Skeleton Krew: no.0029 Eerie Eddie

The Skeleton Krew Collection is back with a new portrait, just in time for the ghoulish season or any time of the year! Meet Eerie Eddie, a ghoulish specimen of the Halloween season! Young at heart, he skips the streets in hope of filling up his pillow sack with all the treats a little ghoul could eat, but don't let the innocence fool you; he was once caught playing with a dead mouse.

I am really loving the final outcome, I find it to be so interesting to see the process of the paintings, the first round he def looked more innocent and with blonde hair too. I finished him last night and I must say the final touches have made him a bit more daring and dark. This childhood spirit is ready to dance and bring mischief perhaps. His costume features hand-painted bat wings, a mask with white face paint, baby fangs and puffed bow with a tiny skull embellishment. 

This portrait mixes the nostalgic look of the Victorian era with vintage flare of the Halloween season. Ready to spook a friend and perfect for any gothic party or personal painting collection, sit him leaning against some books or place him behind glass ready to greet. Skeleton Krew no.0029 Eeerie Eddie is now available at Red Heart 13.

1st ROUND: I find it funny how much more evil looking it has made him with black hair.

Skeleton Krew Collection: Livin' Large

Over the past two years I've been building my Skeleton Krew Collection, with my obsession with Victorian photography I've found that it is rare find when I come across large portraits. With the art show coming in January I am working towards showing all various sizes of paintings, everything from 2 inches to 2 feet. These rare finds are just immaculate, you really get a sense of a mood and I love when they come framed in gesso. Below are some newer and older portraits from my collection that have yet to be painted.

~ I purchased this dark portrait about two months ago, from the Main Street Antique store in Newark, DE. I really love her outfit, she kinda reminds me of a dark gypsy, I'm thinking of painting half her face as a skeleton. Aprox: 1.5' x 2'.

~ I really love this fellow too, have had this portrait for about a year, just fell in love the frame in metal and gold painted gesso frame. I found this portrait to be unusual because of the side profile, I actually found this amazing skull engraving in which I will use as a reference to paint his face. There are even cob webs forming on the inside the glass from age, spooky. Aprox: 2' x 2.5'.

~ This beautiful portrait has amazing pale yellows and blues and dark features. Me having pale blue eyes, I always covet brown eyes matched with dark hair. The frame is black with hints of pink with bat like molding on the edges. Isn't she divine, looks as if heaven is behind her? Aprox: 1.5' x 2'.

~ I must tell you, I found this darling haunting young boy this past weekend at this estate sale, I was coming back from the grocery store and actually made a quick U-turn to go back to the antique store. I always find that these old portraits call me, I'm drawn to them some how by fate. When I saw this child I immediately ran to it and grabbed it off the wall, thinking someone might get there before me. Rarely do I find portraits that I am afraid to touch or take out of the frame. The child looks from the early 1900s and is just beautiful and haunting with his striking pale blue eyes. I dare not paint this boy, for who knows if his soul will be released from the dead, plus he is just too gorgeous to disturb. Aprox: 1' x 1.5'.

Harvest Witch, Sneak Peek

Today I have been very productive, this morning I took a trip up to Kennett Square for a couple of hours while I visited my pop's dear friend Muffy. She rummaged through my jewelry and bought two necklaces and two pairs of earrings as gifts and one for herself. I sat and drank coffee with her and we discussed such topics as the filthy autobiography of Hilary Clinton and the Delaware riots of the 1960s. She also showed me all her wonderful art pieces, including an oil painting of Lake Como, Italy. It was a lovely time, I must say.

After I got home I rested for a while and ever since, I've been painting current and new paintings from my Skeleton Krew Collection. I've finished Master Gorey and Wife Lenor, shall have pictures of the fine couple next week. Featured below, is a 2nd painting I've have started, in which I call Harvest Witch. This lovely portrait along with many other gifts, was given to me by my lovely friend Jess from Bloodmilk. She features big black hair, tree twigs, and feathered eyes. An odd long face, she reminds me of Cruella Deville and her body is currently all jet black, but I am going to give her a little bone cameo right at her collar. I've also started a 3rd painting of a little girl in a plaid dress. She features mourning lace around her hair and tiny black gloves. Below is a quick shot of Harvest Witch taken with my computer, stay tuned for more pictures this week.

Meet the New Family!

I'd like to introduce some new members to the Skeleton Krew, they are in their true state and yet haven't been initiated into the death yet, but they are quite astonishing, unpleasant looks from holding still for so long or perhaps heartbroken thoughts seep out from within?

I went rummaging around the Main Street Antique store the other day before dinner and me being obsessed with Victorian and early portraits, I bought seven new portraits for my Skeleton Krew Collection (plus I have my eye on a large portrait of a gypsy woman in a wooden frame with convex glass that I will be picking up this weekend). I just love the intricate borders around their faces and am just mad about tin types as well. The first SK portrait I ever did was on a tin type and the outcome was overly macabre, I cannot wait to paint these miniature faces.























