Announcing my new Etsy shop, Crewel Sister!

It's a little later than I had intended, but I finally launched my second Etsy shop this week, called Crewel Sister. I will be selling original embroidery creations, based on nature imagery and concepts in folk horror, or general occult/gothic imagery, along with anything else that catches my fancy. The 1960s/1970s retro look is a big inspiration, but so is more antique embroidery.  We'll see what happens!

 

Here are the first few items that I have up for sale, incorporating some imagery that I found appealing. For instance, an all-seeing cosmic eye in a bare tree.

Some gothic poisonous flower imagery, incorporating an antique looking design with a skull and a violet or pansy.

And of course, I can't resist a nod to my gothic paperback book covers, with a lady with long hair traversing a moonlit night with a candelabra...

I'll be experimenting with some retro designs that make me think of the embroidery kits that I saw as a kid in the 1970s as well.

My favorite subjects right now are these little classic traditional embroidery icons, which nonetheless suggest something from a world of fantasy and magic.

I will also offer custom work and commissions, within my range of ability, and on similar topics.

Please check back to see what else comes along, and "favorite" my shop on Etsy for more!

Through May 1, 2017 you can get $5 off your purchase with the code 5FORFRIENDS. If you're reading this, you're a friend!

Freaks, mummies, wax and weirdness in Texas

It is halfway through September and we are doing our best to get into an autumn frame of mind. This week we visited a handful of places where one can see weird things, wax figures and taxidermy, without really planning it that way. It's nice to find this kind of seriousness weirdness in Texas - the kind of things I used to read about or see on travel shows on TV and think, I wish I could go there! Of course, being from the greater Philadelphia area, I've been to the Mutter Museum a few times, so these places had a lot to live up to, but I'm pretty pleased.

First, in Austin we have the Museum of the Weird. On E. 6th St., a $18 ticket will get you admission BOTH to this and its sister attraction, the Sfanthor wax horror museum, which isn't very far away, over on S. Congress Ave.

At the Museum of the Weird, the assortment of bizarre taxidermied animals -- two-headed calves and the like -- sideshow and horror artifacts and a couple of wax figures, culminates in the unveiling of a true sideshow legend, the Minnesota Iceman. While they don't allow visitors to photograph this exhibit, they build up the suspense by screening an old "Unexplained Mysteries" segment on the beast and give some background information about how the museum's founder saw this exhibit back in the 60s and finally tracked it down and bought it. I won't give anything away, but if you want the full experience and mystique of this creature, don't google it any further -- let them tell you about it, and believe the legend!

The Museum of the Weird is joined to the Lucky Lizard curio and gift shop, which you can visit for free of course. They sell amazing horror t-shirts (I got a Tombs of the Blind Dead t-shirt, I'm happy to say -- they dig deep for truly excellent films on these tees!) an other fun stuff.

Over at the Sfanthor House of Wax you can see some beautifully displayed horror classics in wax -- mostly from old movies, but there's an Alien at the end as well (with a strobe light, so I had to close my eyes -- strobe-sensitive folks, be aware of this!). I can't recall ever being to a wax museum before so this was a treat.

Those exhibits are always open, and are open late -- but over in Houston for a limited time, the Museum of Natural Science has a wonderful exhibit called the Cabinet of Curosities. Modeled after Victorian-era curio cabinets from well-to-do explorers and collectors, it is an interactive exhibit full of dozens of drawers you can open to reveal more wonders: feathers, bones, crafts from native peoples around the world, shells, insects and other delights.

It's a wonderful, unique exhibit and so much fun to just wander around marveling at all of the artifacts. Even if you're like me and don't care for taxidermy, in a modern context -- as a mostly-vegetarian for 30 years, I recoil at the thought of killing an animal just to put it on display -- the fact that these are older artifacts makes it something I can appreciate on a different level within a historical context.

I'm not sure how long this will stick around but it really does seem to fit in with the Halloween time of year, for me.

Of course, Houston boasts one of the most gothic of all museums next to the Mutter, the National Museum of Funeral History, but we will save our visit to that for October. It's been two years since we last stopped by there, so perhaps there will be some new morbid things to enjoy there by now as well.

