Dr. Cyclops presents: This Little Piggy Went Wee Wee

Okay I promised y'all a sneak peak into the Laboratories of Dr. Cyclops...and here it is. I have been working on a number of framed pieces involving the mutated hybrids of man and beast. I have about ten done so here's a sneak peak at one of them...this is my ManPig from Hell. I also have a Man-Cow,


A Bulldog-Man,


a Bull-Man,


a Man-Rhinoceros,


a cyclopian Man-headed Bird,


a Woman-Dog,


and an Elphant toddler.

I have more on the way but here's the first peak. It's a slightly different format than you've seen from me. This was a direction the beautiful Judy had offered up as a direction. Originally this head was going to be a Krampus...thus the tounge and the horns...I then removed the horns but ultimatley the horns looked better than without...so ManPig from Hell.


This little piggy went wee wee wee...all over the bones.

Went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales Today...a great retrospective on Australia's most reknowed painter Sydney Nolan. Great exhibit...the painting is phenom...especially if you see some of the techniques he played with throught the years.

Here's more of his work http://www.pictureaustralia.org/nolan/

It's official! Day of the Dead 2008

Late October and early November is a wonderful time to be in southern Mexico; it is especially amazing in the city of Oaxaca, where the celebration of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is perhaps the most amazing and beautiful event on the planet. A place rich with culture, art and magic. Last November, I was fortunate enough to offer a class during this amazing event in this magical place. Because of the overwhelmingly positive response we had from the experience, Colleen Darling (the event's organizer) and I have decide to return to the Land of the Dead.

This year's class is called:
Retablos from the RandomOne of the most amazing things about Mexico is there knack for transforming the most mundane object into something interesting and artistic. In this art adventure we will be creating shrines using mixed media and found objects...found objects we find wandering through the Mexican town of Oaxaca...the shops, the vendors, the streets, the rooftops...wherever. Old shoes, rusty machine parts, license plates, who knows what we'll find and that is the adventure. Then, back in the class, we will assemble, collage, paint, etc. the work into fruition. I'll also show students how to make little saints, skeletons or diablos out of broken dolls or toys. Mexico is so rich in inspiration when it comes to shrines, that we'll explore a number of possible styles and designs including Nichos, Quadalupes, Ex Votos, Ofrendas and Retablos. Time to turn that trash into treasure. Oh, and don't worry, we'll still have time for margaritas...or better yet mescal.
Along with all of this Colleen is busy organizing cemetery tours during the festivities as well as excursions to various historic sites and visits to the studios and homes of local artisans. As with last year it will, no doubt, be an extraordinary experience that you will not forget...I promise.

If you're interested drop Colleen an email colleen950@gmail.com

Get with the times

Hurry up you slow pokes...I'm well into 2008 and you guys in Europe and the US are still dilly dallying in 2007...you're so behind the times.

I'm just waking up, nursing a bit of a hangover, so I thought I'd give myself a virtual Bloody Mary...feel free to reopen this post whenever the need arises.

Here's the real Bloody Mary...very sobering, indeed.

For New Years Eve, Judy and I went to a friend's party who is part owner of a few restaurants (in fact one of those restaurants makes an amazing Bloody Mary using muddled cherry tomatoes ....delish), and these restaurants just happen to have stunning views of the Sydney Harbour (how do you like that spelling). We had front row seats. Here's what we saw.
Now if you were down on the water...this is what you would have seen....

Happy 2008 everyone...come on it the water is fine

Naughty or Nice...Krampus is coming

So it would be a little out of my nature to post a normal everyday Xmas message. So I thought I'd share a few Krampus images. Krampus is a devilish character from central Europe that would accompany St. Nick on Xmas. He was the dude who supplied the coal in the stockings, switches to spank the children, sometimes even rounding them up and taking them away. This was the fate of the naughty babes...the good ones got the goodies from Santa.

Apparently cats don't like Krampus either.

Apparently a very bad baby...she seems to like the old hairy Krampus



I can tell that those are some naughty ones...they've been throwing snowballs at old ladies.



St. Nick and Krampus lurking over the cherubs. The dude on the right is getting coal for sure.




A nice haul...an entire bushel of bad babies. I wonder what becomes of them.
Yee haw. I bet this kid wishes he never gave his brother that wedgy.
Notice the apples...St. Nick would give out apples, oranges and nuts to good kids. Seems like Krampus is helping with Santa's burden. Or are those the bad apples (children) he has stolen away? By the way Gruss vom Krampus means Greetings from Krampus.

