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!

2015 Begins! (Sushi Gremlins WIP Post 3)

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on Jan 18, 2015 at 1:34am PST

Greetings blog followers!!

2015 is starting out much better than I'd hoped it would thus far.  2014 was a doozie of a year for  nearly everyone I know, myself included, and not in a good way.  A lot of things I didn't write about here happened, most on the negative side, thus being the reason I didn't blog about them.  Bad news is, 2014 was a horrible year of art posts as I was too depressed and distracted to work, BUT the good news is that I am now in a good place and my head is firmly screwed back into my body and I'll hopefully do better at being productive this year!

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on Jan 12, 2015 at 12:55am PST

So, why have I delayed posting thus far in 2015, quite simply because what I've been working on is taking SO LONG that I was trying to wait until it was finished before sharing it.  Since I've still got at least another two weeks worth of work to go on it, I decided to give up waiting and just post a work in progress post.

As a few of you may remember from earlier in the year, I've been working on a painting 'for fun' (just means it doesn't have a deadline and isn't for an art show of any kind).  You can see the first posts here and here.  In all honesty it's been in some state of work since August of 2013 and I just couldn't either get the time or motivation to work on it, but with the new year and my better outlook on things recently I decided that it was time to wrap this baby up!  I've been working on it diligently now since just before christmas and am hoping to have it done before the end of January.  I hope you enjoy some of these work in progress photos from my Instagram account, and a happy, belated, New Year!  May this year be better than the last!

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on Jan 19, 2015 at 2:19am PST

Devious Dessert - Pink Donut

"Pink Donut Monster" 6"x6" Acrylic on Canvas; 2013

Hard to believe that it's been a month since my last post, or painting for that matter.

I went back to my day job the first week of November and it's taken a whole month to get readjusted to sleeping at night and trying to handle daily duties in the two hours before bed and on weekends.  I think this is the first time in a long time that I wish my break had been longer.  I'm overjoyed that I was able to pull off my goal of completing 6 paintings in my 3 months off but DANG I wish I had a week to chill before going back to the grind.

Enough whining!  Above is a commission.  I DON'T normally do commissions anymore because my free time is so scarce, but I have a patron in Canada that loves my Devious Dessert line as much as I do so I always jump at the chance to make a new one.  She requested a pink frosted donut after I'd made a mini painting of one for Pinkdonuts from Etsy and Instagram.  I figured it was a great way to use up an old canvas I had floating around, to practice some back lighting and to troubleshoot some color design flaws with the mini painting.  You can see what I mean for yourself.  The mini painting has the green background and is only about an inch and a half square.

"Pink Donut Study" 1.5"x1.5" Gouache; 2013

Anyway, I've gotten myself into another lovely bind.  I've promised three paintings (this donut was the first) all before December 20th and I've decided to take on some freelance storyboards.  Something tells me I'm going to be exceptionally tired for the next month.  Up next. . .  what else?  More monsters!  Hopefully I'll remember to post in progress stuff since they're not for shows.

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.

Deep Sea Diving

As I previously mentioned, the last couple of weeks I've been working on mermaids, one of my least favorite mythical creatures.  The tiny mermaids were for a synchronized swimming team.  One of the team members contacted me saying that they'd like to have necklaces made of their mascot, a mermaid, and that their team colors were red, white and blue.

The client chose the tiny mermaid with her hair in a bun, and with the starfish decorations, because in synchronized swimming, when you swim your routine you put your hair up in a bun with Knox Gelatin and usually bobby pin in some sort of sequined hat.

After the client made her decision I decided to do a recolor of the girl with the octopus on her head in a color pallet that I find more appealing.  It's the little synchro mermaid's cousin, the deep sea zombie mermaid.

Finally, I couldn't let my three day weekend pass with out doing some painting.  Got out the blue paint and another Angler Fish appeared.  This one is just another Mini Painting, and measures 1.5" x 1.75", and is in gouache (of course).

 Above from "Zombies in Love" by Scott C.

And in closing, I had the opportunity to go check out a pretty awesome gallery show/book signing/drawing demo over at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, CA with my friend Brianne.  They were releasing "Zombies In Love" by Scott C. and it was a ton of fun.  They encouraged people to dress up in prom clothes or as zombies, so as I was walking around looking at the beautiful original paintings from the book, I was surrounded by zombie prom attendees. If you live in the Los Angeles area I totally recommend checking it out before the show comes down on the 26th of September (2011).  If you don't live in L.A. you can pick up a copy of the book over at Amazon.

