Canadian Content
If you were following my blog last year during Festival of Fear, you may recall my post where I talked about wanting a certain print from Toronto artist Ghoulish Gary Pullin. Sadly, he didn't have any in 2009. I still walked away with a beautiful Frankenstein print (that looks fantastic framed, by the way), but when you have your heart set on one particular thing, it's hard to let it go.
It was the Fido image I was coveting. Not only is it easily one of my top zombie movies of all time (plus it's Canadian, and it has Billy Connolly as a zombie), but the artwork is stunning. So it should be no surprise that the very first thing I did when my table was set up on Friday was head over to Gary and lay claim to a copy of the print (pictured right).
The surprise (at least to me) came on Saturday. My table was buzzing with people (at the convention it went in waves: it was like you either had no one around or 5 people at once wanting to buy something), and in the middle of packing up an item I look up and see Gary.
No, that's not the surprise.
While it is entertaining to see celebrities at FanExpo, I get more excited about meeting local artists I've only known online. So it was a real pleasure to finally meet the folks over at Zombie Liquorice.
I didn't have a program map with me at the table, so I decided to go hunting for them in the horror section. It wasn't long before I spotted their shiny new banner and made my way over to introduce myself.
When I asked who the person was that's been on the other side of all the twitter tweets, they pointed me to Jason (who may spell his name Jayson...I can't confirm as we only spoke and didn't write letters to each other).
Big strong handshake. Always a good sign in my book. Besides, he's a fairly big guy with broad shoulders, so a weak handshake would have been exceptionally bad.
It was their first year at the convention, but they did so well and had such a positive response, they'll be back again in 2011. And why not? Besides having some really cool designs on their t-shirts, the shirts themselves are really well made. No plastic feel to the print. Good quality.
In about two hours, I am off to Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear, Canada's largest Horror event and part of Hobby Star's FanExpo. I will be at table A24, close to Rue Morgue and the HMV booth.
Hopefully you got your advance tickets and don't have to face the ludicrous lines (it takes a long time to get 50,000 people in and out of an event). If you didn't get advanced tickets or passes, I suggest you attend on Sunday or today (Saturday's line-up last year apparently hit a 5 hour wait, and circled city blocks).
If you follow the blog, be sure to say hello and tell me who you are (and if you post comments using a handle instead of your actual name, be sure to mention it!). Meeting people who know my work is one of the coolest things. As an artist, I live under the assumption that no one has a clue who I am in the real world, and I'm always genuinely shocked when someone does.
Here's a glimpse of one of three new Plague Doctors that's making its debut at the show. I had a little fun with this guy and gave him a telescopic eye, then highlighted it with a metallic copper paint.
A few bits of news this morning. Let's start with a reminder that I will be at the Parkdale Bazaar in Toronto Saturday, July 31 from 11am to 5pm. That's tomorrow, people. It takes place along Cowan Ave. at Queen in the Parkdale Town Square. Come and get your Peek-A-Boo eyeball plants, Plague Doctors, Little Minions (which is what I'm calling the new creatures with the fancy eyes and teeth), Brains Vs. Coffee books, Undead Head necklaces and maybe a few more surprises.
This could be my last event before the end of August, so if you've been meaning to come out and see me, this would be the time!
In other news, thanks to everyone who adopted 3 of the last 5 Underbiters. You've thrown the Underbiters the best retirement party I could hope for by adopting them and/or sending me messages telling me how much you've enjoyed the series. It means a lot to me.
There are only two left (in the whole wide world, forever and ever, amen): Oogie and Scurge. If you've been on the fence about buying one of them, let me give you some insider information that might help you decide to snatch them up today. If Scurge doesn't get adopted online by Saturday afternoon, I have an adopter interested in taking her home that evening (assuming no one else steps forward before then). So if you really like her, now is the time to get her.
As of Saturday night, Oogie will be available for purchase in the Ghoulish Goodies Shop where everything is priced in US dollars (so you save a buck or two if you buy her before then).
Besides that, August is upon us which means I will be slaving away, getting items ready for Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear Aug. 27 to 29 in Toronto. It's going to be an incredibly busy month. I will try to keep up on posts for the blog but if I'm absent or my posts are short, you'll know why.
That's about it for me. Have a great weekend everyone.
