Creature Feature

Featuring
Cruella and the Creature Crew 
Artist Spotlight

Cruella De Ville

Cruella and the Creature Crew

Hello my art pretties! it's close to Halloween, the goblins and ghouls are planning their romp through the neighborhoods in six days to scare up their share of candy. While the everyone shows their classic scary movies, I prefer to keep it light and look at the fun side of the dark shadows and the creatures that lurk within it.

Starting with Cruella, from 101 Dalmations, she's a helluva woman who despite her scouring expressions, is actually very shapely in all her elegance.  Her demeanor scares off the manliest of men, but her lavishness is overwhelming like her cigarette smoke. Cruella has more lines drawn in her face than in her body and heads the pack in my creature crew.

Along the the lines of cartoons, Witch Hazel and Witchiepoo cause quite the riot as they have separate agendas.  Witch Hazel spends most of her budget on replacing lost hair pins and trying to cook Bugs Bunny or some other cartoon character.  Loosely based on Hansel and Gretel, Hazel lives in a cottage in the woods and loves to hum while she cooks, often preparing a recipe that requires a rabbit or duck. My favorite is when she is singing "A cup of teahee, a cookie, and youhoo!" No she's not scary, but rather lonely and loves a good chase which always ends up with her being the one getting the slip.  No one could possibly eat bugs bunny or daffy duck!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        One of my other favorites is Witchiepoo from HR Puffin stuff, the witch is the comic relief and is perceived as being clumsy . Being the bad girl, her plans always gets foiled.   Being a witch has got to be hard.  They're green or some weird ashen color, they have a big nose with a wart and huge chin, long fingers and the clothes are more like ashy cloaks, and the wands always strike fear but are the main source of they're powers. Even though Witchiepoo is dressed in layers of clothing and is the most flamboyant and tattered looking . Witchiepoo and Witch Hazel are fun/clumsy/revenge seeking characters, oddly,they seem to look alike.  

I remember watching Creature Feature late at night, often with my brother. Count Gore DeVol was the host, it aired on WDCA-20, and featured Elvira, Mistress of the Night. They were scary or at least full of suspense. Compared to today's scary movies, these old movies really build up the suspense and the thrill of the chase. Both Characters were ghoulishly interesting, bringing a sense of the macob to the show. Not scary to watch which is fine by me, with my vivid imagination working overtime, I could scare myself silly! 

One of my favorite actors from the 70's is Vincent Price, he was the ghoulish psychopath who would torture his subjects by some twisted means. Ernest Borgnine was also in a few of these movies.  Alfred Hitchcock also had some good movies that was full of suspense and terror. His works played a little off of the work of Edgar Allen Poe. The Birds, was my favorite movie, was somewhat based on The Raven by Poe. Some of the sci-fi movies were included into these creature features, Like "The Day the Earth Stood Still, and The Blob. What made all these movies great, was that they were black and white, so the shadows and the creepiness was intensified.  

The Day the Earth Stood Still is a cult classic, and all I can remember is the phrase that was spoken to the robot "Klaatu barada Nikto" if anything happened to his master. Wow! Nothing like the "Live long and prosper" phrase that Spock used in Star Trek. Never ceased to amaze me that Kirk would get with any alien female as long as she was beautiful. That was enough sci-fi horror for me.  Actually, I'm an action movie chick, with a sprinkle of animated fun, and a gooey psycho killer filled center.

There were other TV shows with a dark theme, such as Dark Shadows, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and my favorite, Tales from the Crypt.  The crypt keeper was a dapper puppet, always dressed in character for the shows current theme for terror. There were several crypt keepers, they never had the same facial structure and decay.  He was a witty old sack of bones who laughed at his own twisted jokes.  The shows focused on how some people by some truly morbid twist of fate, get what they deserve.

