I just finished reading Bram Stoker's Dracula. Shudder. Scary! What a great book. It always amazes me how we think we know references to cultural stories and references, but we really don't, until we go to the source. (uhm, don't even get me started on how often I am startled to find I know more about Biblical references than most Christians who quote it to me - but that's another post for another time. Or not.) So, what was I ... oh yes, Dracula. I'd never even watched any of the Dracula movies from start to finish. So I read the book expecting... nothing. I always forget, between dips into the past literature, how much I enjoy a good gothic read. Or a new gothic read (Have any of you read The Thirteenth Tale?)



One of the surprises in the book, to me anyway, is how little of the story actually takes place at Dracula's castle. Most of the time the plot unfolds in England!

Unlike most literary or film vampires of contemporary times, who seem to be misunderstood and are often "Bite me!" sexy, Dracula was evil, scary, NOT someone you'd ever want to invite over the threshold. Unlike Edward or Spike or Eric or (insert vampire of your choice), Dracula was not a potential boyfriend or even someone you'd consider having a one-bite-stand with some impulsive evening.

But if the vamp himself was unappealing, the whole Gothic presentation of the book was very appealing indeed. Made me want to remake my living room into a Victorian library or sitting room and start wearing corsets and consider taking up fainting as a seduction technique. Well, maybe not the fainting.




Just recently someone on my Twitter feed posted this link for coffin couches. I liked this one, as well as the black one with green trim in the site's gallery of images. Classic black. Or do you prefer one of the more cheerful colored ones?




Of course, feeling sort of under the weather (like Lucy or Mina were, although mine was caused not by blood loss but by a nasty little cold bug), I had time to surf the net for all manner of coffin inspired decor. Coffin cabinets, coffin coffee tables, coffin beds, even coffin pool tables!

And then branch out and search "goth decor", or "gothic decor", or "vampire design", and so on, until your eyes turn red with staring at the computer screen. There's so much out there it's practically become mainstream!

I totally lied about not getting any studio time in yesterday. Sorta. Although it's true I didn't get into the studio (except to grab a scarf for my night time walk), I did find time to work on a long abandoned knitting project. I finished off the first of a pair and started on the second. Yay me. If I can whip out the rest of the project then I can use my needles to start on a new project that I'm going to have to create a pattern to make.

I keep forgetting to show you the little faery Hubby surprised me with on our Faerieworlds trip in August. It's a storage box inside the tree stump. It's one of Jasmine Becket-Griffith's faery Gothlings. Love these wee moody creatures. I have Gothling bank checks and I always get so many compliments on them. This one is mass produced but it's well crafted and painted with fine detail that doesn't show well in this photo. I think she needs a name. Any suggestions?

I tried to put this up earlier but Blogger was throwing a bit of a tantrum. I banged on the door for a bit and pleaded with it to come out and play but it just kept tossing error codes at me and refused to talk. Sigh.

When it was finally so late (it's actually am of the next morning) that I was only going to turn off the computer and go to bed, suddenly Blogger is pretending we didn't even have a fight. So, less witty, only slightly coherent, but at least I can get the post up, as I'll be too busy tomorrow.

Today was going to be another studio day, or maybe a decorate the house day, but I had to run a couple of errands and once I was out, my focus was scattered. I got my errands done, had lunch with the Hubby, dinner with a friend, and I did a quick in and out at several different thrift shops after discovering that the skirt I went back for at one thrift shop had been sold since I'd seen it a few days ago.

I wanted to buy the skirt then but couldn't remember why, so in a fit of being reasonable I left it. Then I got home and had an inspiration - it was perfect to finish transforming this summer's Will-o-the-Wisp outfit into a regal Ice Queen gown for this winter's faery ball. I would go back the next day. I forgot to go back the next day. I would go back the NEXT day. Ditto on the forgetting thing. Finally today - rats. Gone. So I went to ALL the local thrift stores (3) with no luck and resigned myself to be on the lookout for another one over the next few months. In my size. Did I mention - rats.

BUT, even rushing in and out (Hubby was with me and we had lots to do), I still found some awesome stuff. So that's the good news. Some books, a metal milk pitcher, a beautiful coffee table to eventually use in the breezeway (already put it in the garage, no photo). And...

This little celery green display shelf. It's nice and sturdy. I plan to repaint it something more fun.