Happy Canada Day! Can't think of a better way to celebrate than to make some pumpkin sculptures. It's my first time sculpting large ones, and I'm really enjoying it. These guys are about the size of an orange (approximately 3" tall). I'm still working on them, but already their personalities are shining through.
These three will be coming with me to Scarefest on Saturday. I hope to see some of you locals there!
Every year I miss Scarefest, a friendly, casual haunter event hosted by Boneyard Bargains. And every year I vow to attend the next one.
Scarefest is a gathering of people who share an interest in all things related to Halloween. In attendance will be people that own and operate professional Haunted Attractions, Home Haunters as well as Halloween product vendors. The event is free and open to anyone 16 years of age or older. Bring along your photos and stories to share with those who have the same passion as you. Food and beverages will be provided as well as a prize giveaway.
This year I'm keeping that vow. In fact, I will be one of the vendors.
So if you live in or around the GTA, come on out and meet fellow members of the Ontario Haunters Club.
Please send an email to Boneyard Bargains to RSVP by June 19th or call 416-266-7354.
It runs from 1pm-7pm on Saturday, July 3. Takes place in Kim and Paul's backyard - 115 Phillip Avenue, Scarborough Ontario.
So come on out, talk some Halloween, eat some snacks, and...oh...I don't know...buy some Ghoul Friday goodies. ;)
Remember back when you'd been on twitter or Facebook for a couple years, and mainstream media picked up on it, and Oprah did a show on it to let the middle class suburban masses in on this great new hip discovery well after it had grown in size so that it wasn't any sort of secret (and Facebook already had one foot deeply cemented in a boot of lame?) And the show was all about teaching you how to be 'with it' too?
Or better yet, remember when Martha Stewart and Rosie O'Donnel did a segment on KidRobot's Munnys, and you looked over to your vinyl toy collection and sighed, a bit hollower than you were 3 minutes before?
In a previous post, I gave Dan Aykroyd a piece of my mind because his Crystal Head Vodka was next to impossible to get in Canada, especially if you didn't live on the east coast. But I need to take my words of anger back, and aim them instead at the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario).
First, a quick lesson for my American readers. In Ontario, if I want to buy liquor, I can only buy it from the LCBO. I can get wine directly from wineries, but when it comes to hard liquor, I have to go to an LCBO location.
After waiting over a year for some news, CTV has reported that the LCBO has decided not to carry the much sought after product because it's being sold in a bottle shaped like a human skull.
Chris Layton of the LCBO said the bottle could encourage binge drinking in young people. Young people? You mean the customers who are legally old enough to drop a large sum of cash on premium vodka? From recollection, young people who binge-drink do so generally with ANY - and often the cheapest - booze they can get their hands on.
FanExpo Canada has started to announce their lineups for 2010. While I am usually stuck at my table, unable to join the masses for a 2-hour queue in order to acquire a (sometimes insanely overpriced) autograph or attend a Q & A session, I still like seeing the celebrities.
The featured guests for the Festival of Fear portion is promising: David Cronenberg, Lance Henriksen, and Heather Langenkamp being the three names that jump out at me immediately.
The Sci-Fi guest list is a heck of a lot of fun as well: William Shatner, Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar are just a few of many stars announced (question: do people recognize Peter Mayhew - Chewbacca - by his towering height, or do they make him wear the mask at the table?).
The Comic Book guests will be announced tomorrow, but they've already said that Stan Lee will be in attendance. I've taken this as a good omen. Let me explain.
I don't know the Toronto artist behind Kaotic Ekkos Curiosities personally, but we have brushed shoulders and exchanged pleasantries at local shows in the city.
Just recently she launched a new website - http://theartistwholosthersightliterally.blogspot.com - that reveals her sudden fight with Pseudotumor Ceribri.
Simply put, her body has produced too much spinal fluid. This causes pain and loss of eyesight. She's been using a magnification application in order to post online.
I can't imagine what it would be like to suddenly have my world go dark and not be able to create my art.
So what can you do? You can read her story and offer support in the form of comments. Or you can donate a bit of money.
Or maybe you can blog about her.
You could also go to her online store Kaotic Ekkos Curiosities where she still has some items left over for sale.
There's talk of a possible fundraiser as well. Will keep you posted if that materializes.
