beetlejuice! beetlejuice! beetlejuice!

happy official halloween ghosties! i just returned home from an amazing time in SF.....last night was the opening of  'darker, my love' at loved to death with writer danielle vogel. thank you so much to those of you who came out to the opening and especially to the lovely audra & brennan who made it all possible! i'll post more pictures soon, but here's the title piece (& my personal favorite) just in time for tonight's festivities. i hope, wherever you are, you're safe and enjoying the night!

xoxo

happy halloween!

i know it's a little early, but happy halloween to all of you! halloween also marks my wedding anniversary, i was married to my true love two years ago this halloween at the mutter museum!

xoxo

fresh blood: new skins for olde jewels.

conjoined skull ring now available in rose gold.

sparrow claw rings now available with onyx faceted 'diamonds'.

xoxo

hi-fructose vol. 17

if you're so inclined, pick up the newest issue of hi-fructose at your local bookstore! i wrote a feature on caitlin hackett (above) as well as duo herakut in vol. 17. i'll be taking a small break from blogging as i'm finishing up the final touches on my paintings and traveling to SF for my show with danielle vogel, 'darker, my love' this weekend!

xo.

i want your skull.

dear nicoz balboa,

i would trade you anything you wanted for this painting.

including: the phantom limbs of my unborn,

novellas penned in your name, 

and / or any bloodmilk you'd desire.

xoxo.

collected:

pinky promise: although i've read a couple of books on a digital reader, & will continue to do so since my husband hates it when i read with the light on, (really what a fight saver it's been!) i will still always, always read printed books. pressing my face into olde books in vintage book stores, the difference in the weight and tooth of a page, the ruination of a paperback cover and the creases of a hardbound spine, all of these things are love notes. for me, the thing i missed most was being able to hand write notes on the pages. so, i've taken a pledge to keep the printed word alive. you can too! check it out here.

brother's quay x mm: as part of a new ongoing project that the fine folks over at the mutter museum have instituted to generate more visitors, they have invited the legendary brother's quay to use their space to create a film. (having been married there and having dealt with their annoying rules about photography within the museum, i know how special this is...) the story of the film is based on the skeleton of  harry eastlack, a man who had a rare condition that caused the muscle and tissue surrounding his bones to harden like bone. over time he morphed into a living statue. after he passed his skeleton was donated to the museum where his sister often visited him. the film focuses on this odd place of visitation and grieving. i can't wait to see it! 

tumblr of the week: i just found the owl hooteh. it's filled with a perfect curated collection of muted colors and vintage images. 

hacked: speaking of digital readers, a local philly etsy seller hacks olde typewriters into tech savy keyboards compatible with ipads! i love it. 

 q: as for me, diya from in her stilettos interviewed me about bloodmilk amongst other things and the result can be found here.

xoxo

* image is a woman being hypnotized in 1907& is from 'a morning’s work: medical photographs from the burns archive & collection, 1843-1939' *

darker, my love: sneak peek

"forget me not"

if i've seemed quite on here lately, it's due to hermiting myself away in my studio making paintings for next week's show. if you live in SF, i'd love to meet you! this show has been the culmination of feelings i've had for two years, since the death of my father. as personal as it's ispiration is, it's also partly inspired by my recent trip to lily dale as well as the beetlejuice movie & cartoons. the 'charachter' of the paintings is lydia from beetlejuice, i felt she best served as a metaphor for a heroine who is able to live within both the natural & supernatural worlds as well as communicating with those that live in the 'neitherworld'. the show also features the haunting vignettes of writer danielle vogel, & i feel her writing compliments the work perfectly. if you don't live near SF, the show will be up on loved to death's website & you can also contact them directly if you're interested in any of the work. there will also be a few prints available for sale opening night. hope to meet some of you!

xoxo.

blood in the graveyard.

despite the many things piling on top of me, my twin in all things macabre, adelina mictlan, & i took a trip to the laurel hill cemetery here in philly for an impromptu bloodmilk / adelina photo shoot. adelina modeled our collective jewelry and i manned the camera. above is a sneak peek of our efforts. hopefully this will be the first of many other collaborative photo shoots of our jewelry.

