Pre-Halloween sale through Sept. 21!

 For the next two weeks (until the clock strikes midnight as the day turns to Sept. 21, central time) I will have a 20% off sale in my Etsy shop. The coupon code is HALLOW2015 and is good for any amount, any number of times.

Here is a sampling of some Halloween themed items in my shop, though you can use the coupon on anything. Both originals and prints are available of many items.

The first item below is a new painting -- an 8 x 10 inch acrylic on canvas. I sketched this last year when the Halloween Artist Bazaar did a "dark hollow" theme. I did two paintings on that theme last year but saved a couple of my ideas for this year, so I just finished it up -- a fox, some luna moths and some pumpkins in a twilit grove.

Stay tuned for more Halloween stuff throughout the next two months! My first selection of ghost stories for the year incidentally is "In Ghostly Company" by Amyas Northcote. Don't know how this one got past me before but it's definitely time to read it now!

Twilight in Fox Hollow

"Flames of the Ghost Lantern"

 

"Lost in the Dark Hollow"

The Owl and the Pussycat Went to Tea

 

"Cauldron in the Dark Hollow"

 

"Sisters of the Crypt"

 

"The Silent Grave"

 

"Keeper of the Keys"

 

"Tower of the Zombie Girl"

Halloween Trick or Treat Giveaway and an autumn interview

Two groovy Halloween things to announce...first, the annual Trick or Treat Giveaway is under way from the Halloween Artist Bazaar! There is a crazy amount of really cool stuff available and it's really easy to enter. Just click the link and follow the instructions, then sit back and wait for the spooky goodies to roll in! I have a print available as part of the package. Basically, you just need to check out and "like" the HAB Facebook page, send a "trick or treat" convo to one of the participating Etsy sellers and fill out a couple of fields in a form on the giveaway page. Couldn't be easier! You have until Oct. 20 to do all this, but click now so you don't forget! ;)

 "A Dark and Dreary Day," above, is the print that I have included in the giveaway.

Also, the folks at HAB were kind enough to feature an interview with me on the site this month, talking about Halloween and what it means to me.

At the moment I'm mostly working on some black and white sketching and pen and ink stuff for my own amusement, but I will have more new seasonal art up before long, as well as some of these pen and ink drawings, most likely. The doodling started when I had jury duty on Monday (I didn't get picked) and I spent the whole time working on learning tatting, and drawing. I plan to keep on doing both of those things, of course.

My Autumn reading this year includes, so far, the book "Black Magic" by Marjorie Bowen, an occult/supernatural novel from 1909 that already promises to be one of the finest of the genre. Pictured is an original cover but I am reading a public domain ebook. I can't say enough good things about the availability of previously scarce texts. I'm linking below to manybooks.net, which is a safe and reputable site, but make sure you click on the link to the book and not onto an ad! They have a whole category for occult writing from pre-1923. What could be better? Also on my reading list are some more works from Ash Tree Press, which I also obtained in ebook form though I also enjoy collecting their paper editions. But for $6.99 each if you need as many ghost stories in your life as I do, the ebook route is probably the most affordable. I get as many of both variety as possible, to ensure year-round ghost story coverage.

Candelabras, jack o' lanterns and by the way I like horror movies

I'm watching giant dragonflies, and tiny lizards, all over the patio garden. The dragonflies are so large they seem almost prehistoric. The lizards, well, aren't quite as big as they used to be in the same era. I think the lemon tree is almost ready to start ripening, but I really have no idea when that is supposed to happen...I'm just thrilled at the idea that they are growing outside. So that is how I try to wrap my head around autumn, after a week in which it was in the 90s for a couple of days, and I lost my spooky momentum. This is the time of year that I should be watching candelabra movies (see my recent posts on Tumblr for a slew of those)... Typically, Jean Rollin & co., Mario Bava, the usual 1960s and 70s European horror suspects. Now...now it's finally feeling like candelabra weather.

 What I REALLY want to do right now is watch Dark Shadows, but all of my DVDs are in NJ and I can't remember where I left off. I think in the early 500s (volume 8 or 9 of the old DVD boxes). Adam was lurching around...I think Cassandra was in some serious trouble. At any rate, speaking of candelabras....this isn't from the series, it's from one of the movies, Night of Dark Shadows (1971) but WE SHALL NOT SPEAK of any later incarnations of the series, as I only live in the 1960s and 1970s, and very occasionally the early 80s.