Another little shelf - retro looking. Spray painted white it will work in the front bathroom, match the shabby white shelving in there, and towels will stack nicely on it.




Some nice clothes in earthy winter tones. Well, so maybe the pink isn't an earth tone. In case you're interested, from L to R: pink bandana, green jacket, brown skirt, gray waffle weave long sleeved tee, orange scarf, green khaki pants. All ready to wear except the pants which need to be hemmed and I need to add an applique over a worn spot on one leg. They were worth the trouble as I love that color green and they were brand new except for that one spot - maybe someone snagged it the first and only time they tried them on? And they were $1.




I bought this for the frame, not the print, although it's sort of a cool print in a spooky Yule sort of way. That's supposed to be either Bob Cratchett or Scrooge lifting Tiny Tim up on his shoulder. What's cool about the frame is that middle area is black velvet. Also, spooky spider web elbow length gloves.




A Brown Betty tea pot. Actually, it's a brown Brown Betty tea pot. A little glass display case, a bunch of mismatched, old, silver plated silverware (all pretty and different handles!), a tiny frame with a shadow box style glass, an oval glass frame, a giant metal key, and hiding in the bottom righthand corner a little leather headband that might use as a headband or it might be a neck choker when I'm done with it.

That's it, no studio time. And tomorrow is all about football. So no studio time tomorrow either. Maybe this weekend. Knock on wood.

More spooky, I found this long slip of paper on the sidewalk on a walk the other day. I thought it was very strange - what possible purpose could it have ever served? It's got a coating, almost a laminate, on it. I thought it helped spookify up this photo - Still Life with Cat and Quince.

Or how 'bout this one - sans black cat?

If you'd like to see more garden produce (not all of it spooky), I posted about a bit of autumn harvesting over on Beach Treasure.

You've heard of the Black Hat Society, yes? No? Well, think about it - who wears a black hat? A black pointy hat?

There ya go.

Well, apparently there's another, lesser known group called.....

The Black Cat Society.

There's an entire chapter of the group living here in our home. Here are just a few of the members posing to help me show off the orange, black cat tutu I made for a certain someone who wants to be a black cat for Halloween.

She loves to dress up and is still young enough that a tutu adds flair to just about anything she wants to wear - whether it be a Halloween costume, a pair of jeans and a frilly t-shirt, or just a pair of snuggly pajamas. Now that I think about it, a tutu should add flair to anyone's outfit, no matter your age.

"Hey, what about the rest of us black cats!"

Yes, I know, we have a few more black cats at this house that did not get in this particular picture. They probably deserve a post all their own... some other day.

Not art related. Been so busy, still haven't gotten in the studio all week. I did sort all the new fabric and other bits and bobs that I've brought home in the last few weeks, piled it all into a box, and tossed it into the studio earlier, so I could clear the table off for the witches' tea I'm hosting over on my other blog today. It's one of the many stops in Vanessa's Hauntingly Magical Halloween Party. Make sure you pop on over to Beach Treasure for a witchy cuppa, and then continue on to Vanessa's link to visit all the other party bloggers. As soon as I'm finished posting here, I'm off to the party myself! (well, not really, I'm really off to bed and then, the minute I wake up, off to the party!)

So, only peripherally art related - but tea related is good. And since the last tea cozy I made was a Halloween tea cozy, this is connected to that - six degrees to Halloween, yes?

Last night I made a pot of tea for Hubby and I. I found this English tea pot on a sale table at an antique shop in La Mesa, CA. It was a lovely day rambling with my family. I love when there's a story connected to the things we have in our home. Anyway.... moving on with the story -

I stopped at a new thrift shop in town a few days ago and found something they had labeled a "toaster cover". It was 75 cents. I didn't think it was a toaster cover. I bought it, brought it home, tried to fit it over my very tiny toaster - nope. I knew it.

It was a tea cozy! A very fancy one! One of those that fits over the top and must be removed in order to pour the tea. I've been curious about this kind of cozy for ages. Do they keep the tea warm even though they don't have a bottom? Do they get steam up inside them? Well, I'm happy to report that the steam didn't seem to be a problem and it kept the tea incredibly hot for a very long time. I might be sold on this style. At least, this particular cozy, which is VERY heavily padded.

