Bone-chilling children's book illustrations

Halloween is approaching and I don't really care, but it reminded me of one of my favorite books as a child, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark illustrated by Stephen Gammell. The short stories, songs and poems are entertaining enough to stand on their own, but coupled with Gammell's creepy images, it is the most gruesome and fun children's book of all time.

More forgotten coolness from the pack-rat closet cove.

A stack of CARtoons magazines. This one is from 1970.

This is one of my favorite covers from '85.

Yes it actually came with two t-shirt Iron-ons

And these are details from an '88 issue

So, instead of porn mags, this is the sort of thing I stared at for hours during my early adolescent years.

Rad stapler

Sorting through a crowded closet at my folk's house, I found this beat up Art Deco Swingline stapler.

This thing is at least twice as old as me and works ten times better. If I was as tough as this stapler, I'd kick your ass. What really surprises me, is how happy I am to own it.

yep, I've been a pretty lazy artist most of May, ever since the end of the Underground show. Aside from this Coffee bag label for the Arsaga's café, I haven't done much.

Toward the end of February, I was asked to show some of my work in the Hive gallery at the Fayetteville Underground Studio/Galleries building. Since I really had nothing to show at that time, I had to hit it hard to have enough finished pieces by April.

I was scared and anxious, sleeping very little, worrying too much, and neglecting to eat, shower or clean my apartment. Sounds dramatic. One would think I should have more than 12 pieces to show for it (one of them is not pictured in this post), but if you knew how hard it is for me to call something finished and move on to the next thing, then you would understand why this was a personally significant accomplishment.

Opening night finally came and half of the paintings sold during that three hour event. Fayetteville Underground was also celebrating their one year anniversary, so it was extra special fun.

I titled the show, It Eels What it Eels.

It will be on display until the end of April.

All of the work was painted on convex wood panels. In this photo, you can how they bulge out from the wall.