Gypsy Mare Studios Holiday Giveaway!

Hey! My friend Jennifer is having a Holiday Giveaway!

For a chance to win, visit her blog

http://gypsymare.blogspot.com/2009/12/spreading-joy-holiday-giveaway.html

The winner will be announced on Dec 11th

so better hurry.

Good Luck!

Welcome December and the Winter to Come!

A Happy Thanksgiving to All

Wishing one and all a day of peace, gratitude, health, love and

Thanksgiving shared with friends and family.

This was the center piece I made for our Thanksgiving table.

It was 75 degrees and we enjoyed our meal outside in the garden. Beautiful!

These scarlet leaves are from oak acorns that I planted myself. They

now share their beauty as a 23yr old tree. No sign of acorns yet...

perhaps one more Autumn will do it?

For now, enjoy the colors!

Kreative Blogger Award!

It's been a few weeks since receiving this delightful award and I wanted

to say Thank You SO much to Jodi Creager of http://www.creagerstudios.blogspot.com/  for

bestowing me the honour of this Kreative Blogger Award!

What a surprise, and especially coming from an artist of such skill and notoriety.

I'm overjoyed and humbled. Thank you ever so much! It's very much appreciated!

                    To address William Bezek's concerns about the award looking too Gingham, and
             hopefully to save him from further icky irksome regurgitation (as he puts it)...
          I've taken it upon myself to alter the design of the award a bit, for the Halloween set. I somewhat
            kept the bones of the original, trused the parson's nose, tweaked it here and there with
                           plenty of butter, moonlit sage, and a soupson of orange and black for flavor.

             In returning to the original legacy as proposed by the award originator, Hulda Husfruas
               of Norway, I would like to pass this award on to a most creative blogger who's writings
            and photography are always a joy and brighten the reviewers day. It is Gypsy Mare Studios
                                                 very own, Jennifer Macneill-Traylor!
                                                       http://www.gypsymare.blogspot.com/
                                                                 Also,
                    To the artists of Ehag! Who's amazing Halloween creations and blogs continue to inspire!
                                                      http://www.ehagartists.blogspot.com/
No rules, no expectations, simply please accept this award with the enthusiastic spirit in which it was given!
                                         Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

     

Idyllwild Carving

I've been watching the progress of this mammoth carving for the last couple of months,

up in Idyllwild, California,

by artist David Roy.

These native birds are behind the bear.

I suspect the leg in the Cougar's mouth is residual from Halloween.

This shot doesn't really give you the full impression as to the scale of this carving, but

I would guess it to be approximately 14 to 16ft or so high. The massive tree/carving is mounted on a wooden sled that I summize will make it easier to transport to it's final destination once completed. This project was commissioned as an

 Idyllwild Town Monument for the New Chamber of Commerce.

Tricks and Treats and Spookyness Galore...

Another Halloween has past... oh my gosh, where did the time go?!

We partook of wonderful homemade food and goodies, visited with friends and family

 and all in all had a swell time!

"Count Karlo's Pandemonium Side Show of the Mysterious" was a huge success, and the

Trick or Treaters were wide eyed with  amazement as they strolled through the old fashioned Victorian style

attractions set before them. One of the most popular was the Siamese Twin devil babies which occasionally let out sinister little laughing sounds, and the

Gypsy Goblin Fortune Teller'sCart amazed all with it's exotic allure and hypnotic ways.

Magical potions and mysterious ingredients from far off lands, sat about in bottles and jars

of every shape and size. Rare specemins of assorted creatures were on display, such as a mummified mermaid, and a genuine Unicorn skull that had been found deep in the forest by one of Count Karlo's horseman whilst exercising the Circus horses among the ferns and bracken.

The Great Houdini made an appearance, as did an abundance of spiders,

clattering bones, glowing and grinning pumpkins and a bearded goat named Flloyd.

Here is a portrait of the Count Karlo troop that greeted the Trick-or-Treating guests.

The old wizard in front is our neighbor Brandon Bain, his Mom, Marilou Bain is the witch

on the left, my Mom, Madge Decker is the grinning witch on the right, and that's me, Deb as

the Gypsy Goblin, Count Karlo.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the Side Show a success, especially my step-dad, Larry Decker (who, like most stage hands, prefered to stay behind the scenes) for the special effects (a very cool and boogery changing portrait), sound effects (he revived the circus music that almost wasn't because Poltergeists had suddenly taken over my computer and refused open the E-Drive DVD tray!), and stage crew construction (a little more to the right... no higher.. now a bit to the left! Ha Cha!).

Thank You everyone and we'll see you next year!

Wishing One and All the Spookiest of Halloweens!

Hallow's Eve is Nigh...

In my travels visiting relatives in Tennessee a few years back, I came across this

 amazing grave of a Civil War officer. I wish I'd photographed the stone in greater detail

 so that I knew his name.

The decorative cast iron is rusty and blackberries have over taken it, but in all

of it's disrepair, it is a thing of beauty. He must have been an elegant fellow.

My workbench and latest Papier mache' creation, a Belsnickle. I'm still working on his boots

 and am trying a black undercoat on for size to aid the antiquing effect.

Although this is the height of the season, and I should have been working on pieces,

 I've used these last few weeks to prepare for Halloween night and organize and tidy

my overflowing work benches. You know that feeling of when you know you have that one particular tool,

bit of fabric, or supplies of various sorts, only to spend more time looking for it than had you simply gone out and bought another? Sometimes the studio has a mind of it's own and during the night, it rearranges things and puts them somewhere... never to be seen again... or, at least not until after you no longer need it. Perhaps it's poltergeists but, in this case I rather think not.

