Ben Cooper Tribute Show

"Good & Plenty"; 4"x4" Gouache; 2017

Decided that the world needed more Sushi Gremlin Halloween antics.  This little guy has obviously had a very productive evening of trick or treating and decided to start eating his haul before he could even get home.  Eating way to much of his haul.

Show flier for the Ben Cooper Tribute Show, opening 09-09-17

If you'd like to see "Good & Plenty" in person, come out to the Ben Cooper tribute show over at the Bearded Lady's Mystic Museum Saturday, September 9th, 2017 from 8pm-Midnight.  They'll be having three events that night: The Ben Cooper Tribute Show, The Slashback Video Pop-Up event, and the Grand Re-Opening of Bearded Lady's Vintage and Oddity shop.  Both stores are now combined into one and Saturday will be an event not to be missed.  For more info, see their Facebook event.

Next up, I'll be participating in the Flipside Art Fest gallery show devoted to Phobia's.  It'll be opening in October so if you're not following me on Instagram, you should for all the work in progress posts!

Fun Size! and the Grim Manor Gallery

Fun Size! Group Show @ Sally Centigrade Gallery thru the month of August (2017)

Update time!!

Hey all.  Decided to wait a week or two before updating again.  Anyway, I've got two new paintings to share this week.  The first is for a show opening in Lakewood, Colorado on August 3rd, 2017.  The second is from a show that's already passed that took place in Austin, Texas.

First up, the upcoming show!

I'll have my newest little piece, entitled "Bite Sized", on display over at the Sally Centigrade Gallery in Lakewood, Colorado thru the month of August.  If you're in the area and can make it out to the opening, the show opens Thursday, August 3rd from 5pm to 9:30pm.  It's got a super amazing list of artist and I'm truly honored to have been asked by the curator, Sarah Banks (also known online as Pink Sugar Fueled), to take part in the show.  I wish I could be there for the opening, but work takes all my fun away sometimes.

Anyway, I brought one of the Sushi Gremlins back for "Bite Sized".  I was told I could do whatever I wanted and I thought it would be good to get an idea I've had in my head out onto paper.  I've been wanting to find ways to kinda do crossovers of a bunch of my characters, so as you can see I took my Candy Corn, from my Devious Desserts line, and had them attack on of the Sushi Gremlins.  I'd love to do more of these little cross over type paintings in the future, but for now this little guy will have to do.  FYI, he's wearing a Ben Cooper devil mask that I really liked.

"Bite Sized"; 4"x4" Gouache; 2017

Penny for scale/size reference.

If you're in the Lakewood, CO area, swing by Sally Centigrade Gallery thru the month of August to pay this little Gremlin a visit!

Official Event Flier

The second new painting was a tad experimental and from the now passed Grim Manor Gallery show.

The show was another Haunted Mansion tribute show, only this one was supposed to be darker and creepier.  Unfortunately, I had a million ideas, but as usual, they were all charming and cute.  I didn't feel right doing any of those other pieces because they didn't really go with the show's theme and the guilt was kinda giving me 'painter's block'.

After racking my brain for a couple weeks, and having a mini melt down, my husband suggested I do a free flowing, train of consciousness type thing.  You know, just sit down and see what comes out.  I don't do those very often because gouache can be a pain in the rear for me, but this time I got out my Acrylic Gouaches from Holbien and just gave it a go.

I tried playing with dry brush techniques a little (which this particular gouache is great for) and mostly just tried to have FUN.  I'm relatively happy with how the little doodle turned out.  I'm particularly fond of the gradient and the way the faces transition in the back ground.  It's busy, but I learned a few things and had that fun my husband told me to go have.

"Untitled"; 4"x6" Gouache; 2017

Next Up: I'll be taking part a show called "Phobia" in October and it will be curated by the Flipside Art Fest people.  I've got a few ideas I'm tossing around, all pretty detailed.  So, if you're a fan of watching me pull my hair out because I got way too lost in the pretty, be sure to follow my work in progress images by following me over on Instagram or keep up with me on my Facebook page!

