The Seven Deadly Sinners

The Screaming Tree

Is this a soul in torment or merely an oddly twisted jade plant?

The Conservatory at the Zoo is going to be renovated starting in September. Trees have been potted in preparation and foliage is being trimmed.

I'm taking the opportunity in these last few weeks to get pictures of pretty much every image I can fit on my camera each day. Cactus forms, butterflies, ferns, erotic plants, orchids, wacky tropicals, and my current favorite—faces in trees—are all fair game. I’ve probably logged more hours in the Conservatory than any other part of the zoo and I’m really going to miss it in the year it’s closed. It’s the only place I’ve found to get warm and green in the nearly 10 months of winter we have up here.

Bug Update

The bugs have now apparently filled up the trees so they are flying  around and looking for love. 

When they land on you they have sharp little claws good for clinging to narrow twigs. 

Here's a mutant one.

Tacky Plax: Production

Looks like someone else is jumping on the tacky plax bandwagon!

Welcome aboard!

Magicicada!

 My favorite cousin writes from Cape Cod:

It happens every 17 years.

First there are 3/4 inch holes in the ground.  Lots of them.

Then these huge tan bugs start showing up everywhere.

Then they molt and turn black with red eyes.  They are 2 inches long.

There are millions of them.  During the day they call to each other. Really loudly.  Like the sound alien saucers make in old movies.

Did I mention that the noise is REALLY LOUD.  Fortunately they don't scream at night. 

Unfortunately they think the day starts at 4 am.

They have been here for over a week.  Every day there are more of them and they get louder, up to 100 db.  They are clearly breaking the law.

They don't eat (although the birds, squirrels and local dogs are enjoying the crunchy treats) and they don't do much long term damage, just mate and die.  They are just really really annoying.  I want them to go away now.

Who Fears The Devil?

Done up for the Film Stock poster show at Bird Dog Video, my poster is for a mythical adaptation of the classic 1963 collection of early Silver John stories by Manly Wade Wellman (I'm pretending that the sorta-sucky 1973 movie based on the same book just doesn't rightly exist).

If ever the genre of what could be called "feel-good horror" (for lack of a better term) had a presence, it's within these stories. Wellman's later Silver John novels (ca. early '80s) also kick major amounts of Shonokin ass, not to mention the collective asses of the other nefarious denizens spooking up the Appalachians.

Film Stock

Film Stock
Thursday June 19th, 7-10pm.
Bird Dog Video
1333 16 AVE SW
Calgary, AB.
403-398-2283

Proceeds this year are going to The Calgary Cinematheque.

The theme this year is movie posters.  38 artists were asked to create a poster for a fictitious or existing film.

This is a 1 night only show, so if you're in Calgary, don't miss out!

Happy Father's Day!

Did you remember to give your daddy his Father's Day cake?

Charming, alarming artwork grabbed from The Horrors Of It All blog.

Lori Field

Kamala writes:

The work of Lori Field is GORGEOUS. It's encaustic/mixed media that is ... really really good. The medium is color pencil drawings (NOT just like, printed, appropriated images) cut out and embedded within encaustic paintings.  It's filled with kids & women, animals, flowers, decorative elements and symbols all mashed up together in a beautiful, multi-layered, surreal floating world which manages to feel positive yet dark at the same time. That description was kind of lame. Here are her own words, which sum it up much better: "...By depicting seductive creatures in psychedelic settings, I suggest a place that seems as yet untouched by the human species, but which evokes a flawed, human fragility nonetheless..."

I may get to see some 'for real' in a couple weeks when I go to LA, which I'm very excited about since if it looks this cool on the computer, imagine how it'll look with my very own eyeballs!

Los Angeles - Obsolete

Operating room lights, German anatomical charts, Victorian aquariums, Belgian birdcages, and vintage European artist's mannequins are but a few of the deliriously arcane items on display at Obsolete.

The site may have a whiff of the pretentious, but really, this place is an absolute wicked mental ogle-fest for fans of obscure and vaguely steampunk-ish artifacts. The store itself is like an exercise in art direction - not surprising given its proximity to the fantasy world of Hollywoodland.

The prices are another matter altogether.

(Kling-klang image to engorge.)