, #2) I can focus 100% of my daytime attention to my day job, which I'm very lucky to have and #3) I'll be able to focus more on my painting when I'm not focusing on numbers 1 and 2.  I have a million ideas in my head right now and I need to get some of them out cause they're eating at me.

Til the next update. . . later ghoulies!!

Godzilla's Paper Cranes: Part 2

Well, for the first time ever I'm done with a painting two weeks before the deadline.  I think somewhere hell might be freezing over a bit.

This is probably the closest I've gotten to my color comps yet.

Had way too much fun with the paper cranes.  Was overjoyed to use my Neon colors again. 

Saved the shoreline rocks for last (before Godzilla that is).  even tried to get a bit of a reflection in the water.

If you've been following me on Instagram the last week or so you've undoubtably been bombarded by images of the new painting.  Not a full image though, just little close ups.  I've decided to wait until the day after the show opening to post an picture of the whole thing (uninterrupted).  Above, and below, you'll see a recap of the Instagram images.  If you have Instagram and you're not following me yet, you are more than welcome to.  Be forewarned, lately (in addition to work in progress images) I've been posting a lot of images of my cats and my Jem Doll collection.

The piece is finished, but this is all you get to see until opening night, June 29th, 2013.

Although I'm not going to post an image of the final piece yet, I will tell you the details!  I think I've decided to call the piece "Little 'Zilla's Wish" and he's 6"x6" square.  He's been framed in a white 8"x8" frame with a double mat of white and a custom inner mat with real origami paper.  I'm most proud of the matt, is that strange?  I've been cutting my own mats now for about 3 years and this is not only the first time I've tried gluing a texture/color paper to the mat to make it unique, but it's also the first time I've actually cut the mat square!

Anyway, if you live in Southern Cali, the Paper Trail opening is June 29th from 5-8pm at Monkeyhouse Toys in Silverlake, CA.

Also, closing June 28th is the "Pagan Spring" show over at ELEU Salon in Burbank, CA.  I've had my three Medusa paintings on display there for the last two months.  I've heard thru the grapevine that the two smaller one's have found new homes.  I'm slightly sad, but very happy that they're going to make someone's home a little more entertaining.

Godzilla's Paper Cranes: Part 1

WIP Color comp of new yet to be named Godzilla piece.

 Well, unfortunately things have been crazy busy in the work arena and I haven't been able to get back to the Boogervampire painting.  Probably won't be getting to it until my NEXT three day weekend (which is the 4th of July).  BUT this is the reason why, I actually have a work in progress post for a new painting!

Instagram post of the final sketch.

Little Godzilla, before he got soooo frustrated as an adult that he destroyed Tokyo multiple times, really doesn't care for humans very much.  He's taken to making 1000 paper cranes in hopes that once he completes all 1000 of them humans might disappear.  So yeah, sketch that I posted over on the Instagram and this color comp.

The show will be called "Paper Trail" and will open over at Monkeyhouse Toys in Silverlake, CA on June 29th.  Stay tuned for updates on the completed piece!

From the Kubrick Exhibit (left to right): Directors slates from  2001, A Clockwork Orange, the Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut; Storyboards from Spartacus; the iconic blue dresses of the little girls in the Shining, costume designs from 2001; and a matte painting from Spartacus.

In closing this week, I'd like to add, I finally made it to the Stanley Kubrick exhibit at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)! Simply wonderful show and tons of great stuff to satisfy the movie buff in me as well as the artist. What you don't see in the photo's above is examples of his photography which I found to be truly gorgeous. I don't know why I was so surprised to see that they were so lovely.

If you live in the LA area and haven 't been to the exhibit yet it's totally worth the $20 entrance fee, or at least I thought it was.

Another Year Wiser

Whelp, it's my birthday.  What do I have to show for it?  A couple more gray hairs have been added to the streak at my temple. Although I normally try to hide this patch with some completely unnatural hair color, every two years or so I let my hair grow out so that I can get back it's natural moisture and strength. On the plus side, to the gray hair con side, I'm now 15 pounds lighter which means I can fit back into some of my older jeans!  (Translation:  I don't have to go buy new ones!)

