Journey in the Dark

 

Cryptid Lineup

Welcome back friends! Please pardon the cobwebs and dust, life has been rather busy since your last visit. So let us start off this visit with a bit of a peek into some of the things I've been up to which also include poking at a genre of art that I never thought I would: Horror and Dark Fantasy.

Jar of Eyeballs

For the longest time, I have avoided creating any dark work. Mostly because I wasn't known to create such work and when I dabbled briefly in it during my college years, I had received a lot of concerned commentary of 'are you okay' from friends and instructors. So, to stop such questioning, I never touched it again. Yes I would do the occasional human or animal skull but I never saw it as anything horror related, rather a representation of life, death and rebirth. Fast forward to 2023-2024, I put the question out there to my current group of friends and customers if I should dip my toes back in and see what I could come up with. Instead of no or a cautious yes, I was blown away with this collective of absolute supportive loons encouraging me to go forth and test the waters. Tentatively I started off with some basic cryptids and a jar of eyeballs. I know, how tame and predictable. But as someone who had never gone farther then a pencil sketch that was quickly crushed and tossed in the recycle bin in this genre, it was a large step. It was the equivalent of opening the door and cautiously poking my head in.

Dark Yule Collection

As I felt around a bit, I realized there was another way I could get a feel for the dark and possibly spooky which was folklore and beings that seemed to only come out during the winter months. Not quite sure if they would even be considered holiday cryptids or not but I wanted to have a small collection of images that had the feel of being in a story book telling the tales of various old world holiday beings. At this point I was leaning heavily into my habit of researching cultural folklore and beliefs, finding a surprising amount of European tales that were dark and horror related. There were some tales where the beings were benevolent and kind but there was many more that were very much cautionary stories. I also found a large amount of the beings just being old women with an agenda but that is an observation for a different day. Keeping each design a simple black, white, and sepia brown for that old story book feel, I made each design able to stand on their own but work together as a collection.

Church Grim

Keeping with my random research dives into old, rarely talked about folklore, I realized that this was my best way to really experiment with this genre that I never allowed myself to tap into thanks to fear and self doubt. This is when I decided to start sinking into the pool water. What was the result? My interpretations of the Church Grim and Cu-sith. Both are part of the 'black dog' category of fables, surprisingly; protectors of their respective domains and thought to be harbingers of death to those who dare to cross them. The Church Grim was from a very old practice used to be the spirit of the first man buried in a new graveyard to forever be tasked to act as a guard for the church. So that a soul wasn't left out of heaven, they switched to it being a black dog buried in the graveyard or as a sacrifice to hold the foundation stone. Tasked to ward off evil, to see a black dog was thought to be an ill omen. In some stories, a priest could tell if the soul of the dead would go to heaven or hell depending on how the dog reacted. Then we have the Cu-sith. Originally from Irish, Scottish and Welsh folklore, he's usually found roaming the moors and highlands. Described being the size of a small cow and having shaggy green fur (probably from moss and muck), he is usually silent save for the rare times he barks 3 times. The bark is said to be heard for miles even as far as the sea and if those who heard hadn't found safety by bark three, they would die of fright.

Cu-sith

By this time, I was finding that I was surprisingly good with creating horror/dark fantasy elements and was becoming less afraid of working in a genre that I had been avoiding touching for so long. It is a very different experience between appreciating the work that others who are more versed and known to work in it compared to actually doing something in it. What also helped was receiving encouragement and helpful tips from friends I had made within a horror community that I had wandered into earlier in the process. Many of the artists within helped me realize that I didn't have to do what everyone else did such as gore and the like, and just do something that I was comfortable with. As I continued to explore, I ended up creating little designs with the thought of 'what would someone have as macabre Victorian tassels of decoration. What came out of this strange thought process was a shrunken head, a tassel of lady fingers, and a rope of tongues. I never finalized the rope of tongues but I realized that each could be considered a play on words. The shrunken head could be for 'a small mind'. The tassel of lady fingers could be in reference of lady finger cookies or even being 'handsy'. Then there is the rope of tongues which was obviously being 'tongue tied'. I was not meaning to have such morbid jokes in this project but I honestly couldn't stop giggling the entire time I was working on them.