The Halloween season

I have not posted anything in a long time because of a new day job, but it wouldn't be right if the Halloween season got past me without a few comments! I'm busy working on some special projects this year rather than general random oddments and there's not a lot to share publicly right now

But here's something cool. The UK magazine "She Who Knows" requested to use one of my paintings as a backdrop in their Autumn 2016 issue. Please visit them and consider subscribing to this excellent feminist magazine full of nurturing and spiritual articles, art, poetry and wisdom.

One other small note for fall is that I will open a second Etsy shop soon focused on gothic, folk horror, fantasy and Halloween-themed embroidery work. Here is a sneak preview of a couple of items. I will be starting with just a couple of items this fall and will slowly add to it. The name of the shop is "Crewel Sister" because crewel is the type of embroidery I am aiming at (I'm still learning...I haven't done this since I was a kid!) and it also refers to the excellent English folk song "Cruel Sister." See what I did there?

 I've gathered a few resources on the subject and will be working more on the themes and techniques in the upcoming months, as time allows. It's more of a project for my own amusement than a serious attempt to make a big pile of craft-related money, so I won't be doing commissions or anything right now. Time is too rare of a commodity at the moment, so I can only fit things in as it amuses me to do so.

Hoping to include more updates soon for the season...

My very big and exciting album cover art announcement!

I'm running pretty late on blog posts right now but I just have to get this in before Record Store Day, because it's kind of the most exciting thing that I have ever done, art-wise!

Last year I was asked by a good friend if I would be willing to do some special album cover art. Not just ordinary everyday special, but artwork for what happens to be my very favorite band, for the past 25+ years: the Legendary Pink Dots. Being asked to do some album cover art for your favorite band is kind of like...well, there's nothing else quite like it. When you've spent a certain number of years of your life writing your favorite band names on high school and college notebooks (or even on steno pads in township committee meetings if life has taken you in that direction), the opportunity to do this for the actual band is pretty amazing.

So, the details are: this is an unofficial Record Store Day release, and the inaugural release of the label Noise Noise Noise, based in California. It will be available in select independent record stores around the country, as well as at the store where the label-owners are based - Factory Records, 440 E. 17th St., Cosa Mesa, Calif. I've never been to the store in person because I haven't been in California in about 20 years, but they will definitely have copies there! They will also have them out where I am, at Vinal Edge in Houston (239 W. 19th St.) and I believe they will be at Sound Exchange in Houston as well (1846 Richmond Ave.). And many other locations around the country, so if you are interested in the LPDs, be sure to check the coolest, most independent stores that you know. :)

While you're at it, read the story of my friends' amazing label, store, and love in this OC Weekly article. It made me cry!! And it's a solid piece of journalism. :D

So, here is the description of the EP from the label itself:
LEGENDARY PINK DOTS - A SCENTED CANDLE E.P.:
All new material from neo-psychedelic musical experimenters Legendary Pink Dots. Three brooding, emotional, quiet, and lovely tracks from this beloved underground Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band! 500 copies pressed: 400 for Record Store Day release, 100 for the band's upcoming tour.

And here is the front cover! 

There is also a totally different back cover which I will post pics of when I receive my copy. It has the same hand-lettered, notebook-drawing kind of look to it. It was done in pen and colored pencil on Bristol board and based on some notebook doodles that I started last autumn.

I've never been in a record pressing plant, but it's one of those things I'd really love to do some day. My friends at the label took some pictures while this record was being pressed, so I am sharing those with their permission:

 

Pretty neat, huh? It's all very magical!

So here is another look at the cover, with some back covers scattered behind it (you can just get a glimpse of it here)...

And below, the inserts...

And here they are all ready to be put together and shipped out.

So if you're a Pink Dots fan, I hope you are able to snag a copy! A million thanks to Dave and Lisa, the folks behind the Noise Noise Noise label, for inviting me to be a part of this, and to the Legendary Pink Dots and Edward Ka-Spel, for allowing my artwork to be associated with their immortal music. It means more to me than words can describe, and I don't think it's ever going to fully set in that I was able to participate in this way. It's the kind of thing you want to go back in time and tell your 17-year-old self!

And whatever your musical tastes are, go out and buy some records on Saturday. :) Support independent music and independent record stores, and keep making and listening to amazing sounds.