Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Sympathetic Vibrations WIP Part 1
Greetings all!
So, with the Bats Day weekend rapidly approaching, I'm already starting the mad scramble to get things in order before May 30th (2015). One of the many things on the list for this year was my annual submission for the annual Gallery999 art show. This year's theme was "Thru a Child's Eyes" and although I can't show the official pieces until the 30th of May BUT something funny happened on the way to completing this year's pieces. I initially read my contract wrong this year and got nearly 75% done with the sketch when I noticed all the small print. This year's pieces are intended to be small pieces and, as you can see from the above sketch, I kinda got carried away again. Instead of just throwing this in the trash, I decided the best course of action would be to make a COMPANION piece to the two appearing in the art show! The best part about the companion piece is that I can show all my usual work in progress images! So here's the first post. Stay tuned for more updates on both "Sympathetic Vibrations" and my other new goodies for Bats Day 2015.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
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. |
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.
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| Candy Corn throw pillows!! 6 more on their way soon. |
| Janice, the crazy happy owner of the Sushi Gremlins painting. |
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. |
Now, onto announcements!!!
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| 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!
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| 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.
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!
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Sushi Gremlins and Spook Show 3
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| Sushi Gremlins; Gouache 8"x10"; 2015 |
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:
A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on
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:
Hope to see you there!
Monday, January 19, 2015
2015 Begins! (Sushi Gremlins WIP Post 3)
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!
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!
Sunday, November 02, 2014
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.
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| "Madame Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners"; 11"x 14" gouache; 2014 |
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| "Ice-Scream Social"; 8x10 gouache; 2011 |
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| "Truly Outrageous"; 9"x7" gouache; 2009 |
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| "Pretty-Pretty Pirate Playset"; 5"x7" gouache; 2012 |
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| "Wee Emily Dover"; 8"x9" gouache; 2013 |
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| "Dear Prudence"; 4"x6" gouache; 2014 |
That's it for now. Until my next update!
Friday, October 03, 2014
October Shadows VII: A Celebration of Halloween in Art
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| October Shadows Facebook Banner, artwork by Eric October |
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| "Tech or Treat"; 7"x6" Gouache; 2012 |
I'll be submitting two pieces to this show. The first one is one you've seen before. Since my "Tech or Treat" painting (the Robotech Trick or Treaters) piece was only on display for one weekend at an exclusive Macross convention, I thought it might be nice to let them see the light of day at another venue. The second is a new little trick or treater! She doesn't get a fancy title, just a number since she's the 5th trick or treater I've painted. I'm pretty proud of how she turned out and excited that I made a 'less cute' skull for the mask. It seems to make her look cuter over all as a added side bonus.
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| "Trick or Treater #5"; 4"x6" Gouache; 2014 |
Can I Help You?
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| "Can I Help You?"; 5"x7" gouache; 2014 |
Speaking of the Crypt of DOOM!! I'll be returning to my regularly scheduled day job on October 6th and will try to leave the Crypt open as long as my work schedule allows. That being said, do not be surprised if the Crypt of DOOM!! Closes for a couple of months starting October 13th, 2014. Once I do close it, I am thinking of opening it for a week at the beginning of December for anyone who needs Christmas gifts.
Monday, September 08, 2014
Museum of the Weird Tribute Show at Creature Features
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| The newest flier for the Museum of the Weird show at Creature Features in Burbank, CA. |
Well, it's nearly here! The Museum of the Weird Tribute Show, with special guest Rolly Crump (one of the original Imagineers behind the project) will be this coming Saturday, September 13th, 2014 from 6-10pm at Creature Features in Burbank, CA. If you've been following over on my Facebook or Instagram you've probably had your fill of sneak peeks and work in progress posts and if you actually follow my Deviant Art account you've seen just a little bit more. . . but if you've seen NONE of that, then here's a sneak peek for you!
| Lousy Cell phone pic of the upper Left corner of my new painting, "Can I Help You?" |
The title of my piece is called "Can I Help You?" which I'm sure you can see is derived from the expression on her face. As I said in the last post, she came from the first round of the tumblr "Monster Girl Challenge" last year and had been created as the solution to the "true monster" challenge. Basically, it's Cthulhu's daughter or something like that. Not officially of course, but since people saw it I've been getting 'Is that Cthulhu?" a lot. So yeah, she turned out pretty much just the way I wanted her to. I'll post the full, finished piece here next Sunday.
| Use Coupon Code WhyNot20 for 20% off until 09/13/14! |
Also, in honor of the opening, which I inexplicably seem to become more excited about every day (it's honestly a bit out of character) I'm having a one week only sale over in the Crypt of DOOM!! Just enter the code WhyNot20 during check out and you'll receive 20% off on orders over $4. The code automatically will expire on Saturday (I believe at 9pm PST) so enjoy it while it lasts! I recently got a small restock of cosmetic bags and coin purses that sold out at ScareLA last month, so if you've been waiting on any of those, now's your chance!
Monday, August 25, 2014
Weird Things Are Happening
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| WIP of my Museum of the Weird painting for Creature Features Rolly Crump tribute show. |
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| Online flier for the Museum of the Weird Show at Creature Features next month. |
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
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. |
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! |
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| 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. |
| The print that the talented Lupe Flores brought to me on the 2nd day of ScareLA. Thank you again Lupe! |
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| This show will be up and on display until August 23rd, 2014 |
| Green dots are bittersweet things! Goodbye my friend, you'll be missed. |
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| A pic from just after He's So Dreamy was completed from November of 2012. |
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| Come on out and see my latest creation September 6th, 2014! |
That's it for now. I'm going to go crawl into bed for about a week. Until the next update, LATER GATORS!
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