The last month has been relatively uneventful.  With no hard deadlines looming on anything I've gotten a little lazy.  Not sure if that's a good thing, since I was nearly pulling my hair out while I ran all over the place getting the "Just Desserts" show ready and some would argue I could use the break, or if it's a bad thing. (Speaking of, Monkeyhouse just asked me if they could extend the show til July.  You can see the show online by clicking here.)

Most of the things I have been working on I can't post online yet.  Some of them have to wait until after Halloween.  But be sure I'll be doing a HUGE post after Halloween chock full of Voodoo Doll goodness.

I've started my first personal Monster Kid painting (translation: not created for a group show of some sort).  I still have no idea what to call that series of paintings, but as it grows I think I might have to figure something out soon.  Monster Kids just sounds lame.  I digress.  This painting goes back to one of the first monsters in the series, the Creature from the Pink Lagoon and I've been dying to do this painting for a couple of years now.  Found the perfect frame on Etsy about a year ago, so I've kind of been working backwards on it.  Got the frame, then got it matted, and now I'm doing the sketch so that I can size it to fit in my mat since I knew exactly how I wanted to present it

Then, when I wasn't procrastinating on my voodoo doll project, or my Creature painting, I had my first sugar skull commission thru Etsy.  I don't normally do commission work due to my work load from my day job, but since it was sugar skulls representing the client's kids, I thought I'd give it a shot.  Got to try a couple ideas I'd been tossing around in my head for future skulls, namely trying to make a boy skull, incorporating a diamond into a skull, and of course, fire.  The client was gracious enough to let me post the finished skulls here on the blog and on my Facebook Fan Page.

It's ALIVE!!

A selection of the awesomely sweet artwork from "Just Desserts"

I sincerely thought that leading up to the "Just Desserts" show opening I would have done a million blog posts, but alas, I did not.


First off let me give a big THANK YOU to Mayra over at Monkeyhouse Toys for letting me fill her walls and shop window full of delectable artwork from a bunch of exceptionally talented artists.  I was honestly amazed by the turn out opening night and I don't think I'd be exaggerating by saying I think we had close to 450 people come out to see all of the artists hard work.  I showed up half an hour early to set up the refreshment table and there was already 10 people there viewing the artwork, and the number of people only grew as the three hour opening progressed.  Granted there were lulls, but the "lull" was that there was maybe only 20 people in the shop before the next rush of 50 or so would show up.  Sincerely awesome.  Seeing the turn out, the happy faces on the guests and seeing old friends I hadn't seen in years made busting my ass for the last three months totally worth it.  (You can view more photos from the event by visiting Monkeyhouse Toys Facebook Page and the Just Desserts album.)


You know what else made busting my butt for the last week heading up to the show worth it?  These two!  Meet two new additions to my little monster universe.  Freddy (Frankenstein) and Igor.

"It's ALIVE!!" 8.5"x 10.5" Gouache 2012

After years of drawing my monster foods, I can finally say with pride, I now know where they come from.  Freddy and Igor got bored after making Hugo the Frankenstein Monster (see "Ice-Scream Social") and decided they'd rather put their skills for creating life to a more demonic use.

Freddy, as you can see in these early sketches took quite a while to get out of my head (there is actually 4 more pages of sketches, I just chose the better looking of them to show).  I really wanted to make him look a little like Peter Cushing, but cute.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to make Peter Cushing cuddly cute?  Lets just say it took over a month to figure out.  Igor was MUCH easier.  He was pretty much ready to go after the first sketch.  I tweeked some of his shapes a bit and gave him a more up to date outfit (and braces).  Tee hee, he has a cross between emo and Justin Bieber hair, but his cute piggy nose makes that okay.

Doesn't really look like a young Cushing, but I tried to bite his hair from the old Hammer Films.

What kind of sucked was that I had a working thumbnail sketch for my painting a month and a half or so before it was due. . . but because Freddy took so long to come out of my head, I only got the final sketch done one week before the painting was due.