Victorian Tassels

Though not really horror related, I did eventually revisit the start of this entire journey with another cryptid piece. It was meant more as a cute amusing concept but spiraled into a commentary piece, showing an exchange of story telling from older folklore to newer generations. I wanted something whimsical but at the same time showing that the only reason why some old dark cautionary tales are still alive is through verbal story telling and many stories are dieing out thanks to things not being written down or discussed. Like I said, not horror related in the visual sense but more of a suggestion of horror in reference to the possibility these beings fading from the collective mind. The piece, called 'Campfire Stories' shows a young woman in traveling clothes sitting by a camfire with Baba Yaga and Mothman listening to a story from Wendigo. Sitting nearby is a Black Eyed Child looking out at the viewer instead of listening to the Wendigo talk. 


Now I know what you're probably asking: Will I continue dabbling in the horror/dark fantasy genre? I would say tentatively yes. My confidence isn't quite there but it is slowly growing. I know I would never do works akin to artists like Gerald Brom or H.R. Giger nor would I want to even attempt to. However, I am enjoying this little bit of exploration and have been discovering that I am learning skills and techniques that I can use with my current bodyof work. What will I come up with in the future in this area? Not a clue but I'm sure it's going to be an exciting learning experience at any rate. What I have been discovering during this entire journey is that it's been surprisingly theraputic. With how the world has beein the last few years and just life in general, doing these darker pieces has been a bit of an outlet for the pent up feelings that have been building up. Normally I would try to do peaceful or joyful pieces, mostly as a reminder to those look at my work that there is still good in the world but I never really had an outlet for myself. Now, thanks to this little journey into unknown lands, I have a small outlet for random thoughts and ideas that have been boxed up and put away in my mind. So I look forward to sharing more the next time I poke at this in the near future.  

'Campfire Stories'

Book of Shadows Box – Part 4 (END)

 Welcome back friends! We have finally reached the end of this particular adventure but were we successful in our endeavors? In Part 3, we went over the slight struggle of making some designs cooperate with us and the possible solutions that we were able to figure out.

Making sure placement is right

Checking in with the Customer

Throughout the process of customizing this, I have been keeping my client updated on the entire thing with pictures and texts to get feedback as to how far should I go. My client has been thrilled with everything up to this point so as I was getting close to the end, I texted once more to see if there was anything they wanted me to add before I clear-coated. They loved everything that I had going for it but requested a tiny triple moon at the bottom point of the central design. I was happy to oblige so checked the size and placement with them before getting it colored in.

Time to get some spray on

First clear coat on

Double and even triple checking everything before I went outside with the box to put on some layers of clear glaze. I have had a few people ask me what I use for this process and it's a Rust-Oleum® Triple ThickGlaze – Clear High Gloss Coating (this or any of my other mixed-media wood projects are no way sponsored by Rust-Oleum). I have been using this for years but I know that there's probably better choices out there such as using a clear apoxy but I have absolutely no experience with that and wouldn't want to randomly experiment on something a client's been keeping their eyes and heart on. Probably in the near future I will test things out to see if it would be a good choice for some of the things I do.

So I only put 2 coats of the glaze on the box this time instead of my usual 3 simply because my current can is almost empty and I haven't had a chance to go to the store to pick up some more. Why would I normally go 3 or more coats? Wood is thirsty and instead of having a nice even sheen across a whole project, there will be low points were it looks like the wood was never touched even though you sprayed evenly over the entirety of the piece. I've also learned over the years that the type of wood also affects the outcome along with prep and treatment of the wood before the clear-coating. So unfortunately there is no concise 'Do this to A for B result' since every project situation is different.

Project now finished

Vigorous Jazz Hands

Ta da! Pardon the fireworks and lady in the Roaring 20s dress doing the Charleston in the corner. However, the project is officially done and the client is beyond thrilled with the results. If the 5 lines of heart-eyed smiley face emojis sent to me is anything to go by to show how
much they love it, I believe that this has been a job well done. I may go ahead and get a fresh can of clear glaze and to at least one more coat on the box since there are some low spots I noticed where the wood was basically going 'I THIRST FOR MORE!!'. So I can take care of that before I deliver the project to the client next month. This brings this particular adventure to an end but I hope that you've enjoyed the journey with me. Stay creative and don't be afraid to experiment and push your craft! Until next time everyone.

Book of Shadows Box – Part 3

 

Here we are once more and man has there been a few choice words between the box and I since our last adventure in Part 2. Some ideas I had were used while others were tossed out of the window thanks to aggravation. So settle in with a drink or a snack and let's dive into this together, shall we?

