"Tout le monde est une nonne"

"Where am I? I'm in my element...I'm in a little haunted house down the road."

Can't get enough J.D. Salinger.

Speaking of which, I was at last inspired to pick up the pencils again when I finished reading the short story De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period about an art instructor. If I had known it would be so easy to get me to start drawing again, I would have read this sooner.

Anyway, it's pretty rough, I kind of rushed a lot of it because I was just so excited about actually getting something done. I really half-assed the hair but I have very little patience for hair. Perhaps at some later time I will go back and fix it. I also realised that while drawing late at night, by the rather dim lamp light in the computer room, I accidentally shaded part of her left shoulder with a 6B pencil instead of the 7B so it's more silvery than the rest. Blegh.

My inspiration lately seems to be from alternative models. I guess I'm in the mood for shiny things, make-up and full lips which are glorious to draw and slowly becoming my favourite part of the face to draw.

I also had to share this lovely piece from the wonderous Mark Ryden's newest collection The Snow Yak Show. He never ceases to amaze me and I find it very hard to dislike anything he does.

I also recently discovered this fantastic shoot by fashion photographer Steven Meisel, modeled by Coco Rocha. This first shot in particular I love. She looks dead. The make-up and styling is just fantastic and I just love the darkness and creepyness of it. I believe it was for an issue of Italian Vogue.

It's interesting how there's that random girl in the far left of this first picture who I'm pretty sure just got in the picture by mistake and yet wasn't cropped out...

I very much want to recreate this look above. You know sometimes when you're just completely taken with a picture?

This last one here reminds me of the Swedish group The Knife. Whenever I looke at it, the song Heartbeats comes swirling into my head. I love it.

Well I guess that's pretty much it. I felt sort of weird going right to work after watching Synecdoche, New York yesterday with schwest. There was just so much to ponder after that, especially after such a depressing ending, and then to go and serve annoying, needy people and talk about chickens....I don't know, it just seemed inappropriate...

"Tommorow the birds will sing"

"Be careful how you're driving."

"Am I Driving?"

What better way to spend a rainy day than curled up watching movies? The highlight of my day was watching Charlie Chaplin's 1931 City Lights. It's such a simple, sweet story with funny storylines like the tramp (Chaplin) saving an eccentric millionaire from killing himself and in return becoming the gentleman's new friend and drinking partner. The only catch is that when the millionaire sobers up, he has no idea who the tramp is! It's just such a classic and I'm glad I finally saw it all the way through.

So in honour of the film, I was inspired to try out some 1920s makeup. It didn't really turn out quite how I wanted it to but ah well, I can always try again. Someday I shall master it. I also have no idea how to make my hair look proper so I just went for some very poorly pinned curls.




I also thought I should share some 20s/30s related art from an artist I recently discovered by the name of Niagara. She used to be in a punk band and now she does some really cool sort of edgy comic-style pop art. I especially like these mixed media giclees.

I am now full of Magic Bullet chocolate mousse and due to drinking a lot of coffee at work tonight for lack of anything better to do, I am not the least bit tired so perhaps I shall watch Sam Fuller's Shock Corridor which I've been wanting to see for ages and finally rented. I'm curious to see if I have more weird dreams tonight. I think reading The Monk so much the last few days could be contributing.

"Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!"

I found this and liked it. It's someone's idea of how Lovecraft came up with the idea of Cthulhu. What was funny were comments that people left on it like: "Yeah, who ever painted that obviously did not know that H.P Lovecraft hated any form of seafood."

People get so defensive of people they don't even know. What a sassy little know-it-all.

"My Neighbour Cthulhu"

I'm such a dork that I actually find this amusing. I like the improvement to Totoro.

Now on to last night's amusement: Coffe and Cigarettes

I can't get over how adorable and hilarious Jack White is with his little goggles (oh and of course little teeth).

"It's a bag of items for you Bill Murray."

Someday, when Bill Murray and I become great friends, I will always adress him by his full name.

"Hey Bill Murray" "Wanna come over Bill Murray?" "Pass the salt Bill Murray" "I love you Bill Murray" "We're good friends aren't we Bill Murray?"