Then. . . because it's me and I can't do anything the easy way, it took two hole days to find a color comp I was happy with.  Once it was done though, I got right to work.  Thought I'd share an in progress I posted on Facebook.

It took 4 days to get this far.

Oh, and in case you're curious.  The Monster Foods/experiments are as follows, starting on the top left hand shelf.  Orange Flavored Pop-cicle (behind coil; it is also Baron von Cicula from my shop), a couple of cantankerous chocolate bars, three Monster Cupcakes, Two slices of Monster Rainbow Cake and a Deviant Doughnut.  Second shelf, starting on the left, a batch of brownies, an Ice-Cream Sundae in a fish bowl, Experiment #01 went so horribly wrong they keep him in a shoe box, and of course, the Grape-tastic Monster Cone (which you can find in my shop as a cellphone charm).  On the work table, in front of Freddy and Igor, is their latest experiment, a fantastically ferocious fruit tart!

In it's fancy frame on the wall.  Happy accident that the mat matched the painting exactly!

 
So yeah.  To wrap up.  The gallery opening went off with out a hitch.  I managed to get my own piece done just in the nick of time, figured out the front window display, made three sets of felt cookies for the shop (two to sell and one for the window), helped Lori set up the window for her puppets, and managed to not hide in the bathroom because there was too many people around on opening night.  All in all, a success.

Now I'm off to send samples of my monster paintings to Halloween Town in Burbank to see if they'll FINALLY let me show some of my work there.  I'm not holding my breath.

Felt Play Food

 Well, it's not what I'm supposed to be doing (once again), but this is what I've been tinkering with for the last week or so.


The art show is only a little over two weeks away now and I'm frantically trying to make sure I've got all my angles covered.  Mayra, Lori, and I are working on a window display for the front of the shop to help draw people in to the shop.  We decided to make Lori's SUPER AWESOME puppets have a tea party in the front window, but what's a tea party with out treats?  Especially in a show devoted to sweets?!

So yeah.  Felt play food cookies.  They were relatively simple, the hardest one being the ones that look like little Keebler Fudge stripe cookies.

 I'm FINALLY going to finish coming up with the design of the new "monster" for my piece this weekend (hint, it involves Peter Cushing).  So if you follow me on Facebook, keep a look out for in progress photos.  If you don't, you'll see a whole blog post devoted to the new painting once it's complete.

Let me just add, my coffee table is pretty awesome.  For the first time since we bought it we switched out the art under the glass.  I must say adding the larger images has tidied up the overall look of it and getting to look at Charles Addams comics, a page from a vintage bird guide and Bettie Paige by Olivia is more reminiscent of what goes on in my brain on a daily basis.  You know. . . all over the place.

"Just Desserts" is Coming

Facebook Event invite HERE

*** Update 05/04/2010**

It has been brought to my attention in the comments that there is a Reality TV Competition Show that goes by the SAME NAME.  This arts and crafts show is in NO WAY affiliated with the TOP CHEF spin off by the same title.  It is only a ONE MONTH, non-reoccurring arts and crafts exhibit that happens to have the same title.  This show was titled "JUST DESSERTS" for two reasons, the first being because it's primarily about DESSERTS and secondly because of the slightly twisted connotation the phrase "You'll get your just desserts" implies.

Ahhh. . . I never thought the day would come where I'd be grateful for having worked on the Millsberry.com website when I was working over at Neopets, but I am!  Thankfully when I was working over there I had to do some graphic design type stuff and had I not, this flyer would probably be pretty boring.

What's this flyer for you say?  Well a few weeks back I alluded to the fact that I had been working with Mayra over at Monkeyhouse Toys on organizing a group art show.  Well this is the show's flyer.

An entire show devoted to desserts.  Pies.  Cakes.  Ice cream. Cookies.  Candies.  Everything.

Opening Night will be Saturday, May 19th, 2012 from 6-9pm.  If you're in the area come check it out.  More updates on both my piece for the show and show details in the weeks leading up to opening night!

