muses & monsters

I first heard Josh Ritter a couple of weeks ago when he played his tune The Curse on Studio 360 . It has been rattling around in my head since. (& yes, I do live under a rock and had never heard of Ritter before). Sorry if the video is cropped - here's the link - just remember to come back, okay?

So when I heard a snippet again on NPR this morning, I cashed in some Amazon credits & picked up his new album, So Runs The World Away. (By the way, the band's drummer is also a puppeteer. He writes about the making of the video here).

S.R.T.W.A. is great background music. I know that doesn't sound like much of a compliment. But in the studio it is. Studio music adds to the ambiance without interrupting the thought process. Wow - that's not coming out right. Hopefully you know what I mean....

Do you play music when you are creating?
If so, what keeps your Muse happy?

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I Love Monsters!

I spent my formative years watching as many cheesy horror movies as I could get away with. I remember sneaking downstairs at 3 a.m. to catch Boris Karloff in the 1932 version of The Mummy (catch the trailer here.). I got totally busted & had nightmares for weeks.... but it was worth it!

I'd watch anything even remotely creepy, but my favorites starred Vincent Price.

Vincent Price by Lucas Soriano

I loved his velvet voice & dramatic flair. His flicks introduced me to Edgar Allen Poe. Plus he always seemed like he was having fun.

You can find Mr. Price all over YouTube. One of my favorites is his appearance as the mystery guest on What's My Line. If he were still around Vincent Price would have turned 99 yesterday - Happy Birthday Mr. Price!

May 27th was also the 88th birthday of Sir Christopher Lee. In the 70s & early 8os no weekend was complete without one of his monster flicks.

Christopher Lee by Lucas Soriano

Of course where would Dracula have been without Dr. Van Helsing?

Peter Cushing by Lucas Soriano

Another of my childhood favorites, Peter Cushing, would have celebrated his 97th birthday on May 26. Years ago you could watch him battling beasts on Saturday TV & then solving crimes as Sherlock Holmes on Sunday.

Happy Birthday, Gentlemen!

If you have few minutes give these guys a google. You might be surprised by what you find. You can watch many of their movies & interviews.

Peter Cushing is the subject of a fun song by the JellyBottys:

And Christopher Lee is into metal - who knew?? Ok, lots of people....but I live under a rock, remember? Find more about his foray into "symphonic metal" on the recently released album Charlemagne By The Sword And The Cross


Another thing you'll find all over the web is lots & lots of fan art. My favorite by far is the fantastic work of Lucas Soriano.You can view more of his art over at cowboy-lucas.deviantart.com/ as well as on his blog lucaselvaquero.blogspot.com. Please, check it out if you get a chance & tell him just how cool he really is!

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Final Note: If you haven't yet entered the random drawing for Tortuga Tile Works Ma & Pa Deathhead Mosaic, click here for photo & details. 1 winner will be selected on 6/3.

Saturday Studio Tour #11 - Harry Boardman & friends

1 - Monster Art by Harry

Got Monsters?

Harry Boardman does! 1 year ago Harry started an ambitious project - to create a monster a day "from Halloween to Halloween" and post them on his blog 365monsters.blogspot.com and etsy shop 365monsters.etsy.com. His creatures are created out of a variety of material and have a quite a mix of personalities. Each also has a brief bio in the listings.

128 Original Monster Art by Harry

Lucky for us, Harry has stopped by to share a bit about his creations and to give us a tour of his studio space:

HB: A little more than a year ago I wanted to challenge myself and exercise my creative muscle. The point was to put myself on edge and take on the sort of task that normal sane people wouldn’t attempt. Aside from doing all of that, this project looked simple as a whole but became difficult fast.

75 - Original Monster Art By Harry

HB: The first week was hard. It wasn’t easy to get into a routine, produce consistently good work, and to be creative each and every day. It seems strange now that monster # 25 was a big milestone for me.

25 - Original Monster Art By Harry

HB: This has been an amazing yearlong project. I’ve posted monsters while traveling around the world, produced a large body of work that I’m happy with, included friends & family in my work, and found new avenues of business like custom monster portraits starting at $65.

Custom Monster Project by Harry

Last Friday, Harry had a live-action drawing gig over at Estetiks in Doylestown, PA where he finished off his year of monsters with these critters and the advice to "know your footwear":

365 - Original Monster Art by Harry

Now on with the Studio Tour!

HB: Welcome to the studio of Harry Boardman. Artist, monster fan, and recovering packrat. Although not a frontiersman, I live in the woods with my wonderful wife Heather (a lampwork glass artist and jewelry designer) with our 2 cats and dog-boy Morty. Even though my studio is in a subterranean situation with one small window, it’s really great. The space is large enough to continuously find new equipment to squeeze in and it’s always good to be down here. Besides, when the zombies attack it’ll be safer down here underground.

HB: This is what you see as you come into the door. It’s a lot to take in at once. I feel like this space is jam-packed with organized chaos. Good things are packed in here for inspiration, cool projects, and lots of choices when the right tool or medium calls.

HB: When my wife and I bought this house my current studio was a small woodshop with long wide short cabinets in it. Most of those cabinets were moved to an undisclosed location but one remained as a place to store and mix oil paints. I do most of my painting on this easel and large pieces go on an open wall behind this area

HB: Another piece of heavy duty industrial metal furniture, the drafting table is a super spot to sketch, layout portraits and paintings on boards, all of the monsters are inked on this table. This shot also shows my white board of insanity covered in color-coded thoughts, my wonderful Epson printer for reproducing my artwork, and extra storage that came as a gift from beyond the grave (the story is way too long).

HB: I keep all of my reference pics in the computer and do a ton of research on it. It’s handy for doing research, marketing, making excellent and timely playlists, and managing my etsy stores.

HB: The cutting/matting/assembly/layout desk is the most recent work space addition to the studio. I’m glad I have it every time I use it.

Be sure to stop by Harry's blog where he celebrated finishing the monster project by creating .... another monster!

Hooray for 365 Monsters! by Harry

He also talks about his next big project 52 Farms. Here's a sneak peek of Harry's artistic plans for the coming year

HB: My next blog project called 52 Farms will start in Spring or Summer of 2010. This one will feature weekly pieces that are larger and more ambitious than the monster pieces. I’ll be creating artwork based on 52 different working farms within an hour or so drive time from my studio in Montgomery county, PA.

HB: When not involved in a blog project, I take commissions for portraits of people, pets, and houses. Oil paintings and mixed media pieces of local landscapes, nature scenes, wildlife, plants, and animals are the majority of my other work.

Want to see some of Harry's non- monster art? Check out his 2nd etsy shop HarryBoardman.etsy.com as well as these other online locations:
http://www.portraitsbyharry.com/
http://www.harryboardman.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Harry-Boardman/9012343994

Want to win a piece of Harry's art? Simply leave a comment on this blog before noon (EST) on Nov. 5 to enter the random drawing for the 8 x 10 matted print Sunset Parking Lot

Sunset Parking Lot by Harry Boardman

To read about the creation of this piece & visit a few more monsters, CLICK HERE for last Thursday Giveaway/ Artist Feature. Thanks for your patience with this belated post. And for stopping by today. And Extra Special Thanks to Harry for sharing his menagerie & creative space with us today!