Here's a book that I have yet to buy but came across it while entering this post. It is a collection of Krampus postcards. I'm going to be ordering myself.

check it out
The Devil in Details, the Krampus Postcards by Monte Beauchamp

Okay so my niece and nephew don't know it yet but instead of Santa I'll be dressing up as someone else...bwwwah ha ha!

Hope everyone is having a great holiday!

"My name is Victoria Winters...."

Here's a quiz...who knows what that phrase is from?

Times up pencils down!

It's from the coolest soap opera....EVER! Dark Shadows. It was about a vampire, Barnabas Collins, and the soap was filled with werewolves and other Gothic goodies. Way cool. Each episode opened with Victoria Winters reading her journal entry...thus "my name is Victoria Winters". I used to watch it with my mum (Judy is influencing me again) after preschool, kindergarten etc. I also remember that when my mother was into puzzles she had a huge one of Barnabas that she glued to a board and hung in my playroom...I was no ordinary child.

Okay here is the news....I just got an email from a patron of mine, Vickie, that they are doing a movie of this show...and best news yet...Johnny Depp is Barnabas. He too was a D.S. fanatic and rumor is that 2009 it will be out.

Here are a few quotes from the show

Barnabas Collins: "At last darkness has come. Goodbye, Maggie Evans. I might have loved you, I might have spared you, but now you must die"


Victoria Winters: "My name is Victoria Winters. My journey is beginning. A journey that I hope will open the doors of life to me and link my past with my future. A journey that will bring me to a strange and dark place, to the edge of the sea high atop Widows' Hill - a house called Collinwood. A world I've never known, with people I've never met. People who tonight are still only shadows in my mind, but who will soon fill the days and nights of my tomorrows. "

Coming soon,
some photos of some of the new pieces I've been working on while here in Sydney

No I didn't fall off the face of the earth...I just slide a bit south

Hey all,
In Sydney, hanging with my beloved Judy. Been kind of a whirlwind week. Off the plane in Sydney, only to get on another plane for a function up in Queensland...which was lovely...great food, drink and the resort at Coolum was quite spectacular.

I've been getting back to art making. Just finished a piece yesterday...sort of a Shiva skateboard. I was feeling a bit playful so this is my latest concoction...
I can't believe all the goodies that Judy has stashed away for me...astounding. There is no shortage of junk here. She took me to a few places that are her secret sources for her assortment of nifty things. The first place was (THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN DELETED BY JUDY WILKENFELD), and then she took me to (THIS INFO HAS BEEN DELETED BY JUDY WILKENFELD), great source for rusty things if you're in the Sydney area.

Dropped a line to Mr. LoBue, will be hooking up with him at some point. If fact I just emailed him to ask him how to clean the bones off the bat the has fallen into Judy's yard. Some of you may remember her post from the day I arrived to Sydney in which a bat hat got hung up in some power lines. Here's the image
So it finally dropped and the little buggies are hard at work picking him to the bone, but I need to know how to really clean him so I don't get kooties. I assume that there is something to dunk him into. I figure Keith would know...otherwise does anyone else have any bright ideas?
Oh speaking of LoBue, he's having a holiday sale check it out....here

Also Perth workshop ended up getting cancelled and postponed till the end of January. The timing in relation to the holidays was a bit off...so we try it then. Jan 24 -27th.

Okay that's it for now... except for :

El Charro in: The Return of the Intestinal Creature from the Rio Muerto

El Charro now has a blog

Hey gang,
just wanted to let you know that, my alter ego, El Charro de las Calaveras, now has a blog.
You can check it out his latest adventure HERE www.delascalaveras.blogspot.com
(Don't you like his new logo?)


Also yesterday was Fridays Found Object Find as the Artist's Nook check out the new things here.

And while I'm away I will have some art available in the states. Christine at the Artists Nook has some smaller shrine items, as well as some of my new Angels and Demons matchbox necklaces (not finished yet but I will send them to her before I leave).

You can also find my Creative Outlets at
Gallerie Chiz

And larger work at, including whats left of the work from my book, Secrets of Rusty Things.
Artisans on Taylor

ciao,
Michael
sometimes
El Charro