SPOOKTACULAR XI PHOTOS!

Thanks to everyone who made this year's Spooktacular such a villainous occasion! Below is a "best of" photo lineup of the festivities...Please email me if you have some favorites to add (perhaps we will make a Facebook group or something...)

Chicken and the Wolf

Dr. Venture, Poison Ivy, Elastagirl and Medusa

Villainous Velvet Villain Prizes

Hit List Game Card in order to win prizes

Someone Call Homeland Security...

Alec from Clockwork Orange guards the "Hero" Sandwiches...

Dance Party went til 4am!

This Mac Brought to you by Mickey's Grenades...

Inside the Karaoke Shark Tank

Tony the Tiger and that guy from the shampoo commercial...

Oprah & Gaga

WTF?!?!

Margarita Machine (Mr. Freeze's Truth Serum)

Death Ray from Upper Porch with LazerTag "Over Load" engaged

Death Ray from Upper Porch with too much Truth Serum

Family Reunion between Robot and Death RayUFC Champ Rocks out "Here I go Again on My Own"...

Richard Simmons dressed as Will Ferrell in Semi-Pro

A Traffic Cone...or Snooky...

Wicked cool Tron/Daft Punk costume...

Flying Squirrel Hijacking Death Ray

Moose and Squirrel barely escape clutches of Boris and Natasha

Mr. Bates and Guest

He's on a Boat

Mime's doing rendition of Elvis' "A little less conversation" (picked at random...no lie!)

Kick Ass and Elastagirl

Duct Tape Girl, Gem and a Cyberman (who has become human again!)

The Devil and LazerTag...does it get better?

"Some of my best work!"

Shot of Death Ray voted "most arty"

Tron/Daft Punk still cool with the flash on...

Boris finally uses Ray Gun to kill Moose and Squirrel!

Birds of a Feather...

Arch Enemies, Batman and the Penguin

Karaoke Shark Tank (puppet sharks actually had frickin' lazerbeams!)

Back porches from Death Ray

The Firing Mecanism (careful the safeties are off!)

Spaceghost and Lady Gaga rock out in the Karaoke Shark Tank...

SPOOKTACULAR XI IS NIGH!

Yes...all of the pieces are starting to fall into place...

Being an Evil Genius is Hard Work...

Yes, being an evil genius is hard work. In fact, it keeps you from blogging. (its hard to hold a plasma cutter in one hand and blog about it with the other...) Fortunately, I had the help of some part time minions this past weekend, and was able to complete the final phase of my diabolical plan...

Since it is an evil plan that will be unveiled during Spooktacular XI, I can only leave you with this enigmatic photo:

Minion J adjusting sensitive equipment in the semi-secret lair

Artisphere opens this weekend!

Hey, I haven't been near a computer for the better part of the last week, so I am sneaking out during a break in the action to get this weeks post out. We are only a few hours away from opening the Artisphere...Tonight's gala is for the black tie crowd...like $150 a plate... Saturday is "Burst", and Sunday & Monday are the grand opening galas for the general public. You should come on out, there's lots to see and do!

To give you a very tiny glimpse of the size of the Artisphere, you can check out this photo I took on Monday of the Ballroom (it is much more complete now)

The Ballroom of the Artisphere under construction...note the stage in the middle of the room that folds up into the wall...

With all of the Artisphere craziness I have had little time for any other artmaking, but I was able to squeeze out some time on Sunday to put the first coat of paint on the Evil Dead (Frederick edition) scenery. (opens October 15, tickets here) Big ups to Amanda, Melissa & Mimi and Mark for helping get er dun!

Painting progress for Evil Dead the Musical (Frederick Edition)

The Villainous Velvet Villains of Villainy, Part 2

Okay kids, so I am uncharacteristically posting a day early because I will not have the time to post anything (or make any art, really) for the next two weeks. Why you ask? Well, I am one of the core staff that will be outfitting the brand new Artisphere with all of the audio, lighting, video, risers and stage management in the big push to get it open (once we have our certificate of occupancy *fingers crossed*eyes rolling*) by the numerologically significant date of 10-10-10...(not to mention the fact that we will have two full galas, a press conference and an advisory board meeting all before 10/10...but who's counting?)

Anyway, long story short, I will be busy. In the meantime you can take a gander at the 5 new Velvet Villains that I have made for the Spooktacular giveaways...(BTW, big shout outs to Kirstra, Jei, Brian and KT for being my sweatshop monkeys over this past weekend...they did an excellent job preparing all 48 (!) velvets for painting...thanks guys!)

The Playboy
Acrylic on Velvet, 8"x10"

Helmut Von Chaos
Acrylic on Velvet, 8"x10"

The Cannibal
Acrylic on Velvet, 8"x10"

Faux Destro
Acrylic on Velvet, 8"x10"

Darth
Acrylic on Velvet, 8"x10"

So, yes I succumbed to the dark side and did a Darth...but I am only doing 4 (the rest get 5) so that he is a special gift for the particularly geeky...

The Villainous Velvet Villains of Villainy

Its been an exciting couple of weeks since I last posted to the blog. We have started to hone in on what the Halloween party will look like, and I have honed in on what Evil Dead the Musical at the FCAC will look like as well.