Speaking of fun, monsters come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, complete with their unusual looks and abilities.  One of my favorites, Aaah! Real Monsters, was my favorite cartoon for awhile.  This show reminded me of practical jokers who fuck with you cause they have nothing better to do. These are the people who need the shit scared out them. Sometimes justice is served, and others the monsters learn how to be better friends. aaaawwww!

Other TV shows that kept it creepy but funny, The Addams Family, and The Munsters. Lost in Space, Land of the Lost, were not creepy but fall more into sci-fi category, they were still fun and weird. I'm sure there are other shows out there that fit into this creepy crew, but its fun to see how things have changed, but some stay the same.

Cant leave out the ultimate scary movie, The Exorcist. I remember seeing that movie on TV when I was in the sixth grade. It scared me to death, had nightmares for along time and from that moment I knew scary was not for me.  I went to the movies to see Nightmare on Elm Street and the first Halloween movie when I got older.  After a while, they became dumb to me. There was always some group of young people who experience unusual events and instead of leaving, they stick around and end up getting killed. Stupid people are scary to me! Just think, these are considered classics too!

Halloween is coming with ghosts and  big black cats, Halloween is coming we'll put on our masks. We knock on the door and say trick or treat!, then scamper all the way down the street. Halloween is coming! booo!

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

This spotlight is on an artist who I admire greatly, and mentored me as I begun my artistic journey.  Johne, began his art career in high school. After being put in an art class cause he threw a chair at a student in music class, he began drawing.  After high school, he continued drawing, teaching himself how to draw the scenes he wanted. His work has never been shown in any exhibition setting. In order to see his work, you had to visit him.  Johne passed away suddenly in June 2002, and I keep his work and his influence close to my heart, for he was my brother. His birthday was last Saturday, he would have been 55 years old. I am proud to feature him in my blog in the the artist spotlight.  He was truly an inspiration to me and I miss him dearly.

Johne used colored pencils, ink pens, pastel pencils to create his layered look.  He often worked on black foam core and colored poster board, the grooves from the pencils can be seen when viewed up close.  Most of his work is based on a song or song lyric, like this piece (right) which is called "Midnight at the Oasis" which was a popular song in the late 70's. This piece combines images from some of the lyrics in the song. The piece above is in reference to the Hard Pack, a series of Camel Cigarette ads that featured camels in suits and were the cool camels and was sometimes shown as a music band. The center figure in the picture is a pseudo self portrait of himself. His jacket mimicked camel fur. The image of Lenny Kravitz was borrowed from my Vibe magazine that featured him on the cover.The saxophone player is based on me(it was the late 80's!). The other band members are loosely based on Prince's band, the Revolution. 

Most of his work focused on people.  He was especially good with faces and made the expressive and realistic. His ideas were often poetic even though he did not write poetry.  His love of sci-fi really shows in some of his work. This piece, called The Travelers, was influenced by the old western movies.  We got a big kick out of watching those movies. The imagery he created from these movies reflects his eye for detail and memory.  He rarely worked from photographs.

John became interested in ships, perhaps seeing an old movie that had the pirate looking ships in them. He has several pieces that contain ships. He studied them enough to be able to recreate the texture in the planks of wood.  He also had a sense of humor, somewhat sarcastic in nature, but he incorporated some humor in the ship scenes he drew. In his work, he played on the popularity of TV shows and peoples perceptions of others through his imagery.

He decided to sign his work Johne, since he was always called Johnny while growing up. There are 25 works that survive him.  If he was not pleased with his work, he would destroy them.  He never sold or gave away his work.  I managed to rescue (only by extreme begging) two pieces which are part of his total collection. 

Last year, I posted a piece of his every day on facebook to celebrate his birthday.  He never wanted his work seen, but I believe his work is beautiful and should be seen. Happy birthday, Johne.

Enjoy your Halloween! Thanks for reading!  Will see you at the.....

