Got Wood?

It may or may not be a well known fact that I like wood.  A quick stroll through the house will reveal wood-grain patterned towels, faux bois (“fake wood”) sheets, and several rolls of wood patterned contact paper with which I hope to someday cover my ugly metal filing cabinets (one of those “someday” projects that never seems to happen).  So when we decided to do a series of print editions for my recent show at Varnish Fine Art, did we print them on mere paper?  NO WE DID NOT!

“Behold My Heart”. print on wood, 15 x 11 inches

We found a fabulous company that figured out how to print them directly onto wood, allowing a hint of the beautiful wood grain to peep through.  (Which is perfect in more ways than one since I do all my paintings on wood panels.)  There are different sizes and prices, from stocking stuffers

“Lucky 7″ & “Bitten”, prints on wood, 5 x 7 inches (each)

to “Oh honey you shouldn’t have (but I’m so glad you did!)”.

“Song of Birth (The Three Magi)”, print on wood, 18 x 24 inches

These are all signed and numbered, a very limited edition of 50 each.

“Besame Mucho”, print on wood, 8 x 10 inches

And if you order right now, you can still probably get them in your hot little hands in time for Christmas.  (Otherwise I think they’d make a smashing Chinese New Year present.)

“Golden Silence”, print on wood, 17 x 11 inches

The fab guys that make these prints run a solar powered shop, use FSC sustainably harvested birch, and for every purchase they donate a dollar to the Plant a Billion Trees charity.

“The Birth of Ginger”, print on wood, 16 x 20 inches

What are you waiting for?  Click right here to see ‘em all and snatch something up for yourself.

“Gone Native”, prints on wood, 10 x 8 inches (each)

This pair is sold separately or as a set, and you get to write their story in your mind — are they arriving at the tiny island in the background or escaping? Are they coming together or pulling apart? Is the storm brewing or passing?

“The Honey Dripper”, print on wood, 14 x 11 inches

What if the moment when Baby Bear and Goldilocks first saw each other, that instant when he cast his big brown bear eyes on her as she slept in his bed, was a “love at first sight” moment?  Maybe she would have stayed in the woods…

“Sew Much Love”, print on wood, 14 x 11 inches

And if things had gone a little differently for the Bride of Frankenstein and her Monster, perhaps they’d have decided to expand their family the best way they knew how.

Other goodies are also available at the Varnish Emporium, including Jennybird Alcantara’s new catalog “Creatures of Saintly Disguise”, prints by Jennybird, Mike Davis, and Attaboy, the Hi-Fructose Collector’s Edition boxed set, and gorgeous art books by and about all your fave artists.  One stop holiday shopping for everyone who’s been naughty or nice!

Happy Holidaze everyone, we made it another year around the sun!

Bride’s Head Revisited

Happy 75th Anniversary, Bride of Frankenstein!  Anybody familiar with my work knows two things:  I love the Bride of Frankenstein, and I think the ending is heart rendingly sad.  (I’ve always had a soft spot for the doomed romance.)  As a result, I’ve often imagined a better outcome for the Bride and her beloved Monster, everything from an impromptu coupling on the stone castle steps (and yes, even monsters practice safe sex, look for the condom wrapper) –

"The Honeymoon"

– to happily adding to the family by creating a Franken-baby (who’s helping by hold the sewing thread).

"Sew Much Love"

Mary Shelly didn’t invent the Bride, not in the way we think of her.  In the original novel, Frankenstein does create a mate for the Monster, but destroys it before ever giving it life.  It was in the many revisions of the script demanded by the film’s director, James Whale, that she finally came to tragic life (and — spoiler alert! — near instant death).

As you might imagine, I have quite a lot of Bride of Frankenstein stuff, though much of it is in “rotation” (that’s obsessive collector code for “in boxes”).  Oh look!  It’s my Aurora model!