Speaking of which, my tastes have gone a little bit more into the modern era recently. I've been feeling in the mood to watch early 80s slasher films. Basically, anything in which lots of teenagers don't fare very well. Nothing against teenagers, per se, it's just good fodder for a movie. The look and feel of 1980s things has acquired more of a vintage sheen now that the world in many ways no longer resembles it. When you watch something wherein everyone talks on land-bound phones; the hair and clothing are distinctly of another era; the music is synthesizer-based in a very specific way that you don't hear any more; and the clichés are being cheerfully driven into the ground....there is a certain charm in that. Even moreso in the Shot On Video VHS tape films like those I've been lucky enough to see at the Alamo Drafthouse recently ("The Abomination," et. al.). But more on that later perhaps.

I'm actually not here to talk about candelabras or horror films at all, I'm here to talk about jack o' lanterns. I have quite a few of them in the ol' Etsy shop and I try to use this blog to show off all that art stuff, so let's get on with it. Here is my most recent little Halloween painting.

It was done to be a part of a month-long Halloween jack o' lantern promo over here...

For an ever-growing assortment of jack o' lantern themed Halloween art and crafts for sale this month, check the link above...and visit the Halloween shop on the site as well. I have five originals and 15 prints for sale on that site, with postage included in all prices in the US...but there is lots of stuff by other artists as well!

There's lots of stuff newly available in the Halloween Artist Bazaar shop with the postage included in price, including 5 x 7 photo prints of one of my most popular paintings, "Dark Lanterns"... also available in my Etsy shop along with the original from which the prints were taken. The first time I did a version of this painting was around 2001, and I have had several custom commissions for it as well. I always take commissions for repaints in any size, or variations on previous paintings I've done...or completely new works that are within the scope of my themes.

"Guardian of Pumpkin Woods" available as a 5 x 7 photo print at the link above, and also at Etsy.

"Black Lantern Spell" available above postage paid, or at Etsy.

One more for now, "Alice in the Dark Woods" prints can be found above postage paid, and also at Etsy with variable shipping options as an original or a print.

Meanwhile, though it's only barely feeling like the end of summer now, we did get a bit of atmosphere in recently at the giant bug display at the Houston Zoo...needless to say my favorite critter was the tarantula. I miss having these little guys around!

More soon on other things of a creepy nature.

Trick or Treat Giveaway 2014

It's that time of year! There are all kinds of goodies up for grabs in this bucket o' Halloween this year, with items donated by members of the Halloween Artist Bazaar team. Please click the picture above to read all about it and see photos of all of the items, along with contest rules. It's REALLY EASY.

Basically, before Oct. 20, you want to visit one of the contributing HAB artist shops and leave them the message “Trick or Treat” in the subject line.

Next like the HAB Facebook page and message us “Trick or Treat” on our wall.
 
My contribution is a 5 x 7 print of this piece:

The bucket of goodies will grow as more items are added, so be sure to keep checking back to see what you might win!

Dark Hollow and Dark Holler

As September draws nearer, things are getting pretty serious with the Halloween stuff popping up. Here are a few more entries in the Dark Hollow art theme by Halloween Artist Bazaar members, as well as a couple of new prints that I have up on Etsy -- which are not Dark Hollow prints, but hey, they are still Halloween.

But another item worth mentioning right now is that over on Dark Holler (see how I did that?) record label, there is a new album available from the band I have been involved with for the past 15 years, Stone Breath. This time around the album is all Timothy and Prydwyn, the pairing that initially drew me to the band when their "A Silver Thread to Weave the Seasons" album was released in the late 1990s. I'm on a bonus track here, but by all means please check out the full album for the most heartfelt, perfect acoustic music you can expect to hear this year. You can also investigate the entire catalog at Bandcamp if digital versions are your thing.

Over in the art department...here once again are my new Halloween works but this time I am talking about the prints that I now have available. You can choose the in 5 x 7 or 8 x 10 inch sizes, and all are in stock as of this writing.

 "Lost in the Dark Hollow" print in 5 x 7 or 8 x 10 by Art by Sarada

 "Cauldron in the Dark Hollow" print in 5 x 7 or 8 x 10 by Art by Sarada

As a side note, I have a few other prints now available of older Halloween art and I will be adding more as the weeks move along their merry way.

