The Elegant Goth

Halloween 2010

2010-11-09T01:01:00.014-07:00

Had a very busy October because of volunteer work at The Sands Hotel Tour of Terror Goes To The Movies. I had a room that was based on the movie 30 Days of Night. There were other functions and activities taking place in October and the hearse club travelled down to Red Deer, Alberta to see the ZED99 Haunted House. That was an excellent venue. Another great Halloween haunt was The Haunted Hike in Sherwood Park, Alberta. Here are pics of my house and these other venues:

Art from 2009

2010-11-09T00:37:00.004-07:00

October Is Here

2010-10-02T11:41:00.005-06:00

I have gothic cameo jewelry at Karries Kostumes in St. Albert, Alberta, just in time for Halloween. The staff bought up most of the stock so I am waiting for supplies to replentish it ASAP. The pretty OOAK red angel cameo necklace is sold. Some of the cameos are pendant/brooches with a necklace loop and pin on the back. Others are lockets with large areas for pictures or secret objects.

So check out Karries Kostumes for beautiful Halloween items, costume rentals, dance supplies, and makeup!

http://www.karrieskostumes.ca/

Slow Down At the Art Factory

2010-03-29T01:22:00.002-06:00

I haven't been doing my mixed media art as of late because I have been involved so much with making jewelry. I am thinking of selling it on Etsy.com. I have been making necklaces and pendants and earrings. Pictures will be taken very soon and posted on here along with my Facebook page.

There is quite a bit of it so I need to think out the best way of presenting it. I am not stopping my mixed media stuff, it just has to be organised and my poor house cleaned up. It looks like an episode of Hoarders. I have to figure out where to start. I'm a very bad housekeeper and sales person. I guess that's because I'm an artist.

2010

2010-01-02T15:39:00.001-07:00

Happy New Year to everyone
and best wishes to you.

Christmas In The City Artisan Show

2009-12-14T19:14:00.009-07:00

These are pictures from the "Christmas In The City" show in Edmonton, Alberta. There were approximately 10 artisans who submitted their art. The show took place in November and parts of December 2009. I was one of the artisans and my Victorian mixed-media art pieces are framed on the walls.

Black and White Creation

2009-12-14T18:06:00.006-07:00

I submitted a black and white piece of art to Somerset Magazine to see if they would put me on their Black and White pages which were supposed to come out sometime in the fall of 2009. I sent it to them for November 2008 deadline as I remember. Then I found out they were cancelling the article. I became quite upset and went through a series of e-mails with them and then was told it was coming out in the Winter 2010 Somerset Gallery magazine.

Of course I thought that meant that it wasn't coming out until November of 2010. They sent me a copy of the magazine and discovered it meant this winter in 2009.

I found my piece in the magazine and was disappointed to find they only displayed a small section of it and also it had been slightly damaged. So all the work and waiting I went through was a letdown even though I did manage to get something into the magazine. Therefore I am publishing the original pictures I took of the art before I sent it off to the magazine because the article just doesn't do it justice. So here it is...

Jewelry Pendant Samples

2009-08-29T17:05:00.007-06:00

These are some images I have created for my pendant jewelry.

I am working on some Creepy Halloween Babies for Halloween. They are going to be for sale. Hopefully I will have pictures of some of them by the middle of September. We have been very busy all summer with our hearse Bella Morte, entering her into parades and car shows. Also helping to advertise dEdmonton, Canada's Halloween Festival.

Edmonton's Handmade Mafia

2009-06-29T21:29:00.007-06:00

Hi y'all! I am going to have my art at the Handmade Mafia show on Saturday July 4, 2009. It is from 10 am to 4 pm. It is always held on the first Saturday of every month. Check out the poster above.

It's great to see a high calibre of local Edmonton artists with their own handmade art gathered together. Please come out and see us.

My art is also still for sale at The Wish List on Whyte Avenue (82nd) and 105 street.

My Art is in a 2nd Store!!!!

2009-02-11T00:19:00.006-07:00

My art has found it's way into another Edmonton store! I am so excited and grateful to the store owner. The store is called Alter Ego and they sell custom designed t-shirts, Goth ware, jewelry, buttons, belt buckles, and a plethora of other interesting items. I have my Cemetery photography hanging in there, along with some very goth pieces of art.