Slightly more art related, I stumbled upon these adorable art posters online, advertising regularly scheduled tea parties.

Not a witches' tea, but a Gothic Tea. I love this one, wish I could have a copy of it to hang.





Or this one. Love it too. And notice that these are offered year round, not just in October. This last one is in February. I want to go to a Gothic Tea Party! We never have anything cool like this here in town. I'm definitely going to have to get organized enough to hostess one myself. Right after I have a Witches' Tea and a Faery Tea and a Gypsy Tea and... I've got a long list of parties I want to have. Hmmmm, maybe I should start a tea club first, so I'll have people to attend the teas.




One more. Clever, clever posters.

Now, I'm off to bed. And hopefully you're off to visit more Halloween party links. I'm hoping to spend the day (after I wake back up over here) alternating visiting party folk and FINALLY playing in the studio. Knock on wood.

It's frustrating to keep coming back here and having no new art to share. Especially since I've been itching to play in the studio. But I've been swamped with Other Life and I can't even complain, it's all been good. I've been doing some creative technique reading, I'm carrying my camera around everywhere after a few weeks of being in a photographic slump. It's not that I'm not feeling creative, I'm just not able to translate that into studio time.

But I do, finally, have some photos to share of some of the art I bought at Halloween and Vine. I'm just now unpacking my bag of goodies.

I loved most of the pieces brought by Nancy's Metal Art. I grabbed up this simple metal crown. She also had some fancier crowns. I wish I'd brought home one of those as well now, but at the time I was trying to spread out my spending so I could get at least a little something of my favorite affordable things. Many things were, realistically, out of my price range but I'm happy to report that there were others who were happily willing to spend lots of money on real art. Yay for supporting artists! I'm just happy I can afford my small contributions.

I tried the crown on this week's birthday boy. It's very heavy. If it fell and landed upside down on someone's bare feet, trust me, we're talking impalement.



I'm not sure where it will finally end up, I'm thinking the garden, but for now it seems happy atop one of my many balls.




I also brought home this metal raven. At first I was going to buy one that was on a garden stake, but I liked the flexibility of being able to place him atop a flat surface inside or out. Sorry about the fuzzy silhouette. I always end up taking my photos in less than perfect lighting.



Here's another shot of him, the flash isn't flattering, but you can sort of see the great metal surface detail. Plus, I know that at least half my readers will spend time trying to read all those titles. Who am I to deprive you of the opportunity.




The last thing I bought at the show was this bracelet from one of my favorite booths - Edgar and Edgar. It was down to three possibilities and this one came home with me. It's really too bulky to use as a bracelet. I'm planning on turning it into a necklace and simply displaying it between opportunities to wear it. The images are glued, sealed, and lazer cut on some heavy backing. There's a lot of work in the making. Perfect for cemetery lover me! The artist, Kimberlee Edgar, also gifted both Hubby and I with big spooky bars of dark chocolate. Clearly a woman after my own heart.

I participate, as regularly as I can, in a Flickr creative group called Shades of Inspiration. It's a fun bunch of photography friends and we all jump in with ideas to use for each week's theme. We started out with shades - brown, turquoise, plum... and moved on to color combinations - red, white and blue, or pink and brown. We also dabble with noncolor themes - like "reflections", "wet", "time", "vintage paper". Sometimes themes can be interpreted as a color OR not - for instance we did "rust" - either the color or something rusty.

This week's theme is black and white photography. It's been really interesting to see what images translate well into b&w. Both sharp contrast and subtle differences seem to work. Some photos need color, others that work well in color still work well in b&w. Most interesting, finding images where removing the color gets rid of unnecessary distraction and helps you focus on the subject matter or composition. It's been one of the better themes for really helping me see my images in new ways. It's been more work, but I feel as if I've learned a lot this week.

Of course I've been using lots of spooky images and they seem to be particularly amenable to being drained of color. Sort of like photographic vampirism. Mwahahaha.

Here are four images I've used this week. I like each of these both as color and as b&w images and I share both to show you how each presentation makes a difference. I'm not going to share my perceptions, instead I'll leave it to you to come up with your own and hopefully to share them with me to see if, or how, they differ from my own.

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To see more photos from the group, both mine and others, here's a link to the group photo pool.