I am often drawn to photographs of young children, perhaps their innocence calls to me, as I grow older I never want those magical moments of my childhood to disappear. I often imagine what it was like during their time periods, how they played or if anything tragic happened to them growing up. These delicate expressions are forever frozen in time.

Growing up I've always been into the darker things in life, in my teens years, vampires and horror were always of interest but as I grew as a woman in my 20s I had experienced death of a close loved one. That has opened my eyes to mourning processes, the true darker things in life and viewing our bodies as ticking machines that will eventually stop. I often look at these portraits and think how these people may have died……our body in the end, is made of many apparatus' that all work together breathing our souls, eventually our bodies end to decompose back into the ground, where life is reborn. With the brevity and fragility of human life in the face of God and nature, one must live like there is no tomorrow!

New Skeleton Krew in the works

I've been just super busy this week at work that I am behind on so many things. But I thought I'd take a breather and share a new painting that is in the works from my Skeleton Krew Collection. Meet Master Gorey and his wife Lenor, they are caught in a moment all dolled up during their march in the Black Parade.

Master Gorey is a calm gentlemen, he almost seems too charming to be dressed in his devilish costume. Lenore has a slight crazed look about her, she is in traditional Day of the Dead makeup matched with black attire. This is the first stage of the painting, they almost look a little comical at this point, I have much more creepy detailing to do on their faces and also I will be adding a little coloring to the flowers on her blouse. I really love this photo, reminds a little of the odd couple from the painting American Gothic, though here these odd folks are dressed for death; walking on the path of mortality.

My Past Life Regression

Last year, a friend of mine Becca from The Caravan and I were talking about the concept of Past Life Regression, I've seen some shows about this technique of going into a hypnosis to reveal old memories or being reborn from past lives. This kind of thing really fascinates me, one day I wish to get this done professionally. However, Becca and I did a little research on how to tap into these memories yourself. Months before I tried this experiment, Becca did it herself and said she had visions of syringes and strange men with masks holding her down in a garden of some kind. Pretty bizarre! She later revealed that for the longest time she has always been afraid of needles. From there I truly was intrigued!

TAP INTO YOUR PAST LIFE

Before you do this meditation, you want to be in the right state of mind, find a time when you are aware but not overly tired, lay down in a relaxing place with no distractions. Once you are comfortable, you can try this technique I did: envision yourself walking down a flight of stairs while counting down from 100, once you reach the bottom you will envision a door that you will open. The time may vary for different people in which you will fall into the trance, with my experience I sort of fell in a light sleep but I was still conscious, this took me about 4-5 minutes. I chose a time in the mid-afternoon laying on my floor. 

My PERSONAL VISION:

It was nothing I've ever experienced before, after I opened my door during the exercise, I saw a pink Victorian house surrounded by a sunny sky, bright green grass on a neighborhood street right out of the early 1900s. There were tall palm trees that lined the street and I could see short white fencing. From my perspective, it seemed as if I was across the street taking on the fullness of the house, in the front yard was a little girl in a short dress with white apron. I couldn't make out features but more of her silhouette. My next vision was a black long looking car that pulled up to the house and parked in front of the house for a moment then drove away. I was really anxious to see inside, but the windows were jet black and the driver was hidden.

From that point, the vision jumped to a backyard or from my point of view I saw nothing but the blue sky looking up. There were four children standing in a line looking at me. The whole time there were no sounds, just images flashing. I tried looking at myself to do reality check, but I wasn't able to see myself. Right after I looked up, I saw a middle aged woman maybe mid 40s, she was in all black, could've been mourning clothes, but hard to tell from the vision, however she had really long hair ,but she didn't reveal her face to me. Abruptly my perspective changed…I was inside a box or wall looking out, I saw a hand reach in and pull out an old style hand gun. I was really confused at this point, but the sense of sadness fell over me.

The beginning of my experience in the trance was very innocent and reminded me of childhood, the children standing together really reminds me of my brothers and how we always stuck together. But later after seeing the woman I had this overwhelming feeling of grieving, were those that woman's children or was it me who died? The vision of the gun was really disturbing and depressing, like something tragic happened. Now that I look back to the beginning maybe the car could of been some kind of of hearse passing or a sign of death to the house. I couldn't tell you what the meanings were, could that that woman have been me? To tell you the truth, whenever I am around small children, I often get really teary eyed for some reason; very bizarre. I really want to do more of these sessions, and to try and get a connection of similar places or feelings, it was truly an amazing experience that lasted only about 15 minutes, but it is something that is truly unforgettable. 

Fast forwarding about five years…I did another session that wasn't as detailed but more of a mystery at this point. I had a vision during a meditation dream session where the perspective was me next to a horse or perhaps riding a horse. It's a real cropped in image of a brown horse very close on the mane. I can see the dark chocolate hair with a brown reins. Perhaps it was my horse, though I've never owned a horse. A very short image and so cropped in – the feel was happiness unlike the previous session I did.

