Not What He Seems

All things become naked
in the fullness of observation.
The deception of surfaces
is pulled away like stage curtains
and the interior script
plays out the true drama.

Soulsplitter

This summer is relentless. The Pluto / Uranus square has taken no prisoners and this heat is scary.  Untenable situations abound, but the Soulsplitter is unconcerned. It performs its duties with the consistency of the sunrise, and I fear it isn't done with us just yet. 

Recommended Listening:

Rome

Die Brandstifter

from Mass Mensch Material

{Digital Images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop}

NOW AVAILABLE: HBA T-shirts!

For the past month, I've been working with Jeremy over at Horror Blogger Alliance to create a design for the newest HBA T-shirt!  We ended up with the two final designs above that are available now at Neatorama's Neatoshop.  Check out the info on the HBA Tshirts, or order one here.

From the Sketchbook Archives: Demon

More Sharpie play inspired by the artwork of Mike Mignola and the ninth episode of the series The Hakkenden: The Legend of the Ghost Cat.

{Sharpie}

In the Pools of Fevered Disappointment, He Waits

I find this piece a little difficult to write about.  I am observing an exterior structure becoming transparent, revealing a previously hidden intent.  Chaos and Toxicity, that's all I have right now.

The Hare's Tale

his wounds are deep...

what he is running to...

he forgets...

hope is hidden...

and he is tired...

so tired...

and he only wants to rest...

just to rest.

From the Sketchbook Archives: Shadows and Story

The Assassination Machine

The sword and the pen are the merely the fangs of something more insidious.

Recommended Listening:

NIN

Head Like A Hole

from Pretty Hate Machine

{Digital Images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop}

The Strange Case of the Hanged Man

Desire manifests in the strange ways.

Sometimes our approach
is in direct opposition
to very thing we desire,

thus nullifying
all our vaunted efforts.

From the Archives: Winter

I Am Marked By My Truth.

There is a boundary within us all past which we cannot retreat.

May your Truth be with you.

Recommended Listening:
The Prodigy
Omen
from Invaders Must Die!

{Digital Images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop}

Friday the 13th: Vault of Shadow

Here's a little dark nugget to entertain on what promises to be at the very least an interesting Friday the 13th!  Over the next two days we have Uranus going retrograde as well as Mercury going retrograde.  This promises a certain level of intrigue as just a regular Mercury retrograde is usually enough to facilitate a great deal of mischief.  Enjoy the ride and try to hold on to your tempers as this is going to be a bumpy weekend.

From the Archives: Beyond

Gestational processes seem to be my focus this month.  Influenced by H.R. Giger in my teens by his work on the movie Alien, I used to draw these pseudo-sexual techno organic pieces.  I do not draw them as much anymore, but that idea is at the base of much of what I do and how I approach my art.

{Sharpie}

Catacombs

shadowunder gravestone
midnight light candlethought
show of matter formshaping
from milkingwater focidesire
from bonewall fleshclay
from dirtroot dustfog
from motionfire handing
orifice womb opening
homunculus borne
piping intentsong

Recommended Listening:

Access to Arasaka

Hotel(featuring Nine Volt Disaster)

from Metax

{Digital Images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop}

Beware the Ignorant

The empty vessel is a dangerous door.

From the Archives: Leaden Thoughts

The Battle versus one's own negative tendencies is the hardest.  I had a vision of these lead domino shapes covered with strange runes and symbols.  Their coloration was also reminiscent of the Five of Disks from the Crowley Tarot Deck.  They fell from the sky and turned the ground to lava wherever they crashed.  They had more than a passing similarity to the rune columns from a dream I had, but instead of emitting light, these sank into the earth and turned it to lava.  This piece was created around the same time frame as Moon Cocoon, with the same aim towards integrating Sharpie and Prismacolor.

Self Examination and Ego Dislocation

Here we have a Systematic Ego Deconstruction. This is where the Sword of Discrimination comes in to help strip away layers of self delusion a.k.a. the ego.  There is no blade so harsh and exacting as the one welded by your own hand.  Swords and self examination, apropos during the current Neptune Retrograde.  Interesting that one of the major myths of the west, that of the King, Arthur, involves such a sword emerging from a body of water.  Indeed, all swords must be tempered before they are complete.  Curiouser and Curiouser.

Grey Days III: The Tower Grows Again

It seeks only its own expansion.

The tower of ego knows no limit, no retraction, no restraint.

Yet in the end, it will always fall.

Midpoint: The Festival of Orgone

This is the last time I'll blurb for the Festival of Orgone at Trail of Breadcrumbs.  I wanted to show you some of the art you've been missing if you haven't dropped by to investigate yet. I'm at the halfway point of my investigations into Wilhelm Reich and Orgone energy with only one more week to go.  Drop by and check out the Orgone goodness!

{All Pieces - Digital Images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop}

From the Archives: Moon Cocoon

An exploration of Sharpies and Prismacolor pencils.  I forget my actual motivation at the time I did this piece, but I remember thinking it strange even as I was drawing it.  Usually the moon lends itself towards cooler colors, but here the solar set of analogous colors appears.  An ambiguity of questions pervade the piece..flame or gauze wrapping?  Moth?  Mummified person or Homunculus?  An odd piece all around.

Grey Days II: It Rises

A beast revealed, unburdens its deceit.
It climbs from the grave of earth,
revealed in horrible glory.

Grey Days I: From Within, The Beast

It casts no shadow,
It leaves no footprint,
Its reflection is your own.

From the Sketchbook Archives: Dream Shard

Images I recorded from a dream / nightmare. I think the image was from a dream but turned quickly into a story upon waking.  In the dream there was a black rectangular cuboid that was very shiny.  At its base was a grotesque substance that looked as though the feeling of illness were given a physical form.  It was olive colored with dark eggplant purple bubbles emerging from it. It had integrated itself into a building and was sticking out of a brick wall.