This blog hasn't exactly been overflowing with Spooky offerings yet this month. Sorry. Busy! And now I've got a weekend brimming over with family and football plans, so I'm just going to have to leave you with a few links and try to get more going on here next week.

Have I ever mentioned the artist Kipling West? Probably, but this is the perfect time of year to mention her again. I love her quirky, adorably strange and sometimes unsettling images.

I love her Halloween Tarot.


Here is her website, which doesn't seem to be updated recently, but still has lots of pages of past projects to enjoy.

Here is her blog, which is updated regularly.

And here is a group blog, 7 Deadly Sinners, that link to her and six other quirky artists.

And to totally get you through a weekend of spooky surfing, here is the EHAG blog. EHAG stands for Eclectic Halloween Artists Group. There are posts on the group blog and links on the sidebar to all the artist members. If that doesn't keep you online for hundreds of hours, then you're a faster browser than I!

There's more over on Beach Treasure, a lot of linky visual spookiness in a new post about haunted mansions today. So, check that out.

A couple photos I took recently. The first was at the local Little League field. I think originally it said "Use Trash can". But I liked the message it became even better. The second one was in a shop in.... Petaluma. Had to think there for a moment. Aren't those doors just amazing. Don't they look like they came off the back of a gypsy wagon?

I've spoken many times about my love affair with found art and ephemeral art and trash art, refashioning and reusing and recycling and so on and so on. Well, it turns out that there's a name for all that in a big ol' green pile - Eco ARt. Or Green Art. Or Environmental ARt. Take your pick of labels. But y'know, I never really looked at it that way before. I just like.... old stuff.

So last night I was flipping channels and there on the Sundance Channel was a show or special or series (I went to the website and couldn't quite figure out which it is, although there's all sorts of links to assorted artists and articles - so go there too, and click away) about Green Artists. It was completely fascinating. It made me want to race into my studio and start MAKING ART. Of course it was 3 am so instead I shut down the house, mosied slowly into my bedroom, and read a book instead. But still. I'm still feeling fired up today.

Some more photos, slightly sinister, I took on my walk.

a gust of ghosts




a creeping of creatures




a dying of dreams




a whisper of wasps




a spine of sorrow and stones

Been busy with family and football (that's the nature of the season), so just another quick post sharing some more of the goodies I brought back from my trip. I had to laugh when I did a quick scan of the photos because, although I'd chosen to share these particular things for their seasonal spooky quality, they're all things I plan to display or wear all year round. I'm just a spooky girl at heart.

I have a growing collection of crows, blackbirds, and ravens around the house. I seem to find one on most any trip. This one, with the uplifted wings, was quite unique. Here he is looking down from a high book shelf. He's standing near the last remaining tower from a paper castle William made in his childhood. I wonder if I have a photo of the entire castle tucked away somewhere.... hmmmm, I'll have to look for it.




Some crafting supplies I picked up while shopping for the yarn I shared already. Aren't those keys fantastic!? And the little Halloween charms. The other charms in the top left were actually purchased by Hubby. I'm sure he'd share one or two of them with me if I needed them. You can't really tell there's a package of silhouette confetti up there in the right hand corner. And where do you think the little sign would look best hanging?




Another collection we like to bring home from our trips, something "round and breakable". It all started with me buying art floats for Hubby. Sometimes the "round and breakable" thing isn't a glass float, but this time it was a lovely orange float we stumbled on in a charity shop in Sonoma.




Who expects to find a quality silk and rayon scarf at a Halloween store!? This is an Emily Strange scarf in a spooky cobwebs and cats motif. It was even half price. Some people might consider this only suitable for October but I will definitely wear it all year round.




And MORE scarves!!!! I dug a dozen out of a $2 each bin and whittled it down to these four. If I'd had more time, I'm sure I could have found more. One can never have too many scarves. Right?



That bin of scarves was inside an amazing shop we discovered in Sebastopol called the Aubergine Vintage Emporium and Cafe. You could wrap an entire vacation around this incredible shopping opportunity as the main destination. And when you're done with your day of shopping, they have a cafe and live entertainment at night. We didn't have a lot of time, so I had to choose between taking photos and shopping. Except for this photo of the fun "statue" outside the store, I chose to spend my time pawing through the merchandise and trying things on. (I do wish I'd managed to take a photo of their cool dressing rooms. I can't even explain them. You'll just have to go check'em out yourself.)