"Matty's Toy Shoppe" and "The Joys of Toys" Mattel Tribute Show @ Gallery 1988

Back in 2014 I took on a rather ambitious painting, considering my style and my aptitude for getting 'lost in the pretty' (also known as caught up in tiny details).  Some of you may remember it.  It was called "Little Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners".  If not, you're in luck because I posted a pic of it.  :P

"Little Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners", 11"x14" Gouache, 2014

Anyway, "Little Leota" was ambitious because it was my first painting at 11"x14".  In it, I told a story of Frannie, my version of the Bride of Frankenstein, trying to use all sorts of ways to determine if her crush, Sheldon, liked her back.  There were all sorts of games and fortune telling things that a kid may use to find out the answer to such a question.  In addition to that, it was also a Disneyland Haunted Mansion tribute piece.  All the Haunted Mansion items were relatively subtile and made up the room that Frannie, Gillian (creature) and Prudence (vampire) were all playing this little game in.  If you know the ride well, you can recognize many elements.

"Little Leota" was a monster.  It took nearly 300 hours to complete.  The wallpaper alone took 18 hours because my idea of using a stencil failed miserably and I had to painstakingly paint the pattern one section at a time.  In the process, I pinched my sciatic nerve and my leg would go numb or hurt for nearly a year.  "Little Leota" got the nick name "the Beast", and she was a beautiful beast.  The Beast drained me, shortly there after I went into a period of burn out.  It lasted for 3 years.  I didn't stop making art, but I never felt like 'myself' when I worked.  It was hard to come up with ideas and nothing seemed to work right.  I swore to myself I'd never do anything as ambitious as 'The Beast' again.  (For the record, the Sushi Gremlins, which would take a year and a half to complete and exponentially more time to finish, was only 8"x10".  It will always be considered the M.O.A.B., or Mother Of All Beasts.)

Until now.

Return of the Beast

"Matty's Toy Shoppe"; 11"x14" Gouache; 2017

Back in early 2017, I had the extreme honor of being invited into a group show over at Gallery 1988 on Melrose, in Los Angeles.  Gallery 1988 was one of those galleries that I felt only people who had "made it" showed in.  They present mostly pop culture inspired work, so a lot of themed group shows and "cool" individual artists who use popular culture as their muse show there.  The show I was invited into was a Mattel tribute show and a portion of the proceeds from the event were to be donated to the UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital.  I graciously and eagerly accepted the invite.  (Not to mention the curator, Cuddly Rigor Mortis and her husband Ed Mironiuk are some of the nicest people I've met in a long time.)

For my piece I decided to repurpose a concept I had initially thought up for the Twilight Zone/Alfred Hitchcock show I mentioned in my last post.  It was probably the best decision I could have made, to scrap the Curiosity shop idea for Twilight Zone and repurpose it as a Toy Shop for the Mattel show.

The idea was once again, ambitious and required the painting to be the same dreaded 11"x14" that nearly killed me on "Little Leota".  I didn't care.  For the first time in 3 years I felt excited about a painting.  Inspired.  It didn't feel like just going thru the motions to hit a deadline, which so many of my pieces had started to feel like.

It took 2 months, and if my calculations are correct, 200 hours to complete.  I named it "Matty's Toy Shoppe".  Unfortunately it was late and got there two days before the show opened, but it was worth it.  I couldn't compromise on the quality.

Detail shot of the store window.  M.U.S.C.L.E. Men are teeny tiny.

Emily, Iggy, and Ollie's toy inspiration.

The story is relatively simple, as was the story for "Little Leota".  Emily (the skeleton girl) gets left behind by the boys, Iggy (Hunchback) and Ollie (Wolfboy).  She runs as fast as her boney little legs can go to catch up to them.  The story is simple, but as always, the execution is the hard part.