What a Randomly Productive Week!

Well, I guess I made up for not having anything last week!

This last week was blissfully productive.

Up at the top is a more detailed, colored version of a doodle you may have seen last week.  My friend, and former coworker, Natasha has one of the more unique personal style's I've seen in a while.  I think it's a  strange concoction of retro chic, latin flair, and a side of the 80's just to confuse you.  Either way, she's got some RAD outfits.  Black and white sketches just don't do them any justice.  Someday I may have to make a paper doll out of her just so I can document all her cool clothes.

Then the day after I finished the giant Natasha drawing (It's 22" long!), I sat down and finally finished a second mini-painting I started around the same time as the Skull-tart one.  Like I said before, I got these awesome neon watercolors when I went the Mother-land last summer.  I have no idea what I'll use them for in the future, but Rosie the Sugar Skull turned out pretty decent!

As usual, if you're interested in taking her home, you can purchase her in the Crypt of DOOM!!!

And finally, half of my Valentine's are complete!!

I've been working on these little punks for over a month.  I hit a snag when I accidentally mixed an RGB color pallet with a CMYK one, but after getting it all sorted out I was able to finish these three!  Sadly I didn't meet my personal cut off date for posting them in the Crypt of DOOM, but there is always next year!

Hopefully next week I'll post a "work in progress" of two big projects I will be starting this week if I'm going to stay on schedule, til then, have a good week!

Kacheeks In Love for Irene and Alan

A year ago now, when I was hanging out at Neopets for the summer, an old coworker and friend asked me if I could do a drawing of two Kacheeks (one yellow and one Island) in Chinese Traditional Wedding attire.

When Irene asked me for the drawing, I only intended on doing a marker drawing, but as time dragged on I decided that a painting would be well worth her and her Fiance's wait.  I just hope they like it.  >_<

I spent more time on this painting than I have on previous ones.  I had a very clear vision of what I wanted in my head and worked to try to make it happen as close to my vision as possible this time.  I started with some thumbnails, which I then expanded into a very detailed sketch (I usually just doodle something and then draw it strait on the watercolor paper and go).

After the sketch, I scanned it and did some super quick Photoshop color comps.  I initially wanted a pink cherry blossom tree, but I went for a more classic tree in the sketch.  When I tried to turn the classic tree pink, like a cherry blossom tree, it just didn't work and I just decided to keep it classic.

After the color comps I had to trace the sketch on the watercolor paper twice.  The first attempt was an epic failure due to old masking fluid that ripped the entire top layer of paper (including the sketch) off.  Once I recovered from the crushing blow of loosing the first painting (the wash on the sky looked REALLY good before it got ruined), I started over with a better brand of masking fluid and the GOOD Arches Watercolor paper.  Once the wash was complete and dry, I just finished off the rest of the painting in regular ol' opaque gouache.

Once it was finished I mixed up a little gold gouache and put a thin outline on the heart shaped sky.

The original frame Irene gave me was way too small, so I framed and matted it.  Hopefully the painting, the matting and the framing will make up for the year long wait she and her Fiance had to sit through.  :/

Sketchbook DUMP!!

So last week I posted this little print in my shop.  Usually I only post my finished paintings in the Crypt of Doom, but something about this sketch is just funny and I thought I'd see what would happen.  The first two prints of this (which I've called Career Day) I posted were a special commission and sold right away, but I've posted a third to see if anyone else might like to take it home with them.  :)

And the other sketches are fairly self explanitory.  I started drawing my fiance as Pig Pen from the Peanuts a while back.  Once or twice a week I document his rituals in my sketch book.  It can be something he's said to me, or an event we went through together, but most of the time it's how he makes me feel.  I wish I could say I make some of this stuff up, but sadly some of it's very real.

Oh, and I do have his permission.  He actually prefers me drawing him as a child as to an adult (which you can see in the second sketch).

One final reminder. . . Kids Rock, Saturday, June 12th from 2pm-7pm at Griffith Park's Old Zoo.  My little owl painting will be available in an auction.

Janey the Zombie Tramp Pin-Up

So an old friend of mine contacted me through DeviantArt and asked me if I'd do a pin-up for him of his new comic book character. Being a nice friend and not doing too many pin-ups anymore, I said sure.

It's flash, but I tried layering textures in photoshop on it afterwords.