I had a Plan

Uneven Curve

And I say “had” in its loosest sense. You see, my original plan was to use apoxie sculpt to make it look like box had bindings to mimic an actual book and have a nice 3D affect. After some trial and error, I realized that it would be much more headache then it should be. Partially due to the fact that the apoxie sculpt refused to stick to the wood (which could honestly be fixed with some E6000 so it wouldn't have been too much of an issue) and partially just the construction of the box itself. I didn't notice that the side of the box was irregular if I attempted to correct the issue by oversanding, I would endanger the integrity of the box itself. So tossing that idea aside, I went and drew on what I wanted.

Watercolor Wash Stain

Now that I had that little issue sorted, it was onto the staining of the wood the non-traditional way. With watercolor washes. Using a ½ 4400 Angular brush and a mix of various blues and purples, I did a wash of the various colors on the parts of the wood that would be seen while the box was sitting on a table. Once it dried, I went back with some P400 X-Fine sandpaper and carefully sanded where I painted. The reason for this is the introduction of moisture to the wood will cause what you had previously sanded to feel a little rough to the touch. Lightly sanding it will make everything smooth again and it would be ready for clear coating later on. The watercolor staining will only lighten slightly, depending on the pressure used. If a bit of wood is exposed, just do a little touch up unless you're going for an
aged/weathered look.

For where the pages were to be, I ended up using acrylic paints instead to get the look I was going for. Painting with white first and letting it dry, I went back with my sandpaper to smooth things out like I did with the areas I did my watercolor staining. I then ended up using a bit of

Painted 'Pages'

black and pink to put in the illusion of pages and book binding.

Nearing the Home Stretch

As I get slowly closer to the end of the project, I purposely have to remind myself to slow down. Yes, I'm excited over the fact that I'll be able to do a clear coat soon but if I rush towards the finish line, I could easily screw everything up. Let's break down what I am planning on doing or what I need to remind myself to check on.

Start of detailing central design

1. Detailing and making the cover design cohesive – With many of my box designs, I go ahead and add an outline to the the various elements in the design with micronpens. I am still planning on doing this but this will also give me the opportunity to see if I need to add some more leaves or blossoms to the central design to it doesn't look unfinished.

2. Staining touch up & binding detail – I've noticed some spots where I need to do a little touch up of color to the box and the designs I put along the side still need to be finished.

3. Clear coat & optional extra details – Once I do my check of the first two things on the list, I get to clear coat. I normally use a clear glaze spray paint and it takes a few layers to get things to where I want them, making sure each layer dries before I add the next. As far as the 'optional extra details', I have a couple of bits and bobs I would like to add after the clear coat part of this process bit those ideas may get set aside.

So that's the game plan but who knows how things will go. Guess you'll need to stay tuned to find out. Stay creative, everyone!

Book of Shadows Box – Part 2

Welcome back my fellow adventurers! I have made a fair bit of progress on the box since my initial post of Book of Shadows Box – Part 1 but let's not jump ahead of ourselves, shall we? There is always a process as to what I'm doing, even if the majority of the time I don't realize it myself. So let's continue where I left off on this story.

Book of Shadows box cover concept

Inspiration and Prep

As I mentioned previously, I decided to use a couple of elements from a design concept I had set aside while working on a different custom box a couple of months prior. Sometimes when I design, I will like certain bits in the concept and not others so I'll set them aside for possible future use instead of what normally happens – crumbling the paper up and tossing it into the recycle. Not only did I have a better idea of what I wanted to do with the composition but I knew that I wanted to keep all of the elements within the same range of colors.

Photo References

The photo references I was using for the moth and the raven skull had very similar colors, ranging from greys and creamy whites with hints of pink, blue and even a little purple. I wanted to make sure the flowers were in this range so they could compliment the original
elements and work cohesively together. I settled on a beautiful photo I stumbled across of flowers of the Common Hawthorn. With yellowed white blossoms sporting hints of pink, this would tie together nicely. Of course up to this point I haven't decided on a color for the background or for the prayer beads but I know that I'll be able to sort that out once I have the other pieces colored.

Start of moth coloring

Speaking of color, I know that I am a bit of a strange one when it comes to working on wood. Other artists will prep their surfaces to use watercolors or acrylics. I, on the other hand, use primarily Prismacolor color pencils. I sand down the surface until it's smooth before taping transfer paper and then the design into place and trace what I've done. Thankfully I know how much pressure I need to use so as to not leave grooves in the wood during this part of the process. Once the transfer is done, I will get my colors selected and start coloring. Again, pressure needs to be firm enough to color but not so hard you're carving into the wood. The tricky part, however, is that the grain of the wood will sometimes attempt to dictate where the pencil goes. A straight line may end up being nudged into being curved. When such things happen, patience and going slow is the key.