I periodically pull this out and glue a few pieces together.  At this rate I figure I’ll be done around 2027 and can start painting it up.  (If anybody wants to come over and finish this for me, I’ll bake you a pie.)

But here’s the most amazing one –

You know how when people come to dinner at your house, they might bring you a nice bottle of wine, maybe a tasty loaf of bread?  Jennybird Alcantara brought me the absolute coolest f’ing thing in the world:  this kick ass Bride of Frankenstein doll.  (Normally I’d be upset that it wasn’t edible, but I am in luv.)  And now it’s mine, all mine!  Check out her fabulous hand painted face and all the little details in her patched outfit, right down to the killer striped stockings (Jennybird and I apparently share a sock fetish).  Are you feeling covetous yet?  You should, but fret not — you can go get yourself a doll of your very own.  Just trip right over to Jennybird’s site (and check out all her lovely paintings while you’re at it).

The other reason I’m excited about this Bride is she’s just the right companion for my big rubber Frankenstein’s monster –

Just look at his huge hands!  You know what that means.  (Huge gloves.)  No longer lonely, big rubber Frankie (or BRF), who always looked to me like he wanted to fly off in search of his mate, finally has a worthy companion.  This fabulous weirdness was given to me by Hannah Reineck — she laid it on me at one of my book signings and just totally blew me away.  Hannah is a printmaker — check her out.

Assorted Bride Tidbits:

*The movie was heavily censored.  Among other things, the Hayes office felt that Elsa Lanchester was displaying too much boobage as Mary Shelly.  They also nixed a planned scene of the Monster trying to “rescue” Jesus off a crucifix in the graveyard.

*Meanwhile in England and China, they didn’t much like the way the Monster gazed at the not-yet-animated body of the Bride.  Thought it smacked of necrophilia.

*Sweden wanted so many cuts that Universal just pulled the movie out of that country altogether, and it was banned in Trinidad, Palestine and Hungary outright.

Back here in the U.S., the Hollywood Reporter declared it was “a joy for those who can appreciate it.”  Which sounds like a nice way of saying “If you can’t relish this movie, there’s clearly something lacking within you.”  And I would agree with that sentiment.  (Though obviously I’ve never quite gotten over the ending.)

Fang-tastic!

I’ve been reading Fangoria since I was a kid, so I was thrilled to the gills to be interviewed — John Porter gets to the beating monster heart of my work, and you can read all about it right here.

I Fall To Pieces

Brand spankin’ new, hot off the laser cutter — a new puzzle!   Is it just me or do jigsaw puzzles really RULE?  I love ‘em, I literally can’t walk by one in progress without stopping to work on it.  I think this kind of stuff really speaks to me, a mix of art and “object”  – it goes all the way back to the lunch box and TV tray paintings I used to do and this idea of taking something from childhood and appropriating it for adult use.  (Okay the puzzles are not pornographic like the lunch boxes were.  Yet. <g>) Why should art just be this static thing that lives only on your wall? I really dig the idea that people can play with their art.

So here they are in all their multi-piece glory, just in time for the holidays!  The completed puzzles are 12 x 16 inches, the color is lush and lovely, the spiral cuts are intricate and mesmerizing.  They come in a nifty round canister, each of which will be signed and numbered.  The edition for this puzzle is only 50, they are $50 each (plus shipping), and they have 50 pieces — just kidding!  They actually have 192 pieces — *that* oughta keep you busy for a while!   Please email me if you want one (that way I can make sure I don’t run out and you can pick your shipping method — isamaras@mac.com).  I’d like to put a little “Buy It Now” button on here but this close to the holidays I feel like I need to micro-manage this a bit.

Note: These are not the same as the hand-cut wooden puzzles (edition of 10) that I had in LA for the “Monster Ballads” show — these are more traditional cardboard puzzles, 1/16th inch thick, hence they are much more affordable!  It’s still a limited edition release tho’, so if you reeeeally want one, don’t wait around too long.

Did I mention I *love* jigsaw puzzles?