Cats and Beginner's Yoga Don't Mix

So, because I've been doing a lot of sitting at the computer, I recently decided to start trying to do some exercise for at least half an hour a day.  Some days I get out this beginning yoga morning and evening instructional DVD.  The cats don't really like the idea of me being in the same room with them and not paying any attention to them.  So as you can see, they try to find ways to disturb my exercise time.

These two are self explanatory.  Loki bites too much so I bit him back. . . and I've been staying up til 4am and actually got to bed at a decent hour.

I'm in the process of curating an art show over at Monkeyhouse Toys for the month of May.  It's been a while since I've curated a show (6 years now, I think) and I forgot how fun and nerve wracking it can be.  So stay tuned for quite a few posts about that in the next couple of months!

"Hi George" @ the Dragon Tales Show

 Greetings all!  Once again it's been a while since my last post.  I've been pretty busy with freelance lately, almost too busy to finish my piece for the upcoming Dragon Tales Show over at Monkeyhouse Toys in Silverlake, CA.  But as you can see, I finished it just in time!

This show's painting is pretty simple.  I was in such a hurry to start it I skipped the color comp step in my process again.  Although I'm happy with how it turned out, I know it could have been better if I'd just taken the time to do that step.  Poor little George the Goldfish doesn't quite "pop" as much as I wanted him to.  But that's life!

So, if you're in the area, the Dragon Tales opening is from 6pm to 9pm Saturday, March 17th, 2012.  Yup, on good 'ol Saint Patrick's Day.  So while you're on your way to your favorite hip club or pub for a pint of green ale, consider stopping by Monkeyhouse!

Tea for Two and the Rejects

Or should I say "The Rejects and Tea for Two"? 

As I said before, the final "Tea for Two" painting almost didn't happen.  Originally it was going to be entitled "Tea Time on the Titanic" and the Gentleman Octopus and Lady Squid were going to be in a recognizable portion of the sunken Titanic wreck taking their tea with old first class Red Star Line china.  As I was doing my research and watching a bunch of documentaries I stumbled upon a really good one that interviewed the original ex-navy commander who discovered the wreckage back in the 80's.  And for the first time I saw the Titanic for the tragedy that it truly was and not just a fascinating ship rusting away on the bottom of the ocean.

I love Gothic things, and I have the utmost respect for the dead, and when I realized that the Titanic is essentially a cemetery, I couldn't bring myself to desecrate and dishonor the memories of the people who died there.  The only "tombstones" those people have are the remnants of their leather shoes that will be sitting on the bottom of the ocean for who knows how long.

Anyway, I couldn't do the original painting. . . so what you see above is what I almost turned into the "Tentacle Love Show".  After doing one or two of the color blocks, I lost inspiration (I think mostly because the piece wasn't telling a "story"). . . so I went back to the "Tea Time" idea and just made it a generic stretch of ocean floor and with an average china tea service. . .   The final results of which you can see below.

So yeah. . . a butt load of cephlopods for your viewing pleasure.

Tea for Two and the Tentacle Love Show

Well, 2012 is off to a slow start.  Crazy things going on in the Boogervampire's neck of the woods. . . namely getting my first major illness out of the way for the year.  But more importantly, the first group exhibition of 2012 is rapidly approaching.  As you can see from the flyer, it's a tentacle themed show and although I've had my idea for a while now, I started ping ponging other ideas around in my brain while I was laying useless in my bed trying to get over the plague.  So after a couple weeks I decided that my original idea was probably best and to just stick with it.

So, with out further ado. . . here's the roughs and color comps for "Tea for Two".

And the work in progress image.   I chose the first color scheme.  Something about it felt "old time-y" and I really wanted it to have an inkling of a Victorian feel.  That and the show is called Tentacle LOVE Show, and you have to admit, it does feel the most Valentine's Day like.  The BG blue behind the octopus' heads is a little darker than I anticipated, so I think I'll have to adjust the purple of the feather's and top hat to make them pop just a little bit, but those are only in the base color phase, so I still have time.

If you live in the Los Angeles area, as always, feel free to stop by the Tentacle Love Show opening next Saturday evening, February 18th, 2012 at Monkeyhouse Toys in Silverlake.