Blue Jay

Avis Angelus: Tondo

"Avis Angelus: Tondo"

Acrylic, ink, oil, gold leaf on wood panel, 18” across

I painted this on a round 18" wood panel. First I stained the wood to accentuate it's beautiful grain, and then pressed some large inkblots across the surface. After that, I worked to find images in the random patterns that had been created. The gold sun is a small knot in the wood.

This is a fascinating, meditative process to me, and one that I picked up from Max Ernst via Leonardo Da Vinci.

Rockscape 3

Rockscape 2

Rockscape II (16" x 20" Acrylic, Oil, Marble Dust on Wood Panel)

I had a grand time building up these textures with marble powder. It's a departure from a lot of what I do, but I love and miss the massive rocks from the Western deserts where I grew up.

Kudzu Spirits

One of the first things I noticed after moving to the South was the kudzu draping the trees and changing them into strange, Max Ernst-like monsters. James Dickey wrote a poem about the kudzu--here's a tiny excerpt:

                    half out of leafage
As though they would shriek,
Like things smothered by their own
Green, mindless, unkillable ghosts.

2012 Calendar Available

 My 2012 Wall Calendar is for sale on etsy!

Hummingbird

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. Now for sale on Etsy.
Painting 4" x 4"; frame 8" x 8." Acrylic, oil, and gold leaf on board, with varnish.

Figure Drawings

Book Cover

My latest book cover with Pearson--what a great group to work with!

Christy

Mozart

Now Available: Monsters & Mormons!

Do you like monsters? Do you like Mormons? Well, this is probably the book for you. Dozens of stories from Nebula and Hugo award-winning writers. Also has my longest published comic (graphic novella?), "Mormon Golem." Buy yourself a copy--a good time is sure to be had by all.

My illustration for Emily Milner's "The Living Wife" -- a hilarious and poignant story of a woman dealing with the ghosts of her new husband's first two wives.

Title page of my comic.

Prometheus

Collage 5

Collage 4

Collage 3

Collage 2

Collage 1

Rockscape 1

I need to play with oils more often. This has dirt from the landscape mixed with the paint.

Favorite Halloween Movies

Here are some of my Halloween movies. Hopefully there are a couple here that you haven't seen--new recommendations are always fun.

The Church (La Chiesa)
1989, Michele Soavi
A crazy, gothic mess of an entertainment. Incredible imagery and one of my favorite giallo movies. Also watch Soavi's hilariously oddball Cemetery Man.

Spider Baby
1968, Jack Hill
Madness from start to finish, a deliriously insane ride. I've seen a lot of weird movies, and this is one of the weirdest--in a very, very good way.

The Bride of Frankenstein
1935, James Whale
Not remotely scary, but thoroughly odd--from the opening scene with foppish poets hobnobbing in a fancy parlor, to the tiny king in a bottle trying to woo a tiny queen in another bottle, you really won't guess what's coming next. The birdlike Bride herself only gets about four minutes of screentime. An absolute delight, and one of the most original movies I've seen.

Bubba Ho-Tep
2002, Don Coscarelli
An aging Elvis battles ancient Egyptian demons in a nursing home. Need I say more?

Carnival of Souls
1962, Herk Harvey
Incredibly creepy tale of a young Salt Lake City organist haunted by ghosts.

Cat People
1942, Jacques Tourneur
Incredible movie. Watch the very different sequel as well.

The Company of Wolves
1984, Neil Jordan
Angela Carter's fairy tale visions on screen. Poetic, creepy, campy, and has great werewolf transformation scenes.

Daughters of Darkness
1971, Harry Kumel
Stylish, elegant, European vampire trash. If the 19th century Romantic writers (Coleridge, Poe, Le Fanu, etc) had been B-movie Euro-trash directors in the 70s, they would have come up with something like this sumptuous dish. Lots of red.

Dead Ringers
1988, David Cronenberg
Jeremy Irons plays two very creepy twins. Rather brilliant.

Hour of the Wolf
1968, Ingmar Bergman
Bergman's foray into horror is an unsettling journey into the Scandinavian heart of darkness.

Kwaidan
1964, Masaki Kobayashi
Somewhat creepy, but mostly gorgeous and poetic. A great series of short Japanese ghost stories.

Let The Right One In
2008, Tomas Alfredson
One of the most wonderful films I've ever seen. The stark Swedish winter surrounds a warm, yet unnerving, relationship between its two young protagonists. Best teen vampire movie ever, by a thousand miles. (Avoid the American remake, which is fine on it's own, but at best a pale counterpart to this rich masterpiece).

Lisa and the Devil
1974, Mario Bava
Bava's movies are filled with incredible imagery, rich colors, and fantastic storytelling--and this is my favorite Bava. Surreal, poetic, and perhaps closer to being arthouse fare than it is to being a B-movie cult classic. Watch lots of Bava, please. He was the Godfather of Giallo.

Mad Monster Party?
1967, Jules Rankin
Rankin & Bass's Christmas classics (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Year Without A Santa Claus, etc.) are wondrous, and their Halloween treat is no less delightful. I watched this the other day with my daughter (age four), and she thought it was a hoot. A little edgier than the usual Rankin/Bass fare.

Night of the Hunter
1955, Charles Laughton
One of the most amazing movies ever made, and one of the most unsettling. Part fairy tale, part Flannery O'Connor, part chase movie, part religious allegory; all brilliant.

Nosferatu
1922, F. W. Murnau
Still one of the scariest movies I've seen, this silent vampire film somehow burrows it's way into your psyche like a horrific albino rat.

Suspiria
1977, Dario Argento
Argento picked up where Bava left off. Insane colors and weird archetypal imagery tell the story of a ballerina and witches. I liked the follow-up, Inferno, almost as much as Suspiria.

The Descent
2005, Neil Marshall
One of the scariest movies I've seen. If you have claustrophobia (I do), this will destroy your life for an hour and a half.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
1970, Jaromil Jires
Dreamlike Czech coming-of-age fantasy, with vampires. Lovely music, too.

Vampire's Kiss
1988, Robert Bierman
A crazy vampire Nick Cage jumps on a table. It happens. This movie makes me laugh.



Have a happy Halloween!