I will be uploading a couple of my artwork pieces that are in the store in the following days.

Alter Ego is in the Bonnie Doon Mall and the phone number is

(780) 450-6165, e-mail address is Artwork@AlterEgoGear.ca

Also remember I have art at The Wish List on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton too!

Lovely, Ungoth-like Art Pieces

2009-02-05T23:29:00.004-07:00

Pretty, valentine, lovely, ungoth-like art pieces. I do have a soft side and I do like the romance and whimsy art themes. So I created these pieces and now they are hanging for sale in a store in Edmonton called The Wish List. It's on 10464 Whyte Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, (780) 436-8277.
I have other themed pieces in the shop also. There are some Paris ones, and Victorian children, Moroccan Dancer, Angels, and a Fairy!
Please check them out, and, look at all the other fantastic stuff Gayle has in her store!

"He Waits For Love"

"Beautiful Child"

"Come And Be My Love"

The Elegant Goth: Birthday Present and Nightmare Creation

2008-12-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

The Elegant Goth: Birthday Present and Nightmare Creation

Christmas Cheer is Here and Here!

2008-12-26T14:04:00.008-07:00

My collection of beautiful antique Christmas ball decorations.

I know it is the day after Christmas, but I have been so busy and not been on the computer for quite awhile. For Christmas I decorated 2 wooden birdhouse to look like frosty Christmas houses. If you look up Cody Foster houses you will see they are very vintage looking and that is what I was going for.

There is a store in Edmonton that is now selling my artwork. Yay!!!! I have some Christmas pieces hanging there and in January/February I will be having hopefully my Paris Series pieces, tambourines, and some other themed works. The store is called The Wish List and is on the trendy Whyte Avenue shopping area.

This isn't a very good photo, but this is a Christmas piece I did 3 years ago and I love it so much I am keeping it. The photo doesn't do it justice. It's in beautiful soft antique colors like pale green, ivory, mauve, and soft pink. The image is from a postcard. I have torn pieces of music from an antique piano play booklet.

This is my Christmas village that I have been purchasing pieces for it over the years. There are a couple of Dept. 56 houses and another incredibly detailed one from Germany. I know these things I have shown you aren't very "Goth" looking, but I do love Christmas and these are the things I like to decorate with.

Have a wonderful rest of 2008 and to hoping that 2009

will be a happy and prosperous year for everyone.

Birthday Present and Nightmare Creation

2008-11-30T00:53:00.009-07:00

Baphomet

details from Baphomet

Victorian Nightmare

I created an art piece for a friend's birthday. He wanted to have a piece of art on Baphomet. I thought that was a great theme and had fun doing it. The other piece is about a Victorian woman's nightmare. The Victorian Nightmare is 16" x 20" and the Baphomet piece is slightly larger in height, but I didn't record the exact dimensions, unfortunately. (don't ask why)

Both pictures had hand coloured paper illustrations decoupaged, acrylic paints, tissue papers; Baphomet had pages from an old Hindi dictionary, and different coloured sparkles. I found metaphysical symbols and occult images.

Halloween in Edmonton

2008-11-01T13:31:00.005-06:00

Beautiful weather this year for Halloween. We had approximately 40-50 kids which is pretty good for our neighbourhood.

After giving out candy we went over to friends and then did a dedication in the graveyard after midnight to honor all of our loved ones who have passed on.

This is my table top village. I have tons more but

didn't have the room to put it all out.

I will be putting up more Halloween themed artwork and also working on a birthday present for a friend which is coing to be a large piece. There is also some miscellaneous themed art I have been working on and I will put them up also.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T01:24:00.006-06:00

I know I am very late with the Halloween art. At least it got here for Halloween. I have been too busy with working and ghost hunting/spirit rescue.

The Countess

Spooky

Little Witches

Hallows Party

Poison

They Come Out At Night

Po-Etic

Think A Head

Going Batty

More Altered Tambourines

2008-08-07T22:36:00.004-06:00

Gypsy Fortune Dancer

Lady Luck

I love creating these tambourines because you can add hundreds of embellishments to them. The top tambourine is actually metal, the red one is plastic. It's hard finding a metal tambourine that is cheap and can be turned into altered art rather than be used for music. There's lots of plastic ones out there, though.
Any yarn, beads, ribbon, fortune cookie strips, glitter, coins, game pieces, work fantastic with this. I have another one I made that I need to take a pic of. It has an Egyptian theme to it. I found some other plastic tambourines to work with, but they are a little smaller than these ones. They are really easy to glam up and I have some old antique jewelry I bought at an antique fair for a good price that will work with these critters.