xo

collected:

these days my hands feel separated from my body and pinned under glass. anyway, here's my weekly list of lovely curious things:

margaux kent from the black spot books has just released a new series of prints from her most recent show 'there is a great deal i do not need to know' tiny fires is my favorite, but they are all as equally eerie and stunning. 

 reinventing alice: the new sneak peek of marilyn manson's film 'phantasmagoria' is enticing.

childhood nostalgia: this dollhouse is perfect. i love the beetlejuice striped wallpaper!

l'esprit de escalier is one of my favorite phrases in french and has a meaning that takes a whole sentence to describe in english. take a peek here for it's meaning as well as 10 other words in other languages that aren't found in english. 

tumblr of the week: the dictionary of obscure sorrows gives words to feelings and other strange phrases such as the 'wistful foreboding feeling at the first sides of autumn.' 

curating: i made a couple of treasuries on etsy featuring items from my own wishlist as well as items from my favorite etsy sellers. take a peek at 'experiments in the field' and 'the neitherworld.'

strange things for strange girls.

regrettably, i just discovered etsy has allowed anyone at anytime to create a treasury of curated items. i only say regrettably to this fantastic discovery because i fear this will be another thing i become obsessed with when i should be painting or writing or making new jewelry . . . but alas, please visit my first ever treasury, filled with curious delights.

xo.

*above image by allyson mellberg, who creates amazing work and has some inexpensive wonders available in her etsy shoppe.

by the light of the silvery moon . . .

mark ryden's newest masterpiece, 'awakening the moon', is stunning. 

xo

hell of a damn grave. wish it were mine.

'bad dads' is a group art show exploring the characters  of wes anderson films opening october 30 @ LoPo gallery in SF. if you're as big a fan of wes as i am, you'll dig this show.

xo 

fresh blood:

homeward bound. sparrow skull ring. new in the shoppe.

&

since the lydia ring has been kicking up some dust this month, she's 30$ off for the month of october!

xoxo

stripped to the teeth.

darla jackson.

laura graham.

tomorrow night here in philly, jinxed/toothless cat presents 'stripped to the teeth', an installation featuring new work by the 4 talented members of 'the other woman' collective. i've been a long time fan of these ladies & am thrilled they agreed to show with us. if you're in the philly area i hope you stop by for a visit!

xoxo

living forever:

i was tucked away in boarding school when i first found the suicide poets (sylvia plath & anne sexton) & it was my senior year that ted hughes released 'birthday letters', a notable book of poems that cracked decades of his silence on sylvia after her suicide. what i learned then, & what is only making more sense now, is that the choice of suicide can never be blamed on one incident, one feeling, or even one man. released today is the missing poem from that volume, 'the last letter' which details hughes's reaction & feelings on her suicide. 

xo.

collected:

tumblr of the week:  the doppleganger  has been a favorite tumblr of mine for a while.

magical realism:  the girl with the glass feet is the book i'm currently reading. so far it's been filled with odd bits of magic (tiny moth winged cows & a girl slowly turning into glass.) 

terrarium displays: i love the way elsie uses vintage photos to create an unique display.

the wickedest man in the world: aleister crowley rice recipe? 

a mini dose: a sweet poem by brent michael canle. 

national listening day: record conversations & interviews and upload them here for national listening day, november 26!

i am?: are you following the iamamiwhoami videos? any thoughts on their new website?

xo.

* image conjured on tumblr.

monstrous pairings:

stumbled onto this photo narrative featuring several frankensteins & a solo, fleeing bride. please check out the rest of the photos, 'the bride stripped bare by her bachelors, even' by e. francis kohler , i promise you won't be disappointed. i especially love the wink to duchamp with the title.  . . 

xo

"my search in the black foam & fog of my psyche . . ."

ellen rogers has a new website & i've fallen madly, obsessively in love with it. her photos have an otherworldly, dreamlike quality, as if a thick milk fog has flooded the passage way between our world and the neitherworld & miss rogers has conjured the images of the women who inhabit this shadow, undefined space. her work has been a great inspiration to all facets of my work & secretly..... i would love to see bloodmilk photographed in this analog (digital free!), empheral style. . . . .

xo

*title quote was found here: