Greetings!

It is my deep, dark pleasure to announce the annual Online Hallowe'en Artists' Studio Tour! This is my "treat" to you all, a special way to celebrate my favorite season, share some exceptional art by artists I personally admire and raise money for animal charities. With this blog, I hope to keep you up-to-date with proceedings and progress as we approach the yearly "launch" on October 1st!



Friday, July 29, 2011

Hi everyone! I present to Marlene Tetrich and Laudanumila

Hi everyone! ( Hi Karen ;) )

I do not handling very well in English, so I can not participate in this place all I want, so I'll let the pictures speak for me, I present to Marlene Tetrich and Laudanumila, my first creations this year for Halloween, I hope that they like! :)

Have a nice day!
Sandra







Thursday, July 28, 2011

Faery magic!




Sally J. Smith creates (or "finds") and then photographs incredibly beautiful masterpieces in nature, and quite often she stumbles upon faery houses! For our tour, I don't know what sort of treats she'll be offering but the decline of bat populations in her state of New York has inspired her to join us.

For an example of her works, take a look at the calendar she's created for 2012, available at http://pomegranate.stores.yahoo.net/w538.html.


Wondrous weavers!



Another artist who has yet to say "Boo!" here on our blog is Sheri Fleischauer! Sheri is an amazing artist who experiments with all sorts of mediums, although I think basket weaving is perhaps her favorite. Her jewelry is awesome, and here is a very Hallowe'en design of a fellow weaver: dangling spiders! Light-weight and very comfortable to wear, they allow you to make an elegant and eerie statement! I hope there will be a pair available on the tour!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Come haunt with us!

This is an open invitation: I'm looking for a choice few artists to join the Online Hallowe'en Artists' Studio Trick or Treat.

If you create original art, ANY kind, with a Hallowe'en, autumnal or macabre theme, please contact me if you think your art would play nice with the rest. It's all about sharing our art, bat conservation, and enjoying Hallowe'en together. The "fee" is a $28 donation directly to Bat Conservation International, and a promise to spread the word about the tour (through emails, your website, facebook, posters, bookmarks (ready to be printed off the website), etc...), however you are able.

I really hope to find some more European artists, so contact me!

You can send the email to (Karen) at woosel[at]wildmail.com.

Eerie windows to the soul!

Artist Sandra Arteaga (Are you there, Sandra?) hasn't posted anything yet, so I thought to share some of her previous works with you all, as a tease and to show off her incredible talent! Here are two pieces that I find breathtaking:




This is her corpse bride









and this is her witch.

Aren't the eyes amazing?! I want so much to see her work in person, I hope she creates a piece perfect for my collection!

Running with scissors...and an axe!

One item I will be offering the trick or treaters this year will be handmade Hallowe'en greeting cards. It's always so hard to find nice ones, I often have to resort to making my own, so I thought why not offer them as a trick or treat!
This is one of the designs:

Notice the lovely batty cutout corners and the cool fuzzy ribbon/yarn! (For the tour, I will be sharing more photos from this incredibly well-decorated home!!) Of course, there will be a very limited supply of cards... hint, hint. ;0

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Less than 100 days to Hallowe'en!

In collecting all the decorating tips, recipes, and other fun things to share on the tour, I came upon this great list to help you all prepare your Hallowe'en gatherings! This list could be used no matter what you're planning, to stay on top of all the bits that sometimes get forgotten! Here's to a stress-free host/hostess! Because it's (almost) never any good to axe your guests...

(It's from Taste of Home magazine, their 2010 Hallowe'en special.)

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Stoking the fire!



Wow! Thank you, my dearies, for your inspiring and teasing posts!!! I've been a bit down on the tour lately as I'm hitting too many "too busy, maybe next year" brick walls from invited artists... But seeing your posts stirs up the fire under this old cauldron and renews my spirit.

A collector wrote "Here in Pennsylvania we have lost almost all the bats in this area to the dreaded white nose fungus disease, so your Halloween tour is one event which is very dear to my heart." That too reminded me why we're all involved in this event: to help the bats both with our donations to work towards an end to White Nose Syndrome but also to share our love and fascination for these often misunderstood creatures. Here's to saving the bats!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Day of the Dead Skull - Work in progress...

I don't know about all of you, but I'm getting really excited about this Hallowe'en season!! Last year I got so inspired by Dias de los Muertos or 'Day of the Dead' artwork - especially the skulls! Only I was inspired a little too late to have a related piece ready for the tour.
But not this year! I hope to have a skull or two finished for this season.

So far this one is just a work-in-progress and I can't wait to get to the embellishment part!
Well, my skull doesn't have much to say - with no mouth at all, just yet! But, personally, I would like to say thank-you to Karen for all her hard work organizing the Hallowe'en Artists' Studio Trick or Treat Tour every year, in support of bats!!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

a Boooooo Book




Hi everyone -- I had this Boo Book last season - it was a blast to make! Something other than a teddy bear and quite refreshing! I think maybe there might be another in the cooker for this year -- maybeeeee

Thursday, July 7, 2011

The demon of creativity

I came home, ate, and went to the studio, drew out the head pattern that had been stewing in my brain and cut it out. Sewed it together, added horns I'd made earlier, yellow "cat" eyes and here's the beginning of my demon...

Certainly more sweet than sinister! Where does he go from here? I don't know either! We'll find out soon!!