Raven skull colored in

As you can see, I have most of the moth and the raven skull in at this point but both need a lot more work. However I want to try to get the other elements colored in first before I start blending everything together. Might be a bit before I continue this journey with you in Part 3 but until then, stay creative and enjoy your day!

Book of Shadows Box – Part 1

 It's that time again where I have been requested to bring you wonderful people along on another art creating adventure. This year has been dotted with several custom/personalized altar box projects that customers have been enjoying adding to their sacred spaces. So get yourselves comfy because this is going to be a tad different from some of my previous endeavors.

It started with a Sale

Recently Michaels, a craft store chain here in the states, was advertising some products that they had just gotten in for the season. Among the items was a wooden box which resembled a book and had a magnetic closure for the lid. My first thought was 'Book of Shadows' so I ended up nabbing 2 while they were still in stock. For those who are not familiar with what a Book of Shadows is, think of it as a personalized note book for pagan practitioners. It's usually filled with notes on anything from sun and moon phases, herbs, crystals, and animals to instructions for rituals, talismans and recipes. Each book is completely personalized and sometimes is handed down through generations. My idea for the box was to make it look like a book but it would be able to hold a small journal sized book inside or anything else the owner wished to store.

May the Concepts Begin

Rejected Box Design concept

When speaking to a very good friend of mine who has also become a bit of a collector of some of my work about what I had planned, saying that they were interested was a bit of an understatement. There was a great deal of enthusiasm to the idea and they expressed great interest in not only possibly purchasing but wished to follow along. Honestly I couldn't help but giggle at the level of child-like wonder that was being directed my way. So the sanding of the wood commenced so that the box could be properly prepped. However what in the world was I going to do with the cover? To the random doodle archives! 

Book of Shadows Cover Concept

I had some unused concepts from a previous box project that I rejected and set aside since I wasn't satisfied with the composition so I flipped through the pages to see what captured my attention. In the end I pulled this image out of a raven skull flanked on either side by moths and sporting a halo of coins. All were elements that I wanted to play with at the time but I just wasn't thrilled with how they looked together. So how was I going to work with this for the cover's concept? With much pencil twiddling and a cup of coffee later, I decided on pulling the skull and only one of the moths to use in the new design. Playing around with placement of the two then adding some flowers and prayer beads, it took me a little bit to get things situated. Of course the entire time while I was sketching, I was looking at some reference images of some beautifully covered antique books and planning on how things would work together.

Will this project be the one where I get to try out some new tools I recently ordered? Not quite sure but I can already tell that this is going to be an interesting process either way. Let's find out together, shall we? Stay tuned and have a creative day!

Celestial World Tree – Part 5 (END)

You read the title right! This is the final chapter of the project! As I take you through the last leg of this adventure, let's remember the ups and downs that Celestial World Tree – Part 4 brought. Progress was made and accidents caused by eagerness were overcome with creative solutions. So let us wrap this up, shall we?

All of the Decorations

Even with how well the color pencil covered up the text that was still on the lid, the fact that the indents were still visible was going to bother me until the end of time. I had a plan on how to cover this up at least – Leaves. I ended up ordering some Mulberry Paper Flower Leaves meant for scrap booking. They came in a variety of greens but I picked out a couple of the lightest ones from the batch I received and proceeded to attack them with watercolors. It was a fairly simple process in coloring them, luckily. I went with the colors that I had for the interior panel so there was a natural gradient from green to blue. It took a little bit of time for them to dry, check on if the colors were how I wanted, add if needed then dry again but the end result was one I was happy with. Once dried, I carefully glued them into position on the lid (adding a left over one to the internal panel for a bit of cohesion). Digging around in my eclectic collection of bits and bobs, I also added a couple of shiny trinkets which went well with the entire look.

The tassel that was to be added to the bottom portion of the box was something I was going to need to make myself. As a stepping off point, I ordered a variety pack of various colored tassels. Picking out a couple of the purplish ones to mimic the purple cording that I have in both pieces, I ended up combining them together. I had a holder for them that was originally from a piece of costume jewelry which they fit nicely in. Grabbing my tube of E6000, I securely glued the cluster into their new home and let the hole thing dry a couple of hours. Digging in my collection once again, I chose a beautiful hand made blue glass bead to be part of the top and found a bit of ribbon that would work with making the whole thing uniform. With how small the ribbon I decided to use was, I had to hold it in place with rather thin sewing pins until the adhesive dried.




