Cryptids and Kaiju

I have the pleasure of being surrounded by some very delightful vinyl toys depicting that most compelling of Japanese movie monsters -- Hedorah, or the Smog Monster. Not only is he pretty groovy in "Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster" but these toys take his grooviness and develop it into a psychedelic color palette of infinite possibilities.

Clear, black, white, silver, metallic, glow-in-the-dark, flocked, and multi-colored, you could fill your house just with versions of this drippy fiend and his glowing red eyes.

In fact, some of them look good enough to eat. This guy below sent me looking for a bomb pop, or some kind of lemon-cherry-blue raspberry Italian ice.

Since I don't have an array of paintable figures for my own experimentation, though, I do have the ability to have some two-dimensional representations, so I've been kicking those around lately. This one resembles the tainted rainbow hues of an oil spill.

"Rainbow of Smog" 8 x 10 inch painting on canvas board

And this little guy just tries on some purple for a profile pic. I am quite sure I'll do more of these, as the colors continue to compel me, and it's a lot cheaper to paint my own Hedorahs than it is to buy up some limited run toys!

"Smog Monster in Profile" 5 x 7 inch painting on canvas board

 

But wait, there's more! Another favorite film is "Attack of the Mushroom People," aka "Matango"...

 

 

I had wanted to see this for most of my life, it seems, because nothing sounds more amazing and psychedelic than a Japanese film from the 1960s about people who eat mushrooms, and become mushroom people. What could possibly be better? It's a bit more bleak and psychological than your typical "monsters are coming to kill us" movie, but it nonetheless enjoys considerable cult popularity, decades later. It also lends itself to vinylification (?) quite splendidly. Look how psychedelic...

 I find this a pretty compelling subject as well, so I hope to do some more two-dimensional Matango paintings as I have time...here is the first.

"Beware of the Matango" 5 x 7 inch painting on canvas board

Being caught up in weird monsters and science fiction also means that I have cryptozoology on the brain. The popular image of the Mothman is particularly arresting, to me. You know the story, perhaps. Perhaps you don't. But either way, the big red eyes and wings make for a spooky thing. For some reason I thought he should have an ice cream cone, though. Maybe it's just because it's summer. Maybe I still have that Italian ice flavored Hedorah on the brain.

"In Seach Of...Ice Cream" 5 x 7 inch painting on canvas board 

Finally, for this installment, I really like UFOs, and since I've already painted them beaming up a unicorn, I thought I would dig deep for another creature that, who knows, perhaps aliens have some interest in. It would certainly explain a thing or two. Right?

"The Plot to Abduct Nessie" 5 x 7 inch painting on canvas board

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

Etsy Front Page!

Much to my surprise, one of my paintings showed up in an Etsy front page treasury today. I think this is only the third time this has happened! It's a painting that has been up for a couple of years -- a surreal circus scene, probably suitable for the misty humidity of late summer -- a surreal dreamscape of mixed memories of childhood and wistful nostalgia.

It is always pleasant when this happens. I should add that any of my paintings that I have for sale, which don't already have an option listing for a photographic print, can be made into prints. If the original size is 8 x 10 or larger, I can make a print that is 8 x 10. Otherwise they are all available as 5 x 7 upon request. This particular one can be made as an 8 x 10.

This painting recalls some recurring lifelong dreams I've had of exploring portions of New Jersey that only exist in my dreams. There was a place in Florence NJ for a long time where the Hunt Brothers Circus had their winter quarters. There was still some sort of a structure there when I was a child...my memory suggests something wooden that looked like a tent...but it is very foggy and dim. Perhaps there is a photo somewhere in my family photo boxes, as my dad was a professional photographer.

At any rate, I have a recurring dream of stumbling upon some sort of Weird NJ, out of the way forbidden circus ruin in the woods. Don't we all? 

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!

Summer snails

It has rained pretty much every day for the past two months in Houston as far as I can remember. Maybe my dates are slightly off. But every day, whether it's a brief shower at 3 a.m., a downpour in the evening, or a drizzle in the morning, it has managed to rain for as long as I can remember. This is quite wonderful. It means that the turtles in the turtle ponds have enough water. It means that the tiny toad population just outside, is burgeoning. And it means everything is green, lush and lovely. Also, there are quite a few mosquitoes. But they have their purpose too.

It seems like a good time to celebrate with some cooling images like these -- dark, watery colors, the gentle silent presence of a snail at night, and a patter of rain. The contrast might recall black velvet art, but I can't lay claim to that artistic medium quite yet. Oh wait, but I do have a small collection of unpainted black velvet paint-by-number kits....well, perhaps another time.

"Blue Dandelions"

5 x 7 acrylic painting on flat canvas board

"Violet Rain"

5 x 7 acrylic painting on flat canvas board

And while they were not present in my garden at the time of these paintings, we do get some awfully cute and awesome big snail friends here, looking to eat my herbs.

 

But really, if you can't spare a sage leaf for these little guys, you're not living life to its fullest!

