Red Shaman

Skin, peeled away like melting wax,

reveals red raw truth.
We are of the bleeding and the bone.
We are of drumming
in the holy land of drumming.
When all thought is peeled away,
still this red drum beats.

Beyond the Veil of Self

Within the confines of a pin hole
we face our essence unleashed.
Our Skin, peeled away like melting wax,
reveals the raw truth of it:

Featured Creature: Crawling Zombie

This piece focuses on one of things that freaks me about zombies, other than the crawling-around-with-no-legs part.  Unlike many others denizens of horror, zombies can be out in the daylight.  They don't care about day or night, legs or no legs, they are only focused on the 24 hour diner called YOU.  Yeesh!  Watch your ankles.

UPDATE Featured Creature: Satyr's Head

UPDATE 10.03.12:

With all the other Featured Creatures getting a tonal treatment in Photoshop, I felt like the very first post was getting neglected, so I went back to give it a fresh coat of grey effects.  Hope you like!

{Sharpie and Uni-ball Vision Elite Pen with tones added in Adobe Photoshop}

From the Archives: Expulsion

This piece is only a quick sketch of a much deeper thought.  I am fascinated by the act of expulsion in association with high intensity states of being: Illness, Rage, Grief, Love, Lust, Birth, Death.  All these states of being inevitably lead to the body expelling something from some orifice.  I suspect that in my future there is a piece involving vomiting or some other form of expulsion.

Featured Creature: The Return of Jack

Here's a hauntingly familiar face.  I should have known that once I broke out my pens, it wouldn't be long before Jack showed up.  Something about an revenant spirit with a flaming Jack-O-Lantern head and a bat cloak. What's not to love?

Into the Spirit Pot

The spirit pot becomes a doorway deeper into the Underworld of self.  Condensation, manifestation, coagulation, mummification, crystallization: it is the coalescing of the soul, the vortex of becoming. We are pulled into its tiny vacancy, forced by proximity to become all that we truly are.  For better or worse, within the spirit pot our essence is distilled and all impurities are laid bare.

Halloween Re-Release October 25th

I found this nugget on the Halloween Movies Site.  I saw this a few years back on the big screen, can't resist another opportunity to see it again big and scary.  Check Halloween Onscreen for local times and theatres!  See you there!

Engine and Entourage

Having passed through the gates of Halloweenland and following Persephone's Descent deeper into the seasonal Underworld, we are greeted by a flaming visceral engine and its unsettling entourage.

Just in Time for Halloween...

Another blurb here to remind everyone that the t-shirts I recently designed to promote the HBA are still available through Neatoshop and the Horror Blogger Alliance.  If you are interested in purchasing one, the images below link directly to the ordering pages.  I got my HBA t-shirts in the mail a little while back and I've been working hard on this ad to show you how good they look!  I was like a kid at christmas when the package arrived!  Thanks Jeremy!

From The Sketchbook Archives: Sun Discovers Chaos

This piece is mostly about the strange creature in the foreground. This creature shows the influence of P. Craig Russell's art on my creature designs.  The odd shapes in the corner were from a piece of plastic from a roll of over sized copier paper.  I was determined to use it as a shape template, but this was the only time I ever used it.  However, it did help inspire the Cthulhu style monster.

{Graphite}

Featured Creature: The Melting Man or Every Time is the First Time

Here we have a face of sorrow and grief swallowed up by darkness.  I've begun playing with the Featured Creatures in Photoshop immediately after scanning them.  The greyscale tones bring such a depth to the creatures I cannot resist.  I am definitely going to continue this process.  Thanks Vincent!

Halloweenland

The tide turns, the Autumn Equinox passes, and we enter into the season of the Underworld.  Welcome to Halloweenland.