Final Assembly

For those who have been here since the very beginning and have been paying attention, you
may have noticed that the lid in the rough draft concept and through most of the project up to this point had an eye-hook on top of a tassel which would have acted as a hanger for when
the lid was to be displayed separately. Well! I decided in the end that it was completely impractical. The tassel didn't go in the direction I wanted and instead flopped right in front which covered most of the design. So off the hook went. Once again I went through my supplies and found another picture hanging hook which I ended up gluing into position on the back of the lid. Doing a couple of test fittings, I was happy that the lid could still be slid into position without interference.

With that little issue solved, it was time to attach the large tassel I had put together onto the box. Attaching it to the eye-hook wasn't a problem but there was still the issue of how to cover the eye-hook itself without it becoming just a garish aesthetic disaster. Luckily I had some tiny Mulberry Paper Roses in a few colors in my collection. Picking out a couple of purple ones to tie everything together, I carefully wrappedthen glued them in place around the eye-hook. The entire assembly, once dry, was very secure with now worry that it would get knocked off by accident. Once everything was died, test fitted multiple times and cleaned up, I went ahead and made sure I didn't need to add anything else. With something as whimsical as this, it's easy to overdo it with decorations. Luckily enough, I knew when to stop. So off I went to see how it all would look on a wall with and without the lid in place. Of course the lighting in the room didn't do the box justice but I was more then happy with how the project as a whole looked. The lid and the internal panel compliment each other and stand strong on their own  or as a whole which was what I was aiming for in the first place. As I was wrapping up the project, I had given a friend a sneak peek of the end result. I was expecting the usual show of support and perhaps a question about something that I needed to clarify. What started off as a cheer for how the project came out quickly moved to talks of pricing and having the box on hold. So even before this blog wrap up was done being typed up, it would seem this has already found a potential home. Completely not complaining and I'm rather grateful that something I decided to experiment with has brought so much joy to someone. I think that is a suitable ending for this adventure. 

Celestial World Tree - Part 4

 Welcome back everyone for another episode of 'Why do I do this to myself'. I kid but there has been so many moments during the adventure of this project that I have found myself asking that very question. So, as a recap, in Celestial World Tree – Part 3 I was explaining the process I was doing with the lid and internal panel of the box along with what I still had to do to make the pair cohesive together if they were displayed separately. Let us jump back in, shall we?

Nearing the End

True to my word, I went back and started working on the details to both pieces. The lid took me a bit more time to make work. Going back and forth, adding suggestions of leaves to the tree so it didn't just look like a blob of color on the wood. Little white spots among both the blue and the green along with the purple string through the branches were nods towards the design that I had on the internal panel. As of the internal panel, subtle blue and green leaves in the background. I went as far as adding some veining to some of the leaves. Once done, gave both two coats of a clear glaze spray paint.

Hindsight is 20-20

So. Let's have a moment to acknowledge that there is going to be points of a project where your brain will be so excited about something that an entire step in the process is skipped. No amount of planning and telling yourself what you need to do next is going to help. The skip is going to happen. I experienced this once the lid and internal panel were done drying. There I was, sitting at my desk happily examining the results of the pieces with their new shiny surfaces. In my excitement, I took out my tube of E6000 clear multipurpose adhesive and
proceeded to glue the internal panel into position inside the box. It was only while making sure that everything was firmly in place that a realization occurred to me – I was planning on working on staining the outside and interior of the box so it didn't look unfinished during final assembly. There was no turning back at this point. The internal panel was already a tight fit and the adhesive wasn't about to let it go unless I wanted to destroy the entire box to get it out.

Now what do I do? Using wood stain would probably mess up the project. I wanted to keep the grain of the wood apparent so normal paint was also out of the options list. It was then, in my moment of cursing my eagerness, that I realized I had the answer right in front of me. Watercolors. Using a combination of shades of blue and brown, I mimicked the colors and transition of the tree that was depicted on the lid. The colors actually ended up enhancing the wood grain while bringing the whole project together. So once everything was painted and dried, I sprayed on a light coat of clear glaze over it all and let it fully dry overnight. Now all that is left to do is working on and attaching the accessories then final assembly to call this project complete.