Mother and Child

2008-07-25T11:58:00.005-06:00

This piece is called "Mother and Child". I liked the old time print of the mom and baby and decided to build around it. It's just a light and fun picture. I found all the rest of the elements in the pic really quick because the colors and the images and the buttons just meshed together. The cancelled stamps were perfect.

I just went to the 2 big antique markets in Edmonton the other day and scored some great antique photos and postcards. I'll probably end up doing some funky pieces with some of them and dark goth pieces with others.

That reminds me... I have to start making my Halloween-themed pictures now in time for Halloween. Then there's also Day of the Dead stuff too. I'd better get busy.

Hey Mr. Tambourine Man

2008-07-18T23:28:00.009-06:00

I'm still tweaking things on my website. I have to get into this FTP stuff so my pictures will enlarge when you click on them. It's a learning curve. If you go onto my website, you will see this tambourine called "Romany Magic" under the "One-Of-A-Kinds" section. I have 3 tambourines on there, this one included. I haven't taken a picture of my Egyptian one yet. One tambourine is metal but all the others are plastic and I purchased them in a kid's section of a store where toys are. It's fun to alter them with ribbons, yarn, buttons, coins, pictures of women, playing cards, jewelry, and the list goes on...

I found a wooden box that held champagne from France in the back alley. This will be fun to alter. I also have a wooden cutlery case that is dark wood and has red velvet inside. I'll have to do something Gothic to that.

I would really love to try and make from scratch, a 3-D replica of the tombs or mausoleums I saw in New Orleans. Here is a sample of what they look like:

When I was there in 2003 I think, Anne Rice had a store and in the store were these tiny replica tombs. These ones were expertly crafted ceramic ones and they cost a lot of money at the time. I can't make mine out of ceramic, it will probably wood. The decay mould and rust stuff will be fun to create.

Hopefully I will have some created by the fall. They'll be cool for Halloween.

My Website Is Up!!!!!

2008-07-15T12:45:00.004-06:00

I am so excited. I finally have my Incarnations web site up and running. It doesn't have any e-commerce on it right now, but that will be coming. I only have a smidgen of my art work up on it, but it would be overdoing it putting everything up.

Here is the link:

www.incarnations.ca

Down and Dirty Goth Art

2008-07-02T00:14:00.006-06:00

Evil Grows

Heart of Sorrows

Here are 2 of my Goth-tastic art pieces. They are very simple, yet convey a serious message. The first one, Evil Grows, is based around words from a Poppy Family song, Evil Grows.
"Evil grows in the dark, where the sun it never shines; Evil grows in cracks and holes, and lives in people's minds." Creepy, eh?

Heart of Sorrows has this quote:
"The darkness that surrounds us cannot hurt us. It is the darkness in your heart you should fear."
Whoa, DEEP and creepy.
I apologise for not having the author's name for that quote.
Both are collage pieces. The first one is embellished with a 3 dimensional bat trim. Very cute. And the black and different shades of turquoise and green makes them a little foreboding.

Art Overload

2008-06-25T20:08:00.008-06:00

I have been busy with a family reunion and trying to get pictures of my art ready for a web site I am hoping to launch very soon. I didn't realize how much art I have done until we took pictures of it all. Holy cow, that's a lot of stuff! 60+ pieces of art. I can't put it all up on my site because it would just be overload. Some stuff is still in the process of framing.
I have also promised myself I will do more Goth-themed art in the next couple of months because I have done a ton of Victorian and Whimsy stuff. And there's nothing wrong with that, it's just that I need to be true to my Goth style.

Pretty Dead things... my little dead babies. I like to bring them out for Halloween but I thought I'd show them now to go with the Goth theme.

This piece is called Nocturne. I need to get it framed. Part of the Goth collection.