I was, as usual, doing some IMDBing and I look forward to seeing this Jarmusch film at some point. It's got Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton AND Gael Garcia Bernal. Most excellent. Oh yes, and I also must look out for when I can see the movie adaptation of Choke. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Anjelica Huston is in it.

Oh yes, and I almost forgot the Cthulhu Cat by one of my absolute favourite artists Natalie Shau

Pretty Horrorshow

I should really start using the term horrorshow more often.

I am somewhat bored and decided to post some things that I am liking at the moment. First off some lovely art.

A while ago I discovered the artist Joel-Peter Witkin and bookmarked him so that I could go back and look at his work in more detail. Then of course, I forgot. But I recently rediscovered it and this piece in particular I love.

I also love the art of Camille Rose Garcia. This kind of spooky, comic-style art that's really bright and cute but also quite dark really suits me.


This particular one (below) is really cool. Its from a show that she did called Ultraviolenceland and I just love how did this setup in the gallery.

I also discovered the work of photographer E. J. Bellocq. He was a photographer in the late 1800s/early 1900s and did these amazing photographs of prostitutes from New Orleans. It was actually from discovering him that I found the work of Joel-Peter Witkin. What can I say, I just love haunting, old photographs.

Lastly, I simply cannot stop replaying this song. I'm obsessed. I aslo like the creepy video.

"Ja stojê, ja tañczê, ja walczê"

"This story's gonna grab people. It's about this guy, he's crazy about this girl, but he likes to wear dresses. Should he tell her? Should he not tell her? He's torn, Georgie. This is drama."-Edward D. Wood, Jr.

I must begin with saying that I am about to go mad from the unbelievable slowness of the internet. I'm close to just smashing something through the screen but, of course, that would solve nothing. Moving on....

I found this drawing that I had forgotten about. It's that last piece that I've worked on, just something rough that was meant to get me back into drawing. That obviously worked well didn't it? It's just a sketch of this model that I'm fond of. She does a lot of really cool shoots and I can always count on her for referencing shiney/latex-y things.

I think I just need some new inspiration and maybe then I'll draw something else.

In other news, I really must have this t-shirt, I think it's great (the second is the back).

I also stumbled across this freaky picture on my computer and I can't remember where the hell I found it. I like their shoes.

Buffalo Swan

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." - The Call of Cthullhu

I shall spare myself the awkwardness of trying to think of something to start with. I obviously am not a blogger and I really only made this so that I can comment on my dear schwestie's blog and to post pictures of things that I like/own/buy/make. Hopefully I'll start doing some art again and then I can dedicate this to that. Until then I shall litter the page with random crap that I like or find amusing.

Let us commence.

I recently had some rather excellent success with vintage shopping which can be rare for me because usually when I see something that I like it either doesn't fit or is rediculously over-priced. Here are my excellent finds:

Jackie (aka Schwest) and I went to the thrift store near our house to look for a picture frame for her and I ended eup finding some fancy delights for like $8 in total.

This delightfully fancy and over the top kleanex box I just couldn't resist. If I can't live in a palace, I might as well have a Kleanex box fit for one instead.

I love this frame. It's so weathered and old looking and of course has some ornate gold fanciness to satisfy me.

My other excellent find was this pretty hand mirror, just because, you know, it's nice and it was $3

And now for some clothing. I found this most excellent green velvet blazer

My inspiration for this one was Louis Garrel as Theo in The Dreamers. He wears a really nice green blazer sans pants. Quite excellent.I found this purse for $10 and for some reason just really liked it. I realise that it's quite 80s and sort of really ugly but I dig it. Plus I've wanted a bag with a long strap like this.

I also got this ruffled shirt and this pair of shoes which aren't vintage but were on sale for $25

I shall conclude by saying that I can't stop listening to the album In The Future by Black Mountain, especially the song Wucan. Amazing. Also, I just found this lighter that I salvaged from my grandma's house. It's quite possibly the best thing ever. C'est "Bon"!