"Witch Twins" print by Art by Sarada

"Twilight Tree" print by Art by Sarada

And as promised, here are three more items from other Halloween Artist Bazaar artists. That link right there is to the full HAB shop, but you can also find our stuff on Etsy and other locations...check for the tag HAB, to find a nice assortment!

"Tiny Witch Shrine Box" by Wicked Alterations

"Spooky Tree with Headstone Coffin Box" by Odd Origins

"Will of the Wisp" by Twilight Faerie

Dark Hollow art at the Halloween Artist Bazaar

It's August! That means it's as good as autumn (even though it won't feel like it, for awhile) and I can get back to drinking hot tea in earnest. It also means there should be some serious pumpkinage going on in your local craft stores, to take the edge off of the remains of the summer.

The Dark Hollow concept we're exploring this year at the Halloween Artist Bazaar is close to my heart since I am involved with a record label called Dark Holler, and the entire aesthetic of haunted, out-of-the-way places, overgrown nature, and the depths of night, is kind of my thing.

I have two paintings so far up and running as part of this event, and I expect to add a third...storybook illustration-style images of rabbits and toads (and after a while, there will be a fox). Images for a Halloween story that hasn't been written quite yet.

"Cauldron in the Dark Hollow"

"Lost in the Dark Hollow"

Here are some works by other artists in the group!

Dark Hollow charm bracelet by Jynxx

Peste Corvino by twistedpixelstudio

"Light at the end of the Dark Hollow" by Twilight Faerie

Please visit us often though the season for more works of art! And visit the year-round Halloween Artist Bazaar shop!

Halloween In June (or May, even)

A couple of Etsy teams I'm pleased to be a member of, are starting up Halloween in full force this summer- Halloween Artist Bazaar and Spooky Cute Team. I started selling Halloween art online regularly in 2001, but it wasn't around Halloween...it was actually in February or March. As it turns out, those of us who really like this stuff, don't pay too much attention to the calendar. In fact, I was usually always so busy with other things in the fall with work, that I didn't do a lot of new Halloween art in the weeks leading up to the big day.

But right now, with the worst of summer heat still ahead of us, is a good time to start stockpiling these things, so to that end, I present a small selection of some of my "classic" Halloween paintings that are currently available as originals, and as prints. I have many more but these are some images that have proven popular in the 12 or so years since I originally imagined them, and I'm pleased to actually have originals available for these in 8 x 10 or 9 x 12 inch formats at rather reasonable prices. They are all $80 or below, which isn't bad for an original work of art, and the prints can be had for $8 (5x7) or $12 (8x10).

"

"Haunted" is listed under another name on my painting gallery website Art by Sarada but I like this name better for now. :) An 8 x 10 this is a recently repainted original, and the colors in person are very soft yet striking. Although prints are not yet listed on my Etsy site, they can be made on request.

 "Sisters of the Crypt" is another 8 x 10 recently repainted, with prints also available on request. A zombie girl with Frankenstein stitching and a ghostly mummy girl, descend hand in hand upon an unsuspecting world.

Also available as an original, a small print, or a large print by request, "Ghost Sisters of the Tower," another of my paintings of pairs of ghostly creatures - this is a 9 x 12 and I have painted several versions over the years, but I'm happy to say that an original is in stock as of this writing.

Another of my most-requested paintings, "Dark Lanterns" is available as an original 9 x 12 painting, a small print, or a larger print upon request.

"A Ghostly Meeting" is a painting I always wanted to use on greeting cards, and while that is still something that may come down the road, right now it is available as an original 9 x 12 painting, a small print, or a larger print upon request.

Finally for this post, but not for my shop, is "Alice in the Dark Woods," a sort of signature painting for me -- remembering my dear departed kitty companion, and my impression of a Halloween-inspired Alice in Wonderland wandering through a mushroom forest. As with most of my paintings listed here, it is available as an original 9 x 12, a small print, and a larger print can be made on request.

So that's the first layer of Halloween that is available this summer. I will be adding more to this as the months progress, of my classic Halloween paintings, newly available both as originals and prints...and other stuff too. And please check out the other shops in both of these teams as the months move towards autumn!