Special thanks to my friend Rebecca at www.netsational.com for taking all the pictures that are going to go up to the new web site. I will put a post about it when it's ready.

A Wedding Gift

2008-06-15T19:08:00.003-06:00

Our friends Troy and Donna got married Friday June 13th. To commemorate the occasion, I decided to do a gift for them (even though they requested no gifts) and create this love portrait. The adornment at the top reads: "God bless our years together with so much love and happiness". I used 2 kinds of scrap booking paper and some ribbons, a button and some stick on adornments. Then I framed it with a solid black frame. Hopefully, they liked it. I had fun making it. I hope they have a place to hang it up.

Portals

2008-06-10T15:39:00.010-06:00

I had said a couple of weeks ago that I would unveil my Portals project. There has been a lot going on, and I finally got around to taking some pics of it. The base is a keyhole chipboard that I got on sale at Treasured Memories for about $3.00 and some change. I thought because it resembled a keyhole, it was a way to unlock something. So I thought of Portals because they are everywhere and it would be cool to come up with the different ones that people are aware of.

Heaven, Hell, Spiritual, Door, Entryway, Explorer, Energy, Mystic, Window, Mind, Time, Infinity. On the back of the front Portal page, I have a definition of portals. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of that page. Oops.

I decorated the metal clip that is binding it together with ribbon, yarns and beads.

Cigar Box Purse

2008-06-04T20:15:00.003-06:00

This is just one of the "cigar box" purses I have made. It really isn't out of a cigar box, it is a light wood that has been painted, decoupaged with a middle east theme, and aged crackle effect added for that special look. There is a protective coating put on at the end, inside and out. It has a jeweled handle that matches the colors in the outside design.
I have a New Orleans Voodoo one that has to get a handle on it. Once that one is done, I'll put it up. These purses really are more for decorative purposes. They would be nice for some kind of special item storage or just a decor object.

Altered Art - Wooden Teapot

2008-05-26T17:22:00.006-06:00

I found a paint-scraped-off wooden decorative teapot at a knic-knack store. I had 3 drawers in it to keep tiny things. It gave me lots of ideas for pictures to put on the teapot. It was fun to make and I used some found objects like a key, subway tokens, tickets, victorian images, bottle cap art. I'm calling it The Remembrance Teapot.

More In The Art Box

2008-05-21T22:06:00.012-06:00

There is still a lot of art I haven't posted up to this blog, so slowly but surely everything will get up here. Here are some diverse themed pieces:

Esmeralda's Travels, The Look

A Quiet Faith, Deep Blue Sea, Rapture

Fear Of Death, Joan of Arc

The Kingdom

The Letter

Love Is Lost

The Hand Of Fate

La Fortuna

Her Majesty

Natures Frail

Black Madonna

The Dream Traveller, The Joy Of Music

Lost and Found

2008-05-18T18:12:00.006-06:00

I came across these pictures of some of my earlier artwork and thought I'd better post them before I either lost them or forgot where they were. Some of these were done 3 years ago.

These crosses are the regular balsa wood crosses you get at Michaels for a dollar. I wanted them to look very ornate and a touch medieval. I have them hanging in my house.

This picture was done for my friend Craig Gamble who unfortunately passed away January 4th 2006. I thought I had lost the photo but was lucky I found it. I don't know what happened to this piece after he died. I hope someone in his family has it.

He loved medieval things especially the history and the battle armour.

It has been too windy to do any useful yard work without it blowing in my face, and the prediction for this week is it will be raining right up until the weekend. So I guess I will turn myself to the practice of art and finish some of these things so I can get them up on the blog.

The Toddlers

2008-05-17T22:11:00.006-06:00

I created this piece - The Toddlers, a short while ago and it is a small size = 4x6 inch canvas with frame. But I do think it's so damn cute! Especially their little crowns. The boys are from a Children's Victorian Clip Art book. They are hand colored with pencil crayons. I love the background paper. I got it from Treasured Memories in Edmonton. It's hard to see the color of the frame, but it's forest green to match the green on the paper.

I have been doing yard work the last couple of days so the artwork has been in second place of things to do. I did finally finish this one project which I will be posting after this weekend called Portals. I think you will find the piece very interesting.

New Art

2008-05-14T21:46:00.006-06:00

These pieces are the beginning of my Oriental Collection.

