a studio visit with chad merritt of mon petit fantome.

I was recently in the wonderful (& weird ) city of Austin, TX where I had the opportunity to visit my dear friend Chad Merritt of Mon Petit Fantome at his home & studio. As many of you know, I am a huge fan & supporter of his papercut works; they are elegant Victorian era-esque dreams that harken the darker aspects of fairytales. Aside from creating papercuts Chad works at Uncommon Objects, a lovely oddities shop teeming with strange wonders, which seems to be the dream job for his personal aesthetics. I love it when a person's work is a direct reflection of how they aesthetically lead their life, creating a visual landscape that informs a creative life. Take a peek below at more images I took of his workspace, collections and kitties below.

I got a little glimpse into how Chad organizes his papercuts while listening to Broadcast.

Blood Milk Lily Dale pentacle looking lovely on a vintage dress.

Original Alison Scarpulla photographs in his personal collection.

Chad owns the original drawing to the most coveted Amy Earles print. (so jealous!)

part of Chad's Blood Milk collection.

Dorian.

these days

life on instagram.

find me there @bloodmilk

moon phase letterpress from margins.

bit in my loft. framed 'abracadabra' print by mon petit fantome / chad merritt

'the prophet' cast owl claw. one of my largest & oldest pieces and still a favorite.

from 'cure all' kim parko

amazing vintage globe astrology record player.

sparrow claw rosary in sterling. 

so many lovely gems in philly.

laurel hill cemetery

part of 'summer spell' - a group show i curated here in philly at gallery 309. more on this soon.

my home sweet home is coming along nicely. so much space for just my cat & i!

shed.

allyson mellberg taylor

olly moss

mon petit fantome

elsa mora

there is a sort of subtle violence that goes into the making of paper cuts that i find fascinating. a shedding of excess to reveal a gem within the paper. instead of wielding a paintbrush or pencil, these artists use scissors and blades to create these stunning works, some bordering on nightmarish fantasy, others quirky & strange. 

xo

apex.

 mon petit fantome has some new paper cut prints in his shoppe. take a peek!

xo

feral witch . . .

lovely chad from st. mary's & mon petit fantome  has recently started taking film photographs & the results are stunning. the time after a show & halloween is always a bit of a strange time for me, so to experience both at once has been a bit overwhelming. thankfully chad's new 'feral witch' series has the halloween spirit lingering while i listen to his tunes and work on bloodmilk.

xo

&.

jl.

& they spoke to me......

chad from mon petit fantome has released his first book of silhouettes. at an edition of 50 & hand-bound, these beauties are surely a rare treasure & are sadly sold out, but they were just released in soft cover for all of us who missed out.

what i love most about mon petit fantome is the cohesive aesthetic of dark themes set against a kind of innocent light. this juxtaposition is always something i'm going for in my fiction & it's done so well here. chad has great personal style & plays in a ghostly, whispery band, st.mary's,

that i've been listening to these days as i paint. a soundtrack to my hermetic life filled with black silver and portraits of bee-keepers & astral travellers.

xo.

current nighttime obsessions iv.

although i've posted about the amazing work of amy earles before, i'm lusting over these new drawings. one of which is in the possession of fellow etsy cabinet of curiosities team member, mon petit fantome, whose work is equally enchanting.

xoxo