Every Spooktacular has had certain elements that have become...traditional...For example we introduced the idea of a theme in 2006 (Haunted Vegas) and every year since we have had a theme (2007 El Ocho, Mexican Day of the Dead...2008 Heart of Darkness, jungle theme...2009 X-marks the spot, Pirate theme...Ya know, to be fair, 2005 was the the first themed year, our wedding, haunted mansion) And some other elements have become traditional too...Karaoke Hell, Backyard Photo Op, Margarita Machines, a Game and Prizes/Giveaways....well this year we have decided to make the giveaways a bit more fancy than in previous years...

In keeping with the theme (Villains) I have endeavored to make a "Rouges Gallery" of small (8"x10") velvet paintings of different villains. What I will be doing is painting multiples of the same painting, in the hope that I will have 25-48 of them done by October 30...check out some of my progress so far:

The Egyptian
Acrylic on Velvet 8"x10"

Hubris Von Whothathrot
Acrylic on Velvet 8"x10"

The Kingfish
Acrylic on Velvet 8"x10"
Doctor Bubble Skull
Acrylic on Velvet 8"x10"

The Dragon Lady
Acrylic on Velvet 8"x10"

I think I have five more designs to go...which means I will be doing five of each of these (am I crazy?!?) Perhaps we should make the game really hard this year...

Okay, here's a question for you loyal BTT readers...Should I include Darth Vader? He is perhaps the most recognizable super villain in the last 100 years (other than Time magazine's runner up for man of the century, You-know-who, of course)...and Darth would look wicked cool on velvet...But, thus far, I have been making these villains as amalgamations of villain tropes, and not very specific, which is kinda cool too...also, I would be avoiding the whole copyright thing seeing as I am giving them away...So, what do you think? To Darth or not to Darth?

Also I have been plugging away at getting the FCAC version of Landless' Evil Dead the Musical designed and ready to go...here's the first draft of the paint elevation:

BEAUTIFUL MINDS THIS WEEKEND with DIY MINIONS

I was able to finish the DIY Minions painting just in time for the Beautiful Minds exhibit opening this weekend (Beautiful Minds is part of a larger festival opening the SE Waterfront, near Nats Stadium...click on the link here for more info) I hope you all can come out on Friday or Saturday to see the painting in the flesh...In case you cant make it, I will give you a sneak peek below:

DIY Minions
Acrylic on Board, 20"x16"

I really like the way it turned out, and I think that this painting really pushed me into some new territory technically....still trying to find that balance between "loose" painting style and "tight" draftsmanship...

The 4 other pieces in the show are a mixture of things I have shown before, like the Devil and the Broken Man, and the Birdman and the Magic Cow...but I polished up some newer pieces that seemed ready to be shown, like Revenger Monkey:

Revenger Monkey
Acrylic on Canvas, 20"x16"

Revenger Monkey was part of my villainous monkeys series...I guess I see him as an evil Avenger...so Revenger seemed like the proper title...he also owes a good deal to the Penguin, I suppose.

Kung Fu Monkey
Acrylic on Canvas 16"x20"

I don't know why this painting has been so hard to photograph...it's not particularly glossy in real life...anyway, what more explanation do you need? Its a Kung Fu Monkey...KUNG FU-CHOP!

Aside from the prep for Beautiful Minds this week, I have moved a bit closer to a final redesign for Evil Dead:

If you can read a floorplan, you will recognize that I have flipped the location of the kitchen and the trap door from the DCAC version...also, due to sight line issues, I am putting the kitchen on the "ground floor"...much like a cabin that has a sunken living area...I suppose you see that in larger "lodges" (rather than smaller cabins) and also you would likely see it on cabins built on the sides of steep hills...Anyway, its going to be somewhat different than the 2009 DCAC version, but that's okay, right?

EVIL DEAD AGAIN, LOGOS AND MINIONS

Well, the Fall season has, er, fallen like the leaves off of a diseased crabapple tree...(I never really was that good with similes) that is to say that I have hit the ground running (despite this incessant "summer cold/sore-throat-for-three-months" thing!) and I have made some strides toward making it through to Christmas with my sanity intact.First, Landless. I meet with the Evil Dead production team tomorrow to hash out the details of the remount...I even provided this example "optimum blood spray pattern" drafting showing where we will need to place the blood sprinklers in the FCAC.
Also for Landless, I started sketching logos for some of the shows they are considering doing this season...

they haven't made the official announcements yet, so I am just showing you the most promising sketches...

I have been working on getting my mind wrapped around the theme for this years Spooktacular...Villains (preferably the super kind) So in order to double up on my "research" I have started working on a painting that deals with the theme of Super Villainy...If one is to become a Super Villain, how is one to recruit henchmen? In this case, you simply order them and assemble them yourself! I've converted my sketchbook sketch into a blueprint in honor of the theme:

Blueprint sketch for "DIY Minions" (working title)
Pencil and Photoshop

I will be showing more sketches and progress on this painting in the coming weeks...(And they said I was MAD! BWHahahahaaaa!)

Oh, and I may finish DIY Minions just in the nick of time to show it at the BEAUTIFUL MINDS Art Exhibit at The YARDS PARK in SE DC (near the ballpark) Next Friday and Saturday September 10 & 11...you can get more info from ArtWhino Here

NYC and the Calm Before the Storm

Hey there, I just got a second...I've been traveling with KT to NYC this past week, and I don't really have much to show for it except for this drawing I made while visiting the MET:

I had a few hours to kill while KT went to a gift shop convention...so, I found some early modernist sculpture adjacent to the cafe to draw...

This time of year always feels like the calm before the storm...I am excited that it will be fall soon, and terrified of the deluge of work that fall entails...Stock up on sandbags and I'll see you next week!