They are not framed yet.

These are a part of my Paris Series.

They are both framed but my picture of "Les Fées de Paris" does not show it's beautiful cream frame.

Sorry, it's my fault. I am the photographer and I didn't do it professionally.

This picture is "Daughter of the Conquistadores"

A Goth piece "We Live In Hearts". Not framed yet.

I am thinking of a beeswax treatment on it, then it won't need to be framed.

Elegant Goth on TV

2008-05-13T18:48:00.003-06:00

Access TV (CHUM Network) is having a show all about Goth in Edmonton! They are interviewing an Edmonton Goth band, a Goth store, and also myself, a Goth Collage Artist. It is on Channel 9 in Edmonton, May 14 at 6:00 pm and 11:00 pm, and May 15 at 12:00 pm. It would be great if people were able to tune in or tape it. I hope it is really interesting because the man who interviewed me asked some fantastic questions.

http://www.helptv.ca/online.aspx?FlashVars=admin/uploads/vid/COLLAGE-ARTIST.flv

The Paris Series

2008-05-13T18:39:00.004-06:00

I am going to try to find a store or gallery that is interested in my Paris Collection. I am definitely going to add to it in the next 4 weeks. Out of the 4 that I have currently, 3 are quite a sufficient size - 16x20 inch canvas with beautiful frames. If there is anyone out there in cyber world who knows a good place in Edmonton that would be interested, please contact me!!

Adornments For T-Shirts

2008-05-06T19:54:00.006-06:00

I am trying to figure out if I should go into t-shirt art and put some of my designs on t-shirts. I have some Goth style art to go on them and I am wondering how much trouble, money and confusion it might cause me. I'm not much of a sales person but I know a place that prints t-shirts at a good price. The problem is where to sell the little buggers??? I am putting some of my designs up and would like comments from anyone on what they think of these designs on shirts.

Here Come The Shrines!

2008-05-03T17:10:00.008-06:00

I love the miniature wood furniture they sell at Michaels Craft Store. The armoire-type cupboards and china cabinets can be made into adorable shrines. I have also ordered from some online sites some wooden shrines with roofs and display spot for religious paraphenalia. I haven't finished painting those up yet, but the neat thing is you can put any object(s) you want into these creations.

There are many good books out there about making shrines; my personal favorite is

"Crafting Personal Shrines" by Carol Owen

All of these objets d'art were painted with acrylics and decoupaged and stamped with medieval, religious, and fanciful imagery. They were "aged" and some were crackled to look very old. When I am finished the large ones, I will post them for you to see. Thanks for looking!

Where Do I Get My Art Supplies???

2008-04-26T10:21:00.008-06:00

I have my living room packed full of art supplies which actually leaves my family no room to live. I know it's not fair, but I think we need a bigger house or maybe I'd better come up with a better storage system.

Some of my supplies come from Dollar stores which are amazing and have the most extensive collection of products for Scrapbooking and Altered Art. There are also 2 very cool antique malls here in Edmonton that have great supplies of ephemera and odds and ends.

These are stores I go into quite often:

Treasured Memories - 5218 - 86 Street

http://www.treasuredmemories.typepad.com/

They have an incredible amount of products, it's well set-up and I manage to always spend too much money there. They have lots of chipboard shapes and most of Tim Holtz stuff and an amazing amount of papers with a great sales bin section.

Scrap-A-Lot - 9218 - 51 Avenue

http://www.scrap-a-lot.ca/storeinfo.html

They have some things Treasured Memories don't and there are lots of embellishments to find.

Western Education Activities - 12006 - 111 Avenue

http://www.westerneducational.com/

This store has the largest supplies of rubber stamps and inks in the city. It's awesome. Take lots of money with you.

A good place to get cheap antique books you don't feel guilty about ripping pages out of is The Bookseller at 9562 - 82 Avenue. They have a section in the beginning of the shop where every book is 50 cents and I have bought modern coffee table picture books that were once $45-75.00 all the way to an 1890 almanac with perfect yellowed aged paper. And for 50 cents!

I get my paints (acrylics) at Michaels Crafts.