For the last 35 years or so I've always eerily decorated the house for the Trick or Treaters.

This was a delicious dinner table set with a Boars head as the main dish, Coyote skull

for the appitizer and of course, blood red wine and pumpkin crudete'. All on

anitique china and elegant crystal.

Some years it's been a laboratory and others the appearance of an abandoned house, complete

with a months worth of saved leaves strewn on the carpeting and vines growing through the walls. Not to worry, the indoor leaves aren't the norm but we were fixing to get new carpeting so I thought, what the hey!

This year I've decied to do everything outside and hope that the weather holds up. We've been having alot of wind but it's supposed to be perfect the next few days.

I'm working on "Count Karlo's Pandemonium Side Show of the Mysterious". This eerie carnival

 appears from the mist on Halloween night, and just like Brigadoon, by morning, there is nout a trace

of it ever having existed but perhaps the faint smell of popcorn and cider in the air.

I'll post photos Nov.1st.. this is assuming mist is photographable.

Goats and Goblins... sort of

So many friends have been posting wonderful photos of the pumpkin displays in thier area, so I thought

that I'd give it a go.

These were taken at Roger's Gardens, a well known nursery in Orange County. Here in the city we often need to create the flavor of fall and bring the country to us. I just love these little Goat carts!

These Daylillies were so stunning in person and I hoped the color impact would repeat in the photo.

Rogers does such a fun job at display and this year they created an attic/basement situation,

complete with lots of old trunks, odd antiques to furro the brow, and of course

lots of orange and black goodies for sale.

If you're ever in Newport, Ca in the fall, I recommend a peep at Rogers for fun.

Hey!

I wanted to mention that my friend Jennifer Macneill-Traylor of

"Gypsy Mare Studio" is hosting an exciting Halloween Giveaway on her blog!

Click on The Mare's Tales on the right.

Check it out for a chance to win some of her lovely art!

Missy Hefner

      I thought I would post a photo of our kitty, Missy Hefner

Hefner? Any relation? Well, yes actually. Her story began about 10 years ago when we were prevledged to tour the Playboy Mansion West, with our bird club, the Avicultural Society of America. Unbeknown to many folks, Hugh Hefner has beautiful gardens, a wonderful collection of birds, fish, monkeys and even rabbits... in addition to the well publisized bunnies, etc.
We, my folks and I, had just lost our cat "Punkin Puss" of 18yrs and about halfway through the tour of the greenhouse the staff informed us that they had two litters of kitties that were looking for homes. Awwww. The timing was perfect and we picked the tiniest one of all. I carried her little self around the rest of the afternoon and even up to the spacious Squirrel Monkey cages. As I stood there, peering into the cage looking for the mother and baby that we'd been told about, it happened. Amazingly all the other monkeys parted the way and from above the mother with her baby clinging to her, came down to investigate the tiny kitten. She reached out her little arm wanting to touch the tiny ball of fur, but did I dare let her? What if...I thought. I decided to turn the kitten around so that she could barely touch the back of her. It was such a special scene to witnes this curious little monkey mother, reach out and touch the kitten with the most tender of caresses. The kitten stayed calm and my goodness it was a serene picture.
On the way home, we tried to come up with a name for our little Miss of the month and hense,
"Missy" Hefner came to live with us. :-)

Missy is very happy to pose for me when I need inspiration for Halloween Cats and perhaps she takes after her relatives in seeking the limelight.

HAPPY OCTOBER ALL!!

"Familiar 31"

 Lately I've been experimenting and learning new techniques with both paint and metal. I'd been pouring over books looking for detailed doll armature information, and although some had good info, often times it seemed there were puzzle pieces missing here and there. Then... it happened... I found the tutorial DVD's from Creager Studio's! Oh my gosh! They did such a super job on these and I highly recommend them!

Here is "Familiar 31" all finished and ready to post on Ebay today. Although I toyed with the notion of putting a hat on him, in the end... I think o-natural is best.

Below are a few more of this weeks efforts.

"Beaming Moon"

This guy just encourages you to make faces back at him!

"Gargoyle Moon"

and last but not least, Lumpy Moon.

Um..... would you believe, I'm listining to Christmas Music?

Orange is in Season!

This is such a special little guy! Every now and again, I can look out from my studio workshop and see this beautiful Dragonfly resting at the very tip of my truck's radio antenna. He's very friendly and allows me to closely study him and take his picture. Of course, he's nicely color coordinated for the season...

 Halloween Orange! Of course! :-)

I've been experimenting with the little Witch's Hat tutorial from Cart Before the Horse... and

Viola! My first little fabric Hat! Thank you Jo!

                         
             The "familiar" in the background will be doning this chapau once it's had a wee touch of paint and a bit of acoutrimon and magick added.  Have a great holiday weekend everyone!  :-)

"Duff" is one of my latest creations. Though not intended, his squint and crooked mouthed sneer reminds me of Clint Eastwood's, "Go Ahead, Make My Day".

Monkeys in the Oak Trees!

The heat of summer has finally arrived and OoooEee.. it's been toasty! I've taken advantage of the extreme sun and I put several new Paperclay pieces in the intense sun to cook. At 95 degrees, it didn't take long. I'm having to keep a close eye on the pieces however. Often I'd go out to find a moon gone, or rolled away and the pumpkins rearranged. What appeared to be poltergiest activity concerning the baking moons, pumpkin people and Halloween crows, turned out to be our friendly backyard squirrels! Funny little monkeys!