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!

Notes from the Gothic Graveyard

About a month ago I was listening to a relatively new compilation 2-CD of "post-punk and dark pop" from 1981-1986 Spain, called Sombras:

Delving into the lesser-explored gothic and post-punk corners of the late-70s through the mid-80s is one of my major musical interests, but there has been relatively little available in terms of reissues of previously unknown obscurities, to my knowledge, so this was an exciting find for me. Since then I've uncovered a few more modern bands that capture that aesthetic (Ashrae Fax, you are amazing), and also found a few private-press albums from that time period that scratch my itch (the 1986 album by the band the Soul Merchants was another recent find). 

The spidery Siouxsie guitars, the echoing empty-room Joy Division drums, and the throb of a Bauhaus bass are all represented in the tracks on that compilation, along with vocals across the spectrum of agony and dolor. It immediately put me in a mind of wanting to gather up pits and pieces of fishnet and spiderweb, silver rings and coffin-shaped things, as I have been known to do since age 14. 

I tried to capture a little of this aesthetic in a new little painting, "Meet Me at the Cemetery Gates," which I have up now. I have vague plans to do more art along these lines, though at the moment I am just of the mind to do cemetery-based paintings with this theme. Among other things, it's fun to play dress-up with paint, putting characters in outfits that I like.

The girls in the painting are both wearing things from my own wardrobe, and carrying purses that I've had at one point or another. Including little details like that is important to me, in capturing that moment where you are hanging out on a spring weekend with your friend taking cemetery photos in 1989. You have to put down your purse, take off your glasses and try to look serious even though you were just quoting the Young Ones to each other.

In fact, here is some photographic proof of myself with a lifelong friend, as we did this very thing some time around 1991. I'm not wearing a gothic gown at this particular moment, but the idea is there.

In fact, armed with black and white film and a home darkroom in the basement, I did quite a bit of cemetery photography back in the day.

And fortunately, New Jersey is full of old and interesting cemeteries and monuments in historic areas.

For now we bid farewell to the graveyard, but I suspect I will do a lot more art along these lines with my musical inspiration. This was never a phase to be grown out of or looked back on with amusement, for me. I love cemeteries, gothic guitars and spidery gowns with even more enthusiasm now -- fueled by several decades of continued musical enjoyment, along with literary and cinematic inspiration, to know that this is a world that will always feel like home to me.

A short visit to Twin Peaks

Just a quick note to say that I have a coupon code, SPRING2014, good through the end of the day May 31, for 15% off.

Among the new additions are a couple more miniature Twin Peaks-inspired paintings, and I have a couple more in the wings but here is the first batch!

First, the third of my mini Black Lodges...this captures that weird moment where a shape glides across the curtain, in the first dream sequence.

An owl enjoys a mug of coffee from the Double R Diner, on a log.

 An owl doesn't necessarily have to mean Twin Peaks....but to some of us, it does.

Since high school I have associated pie and coffee with one thing.

Audrey Horne is still available as of this writing...

And here are a couple of sold paintings, just to show what I've previously worked on. Here is my first Black Lodge...

 

...and my second.

That's show and tell for now...more to come soon.

Mini paintings of ghosts and geekery

Well Blogspot, the last few posts I have made here over the last two years mostly consist of me posting apologies to the universe for not posting enough posts...so, here we are again, another year, and another apology. Perhaps let's get back with the art and try to do this again a bit, eh? It is a thunderstormy, cool day in Houston for April, and that bodes well for staying in and making things.

One of the most enjoyable activities I've undertaken in recent months is using some of these tiny 2 x 3 inch "stretched" canvases (there's not a lot to stretch, but they are stretched after a fashion on little wooden frames). I indulged my fandom of Twin Peaks and Dark Shadows (the original, only, please) to paint a few key characters and images from each, and I'm enjoying myself with some things crawling in and out of bottles as well.

Here is a small selection - most are still available as of this writing.

I've also started up using oils again. They're not something I ever used extensively, because of the odors and mess, and I still don't have a large dedicated space to experiment with them in, but the new odorless turpenoid works wonders, and as long as I can keep the cats off the space, it works out pretty well.

So that's the way things are at the moment, Blogger, or Blogspot, or whatever this site is called. I hope to be posting more in the near future, since I certainly have a backlog of material. Thanks for looking!

Ahh, right, I have a blog!

Every once in a while one finds oneself in that precarious position where you realize you haven't logged into or posted on a site where you used to visit almost daily, and that is where I am. Lots of things have happened since last summer and I probably won't recount them all here!  But I do have some art to share, so let's do that and then worry about catching up. Thank you for continuing to follow my little blog if you are still there after I spaced out for eight or so months. To commemorate my spaciness here is a new painting, "Dance of the Cosmic Eclipse," which is basically me trying to get some sixties go-go-dancers into my paintings.

More soon, whenever Blogspot decides that it will let me upload some more pictures! Happy spring!