My framing is done at Colours Art & Framing, 10104 149 St & 10660-105 St in Edmonton. http://www.artistsupplies.com/Index.htm

It is done by the lovely Linda who is the quickest framer and knows her stuff. (She's THE BEST!!!) She is great for picking the right frame for your art piece if you're not sure yourself. I also buy all my canvases there.

As for my online purchases, I have two places where I get really cool stuff at:

Art Chix Studios

http://www.artchixstudio.com/

Silver Crow Creations

http://www.silvercrowcreations.com/

Lastly, I have a huge collection of clip art disks and Dover clip art books with thousands of Victorian pics and other interesting themes. Some were purchased through:

Amazon Books

http://www.amazon.com/

and

Chapters Books

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/home/

Gothic Collage Art

2008-04-22T18:51:00.001-06:00

I was very fortunate today to meet Ben Coxworth from CHUM TV. He interviewed me for an ACCESS network show about everything Goth. I was the artwork part of it. I was able to show off my art and answer some very good questions from Ben. He had a Goth band and London Influence Fashion Emporium store to interview also. It sounds like it will be a fun show, especially if you are into the Goth scene.

The show is tentatively airing on May 14th at 6:00 pm and 11:00 pm, GMT on ACCESS which is channel 9 in Edmonton. There will also be the same episode airing on the 15th at 12:00 pm.

If you are interested in any of my pieces, please contact me through this site. They are waiting for a good home!

Time to Drag Out the Art!

2008-04-15T17:08:00.000-06:00

Eeeeeewwwww, so bad I am. I can't believe I haven't written anything since last year. Shame on me. I am still unemployed, a couple more dear friends have passed on, and I am still plucking out my art works, one by one.

Probably plucking isn't a good word. Creating, then. I am going to show you some of my art which is mixed media collage with acrylics, paper, found objects, antique ephemera, pencil crayon, inks, and god knows what other stuff. I do want to get around to selling them, I just don't know how to do complicated HTML stff and create a merchandising web site.

My husband is very supportive of my art which is a positive thing. I don't know what my son thinks because he is a pipefitter who likes playing video games that kill people and listening to death metal. He is a one-answer person who keeps most of his thoughts to himself. That's OK, that's who he is. I know he thinks I should have psychiatric help when it comes to the gruesome doll babies I created. My step-daughters seem pretty accepting of everything, but they are far more open-minded.

I think I will show you my gruesome doll babies along with my artwork. (only 2 of them, there are more)

A Year Goes By...

2007-09-14T00:45:00.000-06:00

I did not realize that over a year and a half went by and I forgot about this blog. In that time, I've -

lost my job,

had my Mother survive a heart bypass and stroke,

had my dog Max pass away,

lost one of my best friends, Craig Gamble, to a heart attack,

got addicted to Ebay,

started writing articles for magazines,

created over 30 pieces of art,

become not only a seasoned paranormal investigator but also a rescue medium.

My Mother is settled in an assisted living facility which she really likes so that helps with the day to day stress of living. I am trying to find a gallery or a format to sell my artwork which is mixed media. I might put some pictures of a couple up on the blog site.

We have done quite a few ghost hunting investigations in the last 5-6 years, but now it seems people need us to get rid of the ghosts that dwell in their abode. I have developed a technique to send these spirits on to the light and it seems to have worked in the last 5 cases. It is quite the learning experience for me. It has also increased my spirituality.

Until then, darkness falls.

There is a first time for everything....

2006-04-20T10:16:00.000-06:00

This is my first blog. I am very curious what the big kerfuffle is about the attractions to blogs. I will be sharing my dark gothic thoughts and experiences with the paranormal. I might even talk about my art which will be showing soon in a gallery. I am one of those bad, procrastinating goths. I have to get my ass in gear.

I also belly dance. Unfortunately I am not 20 years old with long hair, so the Greek restaurant owners are not interested in hiring an actual experienced belly dancer. So you will hear me from time to time, griping about how unfair it is and how ageism seems to creep into everything nowadays.

I'm an avid book reader and would love to share books written on the occult, paranormal (ghost hunting), true crime, psychology, and other subjects.

There is a possibility that pictures of my artwork might get posted in the near future. It would be nice to get feedback (nothing foul, please) from fellow bloggers.

Until then, darkness falls.
Sestina, the Elegant Goth