Here are some sites that are very insightful about Past Life Regression:

~ Past Forward Exercise: Self Guided Life Regression

~ Crystal Links: Past Life Regression

~ Free Hemi Sync Guided Meditation

~ 8 Steps to Initiating an Outer Body Experience

Aloysius the Orphan, Original Painting

A lonely boy that no one ever loved, Aloysius sits alone in his two year old mind and body. He is an odd one, born in England by a single mum, she deserted him when he came out looking like an elf and miniature too. He traveled as an orphan in a local circus, to only be put on display amongst a ravaging audience. He only knew love from the sideshow family like Mina the bearded lady and the Wolf Brothers. 

This original painting is from my Skeleton Krew Collection™. The painting is done in all black and white gouache paint on an antique Victorian photograph.

The photograph comes in a wooden gray frame with glass and has lovely detailing in silver. The frame is fairly old with some aging on the corners and some of the silver is wearing away. There is a hook for hanging but has some slight rusting. The painting comes signed and numbered on the back. The frame is aproximedity 4" wide x 5" high. The live painted area is 3" w x 4" h.

You can now take home Aloysius the Orphan, he is featured at Red Heart 13! Won't you give him a home??!!! This portrait would go great in any cabinet of curiosities or can even be hung with your original art collection.

Skeleton Krew no.022: Aloysius the Orphan

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Saturday I spent the day spring cleaning from 10 am - 9 pm and Sunday was quite pleasant, I spent several hours sitting outside painting a new painting from my Skeleton Krew Collection™. Last year, I had stumbled across a photograph of a lonely little boy, I had started painting it a while back, but stopped because it was one of those things I was rushed into. I thought I ruined the little chap, so I put him away. 

I call this little monster Aloysius the Orphan, after the first round he looked almost Damien like from the Omen, kinda like a bat boy mixed with one-eyed-willy. I did like that fact that I gave him elf boots and pointy ears, but he just needed some more attention.

Yesterday, I pulled him back out and actually had to erase away paint from all of his head, it was a slow process of adding water and slow blending away the paint. It was quite challenging because over time the paint has left purple spots that bled into the photo, I basically had to work around it and darken those areas with each layer of gouache. This time I was more adventurous and used some white paint to brighten him up and add some shadows to his fabric, face and booties. I still might fudge around some more but we will see.

Aloysius is a bit more friendly now but the sadness still remains in his eyes, which I love! He is like a lonely child that no one wants to love, poor little baby is so small too, I would say only a year old. He will be arriving at Red Heart 13 later this week, I'm in search of a frame to suit him. Won't you take him home!

The Traveling Wolf Brothers!!!

An odd case of curiosity and travel sideshow acts, The Traveling Wolf Brothers were twins both born with a thick coat of hair that covered their entire body, they suffered from Hypertrichosis. Simon and Alexander, were born in Poland in 1875 to normal parents. Both were entertainers since age four and traveled all of Europe until the end of the century. Simon was the mysterious one and Alexander spoke five languages. Simon out lived his brother and died alone 2 years after; he died from a broken heart.

This original painting is the last portrait of the two brothers, it is from my Skeleton Krew Collection™, the portrait and frame are over 100 years old, and the painting is done in all black gouche on an antique Victorian photograph. You can see more photos of The Traveling Wolf Brothers at Red Heart 13.

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The Skeleton Krew Collection™ is back with a new deadly portrait entitled no.0021.  

Staring with the macabre behind her eyes, this face of death is lovely at that. Her lips have been stitched together forming a fake smile looking happy in her horrible situation. She comes in a paper frame and comes stamped and numbered on the back. I've included a portrait of her before she was painted, quite an odd young woman! She is painted in gouache and oil and was just listed in my shop.

The Dark Duchess

 

The past two months have been wonderful for me, I had my first art show back in September, it went off very well and everyone was so supportive. I ended up selling two necklaces,  a shadow box called Armored Saint and two tiny brass box relics. I came back even stronger for my second art show in October. Over 130 people came out to see my work along with two other brilliant artists. Having more assemblages and relics I was very successful and featured new work, I sold the Two Hearts, Two Souls collage, Vampire in the Dark painting and had a commission for a for a custom Skeleton Krew portrait like the one featured below. I can't wait to have another art show, while in Salem last week I picked up some new portraits to add to my Skeleton Krew collection. I look forward to creating new works and have been feeling inspired lately, all I need now, is time.

Sally Mae, finally completed! Gouache on antique photo in wooden frame, aprox 2.5' x 3.5'.

SOLD Vampire in the Dark, gouache on board in oval frame.

SOLD Two Hearts, Two Souls collage of original anatomical hearts in antique oval brass frames with glass.

Skeleton Krew Portrait No. 11, gouache on antique photo in plaster and wood frame.