Eve of the Festival of Orgone June 20th-July 4th

Over in the sister blog to Zombie Bites, Trail of Breadcrumbs, tomorrow begins the Festival of Orgone.  The Festival will run for two weeks from the Summer Solstice through the US Independence Day.  I will be celebrating the Festival by posting a new piece of Orgone inspired artwork each day. The Festival is inspired by Orgone Energy and the work of Wilhelm Reich.  Come check it out!

At the Crossroads of Doubt

At the crossroads of doubt,
even our most staunch truths abandon us.
We are wrapped in darkness,
lost to to wit and to reason.
The feel of our hands is confused, one to the other,
our own flesh in the darkness become a lie,
some murky beast come to torture.
Everything rings true
Everything stinks of lies
Everything cries out
Signal or Devil?
Signal or
Devil?
Signal
or -

From the Sketchbook Archives: Purple Ghost

This image is similar to a previous piece with the same theme. I've wondered several times if I were picking up on some ghost or ambient presence in the house where I used to live.  Both drawings were done in that space.  There was a definite other sadness to my experience with the drawing of each of these images.  I rarely got anymore information each time I drew other than that strong feeling of sorrow.

Body of Light III: Samadhi

Funny, I'd never looked that closely at the definition of Samadhi before now.  How fascinating that it is so closely associated with equilibrium (Ape of Thoth)  Also upon further viewing this piece begins to remind me of the Aeon card in the Thoth tarot deck.  With two elements becoming a new third in the form of the child Horus.  This image kind of looks as though there is a child emerging from within the larger figure.

Body of Light II: The Head of Baphomet

Again I return to the image of Baphomet, the enlightened beast.  This version seems a more earthy rendition and unlike my last, this time we only get the head.  The horns this time are dramatic and thick, much more like the horns of a bull than the traditional goat's horns.  Still, the light shines between them.

From the Sketchbook Archives: Partial Skull

I'm not sure of the date of creation on this one, but it was mixed in with some material from 2000-2002.  A quick doodle while on break at work I'm sure, considering the time frame.

{Sharpie & Ball point pen}


UPDATE 010413:

This piece was Exhumed and reinvestigated with color in November 2013.  Check out the Exhumed image here.

Body of Light I: Ape of Thoth

I must preface the description of this piece with a note that I did not intend to create a piece about the Ape of Thoth, but upon finishing this piece, I knew that was what I was seeing.  As I researched for more information, it seemed more and more that my initial reaction was appropriate.  I found a really good description of the Ape of Thoth over at Strange Onion Peelings that helped me confirm.  I feel like I should also make note that I found this piece particularly difficult to write about.  Ha.

This House

Some places are stained with a belligerence that takes on a life of its own.

From the Sketchbook Archives: Open Skull

I cannot remember my original motivation for this image.  I don't recall being enamored of a Cyclops skull, but I do find the gaping hole disturbing.  Maybe a little inspiration for non-traditional skulls from Wayne Barlowe going on here as well.  I do love his work.

{Sharpie}

UPDATE 050414:

This piece was Exhumed and reinvestigated with color in April 2014.  Check out the Exhumed image here.

Kabbalistic Cross

I kind of feel like this one would be more at home over at Trail of Breadcrumbs, however, that blog doesn't have an adult rating, so a little spiritual nudity here instead.  The Kabbalistic Cross is a short ritual that is part of a larger one, the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram(LRP).

Devil's Head IV: It Swims in Blood

It emerges from beneath red tides, parting the crimson mist.  It moves with a singular purpose, yet robotic. It lumbers past and into darkness, its muscled arms creak like leather pulled too tight.  Its breathing is ragged and wet, fading into the distance with each thud of its monstrous feet.

Festival of Orgone 2012: June 20th-July 4th

Please join me at Trail of Breadcrumbs, beginning on the Northern Hemisphere's Summer Solstice, for the two week event I am calling the Festival of Orgone!  Everyday on and between the Summer Solstice and U.S. Independence Day this year I will be posting a new Orgone inspired piece of artwork.  With each piece I will be posting information about Orgone and other universal energies.  Below are a few of my previous pieces based on Orgone energy.

From the Sketchbook Archives: Strange Eye

Here's a quick sketch of a strange Cthulhian eye.  I've always been fascinated / creeped out by octopus and squid aspects of the Cthulhian Mythos.  My goal with this sketch was to explore some of the nonhuman eye construction one might encounter in the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft.

{Graphite}


UPDATE 042814:

This piece was Exhumed and reinvestigated with color in March 2014.  Check out the Exhumed image here.

Devil's Head III: My Daemon

This piece was simultaneously disturbing and satisfying as I completed it because I realized I was looking at a part of myself.  It is actually kind of a relief to see this darkness and recognize it as my own.  The feeling here for me was very similar to what I felt upon the completion of The Fear.

Devil's Head II: The Unquiet Dead

In the dark caves of Hell, trapped and hungry, forgotten desires map out the cursed gift of their continuance.  Their garbled chanting wears the air thin with obscenities.  They stretch free of the underworld like separating meat.  Toothless and eager and undead, they seek us out for one last wet embrace.

From the Sketchbook Archives: The Gateway

Here is another sketch for a larger piece.  I had a vision of a large arched gate that a dark river ran beneath.  My initial thought was of the Moon card from the Tarot, but upon time and reflection, I think this may be an incarnation of the river Styx and the entrance to the Underworld / Realm of Hades.  Considering the time frame during which this sketch was created and Pluto's inevitable ingress into Capricorn (my sign), Styx seems very likely.  Also, the two guardians are very much like grim reapers.  Of course, both visions can be true.  Intriguing.