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Things in My Basket

A tisket, a tasket, these things are in My Basket!

fuzzy bunny picture

I saw a baby rabbit while walking down the street. It seemed to be posing for me so I took it's picture. With all the wild life surrounding me it was surprising to see such a little rabbit coming out of the bushes and still be alive!  with all the stray cats strutting and ground hogs, hogging and the occasional hawk like bird that swoops down and carries off prey. This predator has landed on my fence, scoping out its next meal. The wonders of nature never cease. I am constantly amazed every time I leave the house, I see something new. Now that the weathers changing, the mosquitoes and flies can chill out and leave me alone.

The one bug that's looking for shelter is the stink bug. Did you know that Raid now makes a stink bug killer spray that also works on other insects.  It's called Raid Max, Bug Barrier. It's the best bug spray ever! Those who have pets, may need to take precautions, but since I have none, its spray time y'all! Stink bugs are hard to kill, but this stuff knocks em right out.  I've used regular raid on them too, but you have to saturate those jokers before it affects them.

You know, despite their stinky disposition, they are actually interesting to look at. They look their best DEAD! But nevertheless they are part of the insect world, we must respect that fact, right before we crush em!

Another tasket in my basket moving around and making a racket, is the exhibit called Cosmo Couture, at the Corcoran's Gallery 31. The exhibit runs until October 14, 2012. Gallery 31 is the Corcoran Gallery of Arts dedicated exhibition space for the Corcoran School of Art and Design. This exhibit is where both fashion and interior design meet and respond to the ever changing trends in our culture.  Using the painting Red Star (1970) by Raymond Saunders (permanent collection of the Corcoran) as inspiration, the Cosmo Couture design teams created couture gowns from materials usually used in interiors.

I remember when the space was office space used for student services and records.  I used to intern in this very space as an office assistant.  My how things have changed. The Gallery can be accessed through the E Street entrance. This entrance is mainly used by students, but the Gallery is visible on the right as soon as you walk in.

I thought this exhibit was interesting and unusual.  The designs are futuristic looking, but looks like a lot of the outrageous clothing that designers actually feature on the runway. Then some A-list star wears it to an event and gets blasted by the Fashion Police for not leaving it on the runway. Joan and her rangers rule fashion! These dresses look really good on a headless manikin or a dress stand.  What gaudy event would someone wear these to?

The Exhibit is very well put together.  The exhibit is free to the public. Its worth going to see. The hanging styrofoam heads are cool too, and there are other dresses that are interesting and dynamic.  Check it out if you can. 

I find the school more interesting than the gallery.  Student work is often up in the hallways and its always top notch (at least to me). On the wall lining the steps of the school  is art work, the stairs spiral down from up high until you get to the bottom. 

Student work is always full of life and movement. It speaks to the level of thought put into creating these pieces.  These two pieces were the most intriguing "All along the stairwell." A place that I remember well, they removed the vending machines at the bottom of the steps and made room for art. Guess it can't all stay the same.

One more tisket and tasket in my little basket, hanging around upside down trying not to be misfits. The other day, I went to visit my friend Cynthia Farrell Johnson at her new space at Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring. She is an artist in residence there, she was featured in my artist spotlight a few posts ago. Visiting her was fun, her studio small but well lit with enough room for her and her paintings.  We talked about art and other things. Cynthia is so well rounded in her life and experiences, that its always a joy to talk to her.  I took pictures of her studio and her current works in progress are on the wall.

Pyramid offers classes in printmaking, and papermaking.  Love to see all the artwork that comes out of there, but just as interesting are the printmakers and the materials they use. I'm a tool junkie and enjoy the process of creation. Nothing like seeing paper being made, and left out in lumpy batches. The things that could be done with the pulp! Too bad they don't have a place for sculptors, cause I would have to be there.

My last little tisket, is an alabaster piece, HE is called "The Singer".  Yes, a He, and I will feature him and other things I'm working on next time.

All my tiskets and taskets are now out of my baskets. Hope you like them, hope they were fun. A little rhyme and reason and now I'm done.  Thanks for reading.

See you next time at the.....

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