I wanted to fill the toy store window with a ton of Mattel products.  And I did.  There's He-Man toys, She-Ra toys, Hot Wheels, a long lost Hot Wheel Toy line called Farbs is in there, Little People, Barbies, the 1988 Barbie Ultra Vette, a Chatty Cathy, a Uke-a-Doodle, some M.U.S.C.L.E. men, a Food Fighter, a Magic 8 Ball, a View Master and a TON of Fischer Price toys.  The monster kids all have Mattel products with them too.  Ollie (wolf boy) has the Hover Board from Back to the Future 2, Iggy (hunchback) is playing a hand held football game and Emily has a Chatty Cathy doll.  There are so many things in there, and wanna know a secret?  Most of them were toys that I wanted as a child but couldn't have.  There are only 3 toys in there that I had as a child, two of which are 'hidden' (a 1988 Hot Looks Model doll and the Barbie driving the Ultra Vette is supposed to be a Dream Date Barbie, which was one of only 2 Barbies I ever had as a child) and the third is front and center (She-Ra and Swiftwind).

This time around, on the actual painting part, I was so paranoid about ruining the painting that I had a 'drop cloth' on the painting at all times.  It would be placed on a section I'd already finished to protect the painting from myself.  When I get nervous or tired I tend to drop my paint brush a lot.  I've pretty much done it to every one of my paintings, and gouache is unforgiving, so if you drop a paintbrush you're kinda screwed.  And damn was I tired.  I still work full time as a retakes board artist over on American Dad and don't get home until 8 at night.  I'd then feed my husband, make sure things I had to get done were done, and then sit down to work from 10pm to 2 or 3am every week night and then all day and most of the night on weekends.  I'd take a night off every 4 days or so to sleep in hopes of not frying my brain, but it was pretty crazy this time around.  I've learned that my work takes time and I used to tell people I'd need a month notice in order to be in a show, but now it's looking like I need two months notice.

Okay, enough rambling, time to wrap up.

Screen capture of the Gallery's front page.

The opening night was wonderful.  I met some of the other amazing artists in the show, got to catch up with some friends, and got to talk to a few people about the painting.  I don't normally do that.  Talk to people about my work, but I was so proud of this one I couldn't not tell people about all the little things I put in there.  It was a great experience, and just like the Twin Peaks piece, which I produced at the same time I was making the Mattel Piece, something good came out of the finished piece.  The Gallery, which I admit I put up on a pedestal a bit, used my painting as a banner on their front page.  So flattering.

To see the Mattel Piece, "Matty's Toy Shoppe", in person you can swing by Gallery 1988's until the show ends on July 15th.  The show is also available for viewing online over on their website.

Upcoming Poe & Lovecraft Show

Greetings all!!  Time for another Gallery Show update. . .

"Innsmouth Girl"; 5.5"x7.5" Gouache & Tea; 2016

I'll be participating in an Edgar Allen Poe & H.P. Lovecraft Show which opens this coming Friday, June 10th, 2016 at the Bearded Lady's Mystic Museum in Burbank, CA.

For my piece (above, of course) I chose an H.P. Lovecraft story called "Shadow Over Innsmouth" as inspiration.  In the story, there is a town no one dares go to where the residents give everyone a bit of the heebie jeebies.  If you haven't read it, it's totally worth a read.  In the story, the kids appear relatively normal, but for my piece I chose to have one fully transformed into the Fishy-Froggy people that they eventually turn into in their older age.  Since Lovecraft wrote very early in the 20th century, I chose to have my little fishy-froggy girl be going to the beach around the same time period.  

To change things up a bit, I did a couple new things.  First, I tea stained the paper before painting on it.  I used the "Digestive Blend" tea from Speak Teasey Teas to get the color I wanted.  Secondly, I chose a color pallet featuring yellows.  I rarely do anything with yellow so it was a really nice change of pace.  Or at least I don't THINK I use yellow a lot. . . I probably do and just haven't noticed.

Anyway, the show details just in case anyone wants to turn out.

Opening night:  Friday, June 10, 2016 from 8pm-Midnight

All artwork will be on display until September 1st and is inside the Museum, so you must pay the $5 museum entry fee.  

Next Show:  The Roald Dahl Tribute show at Creature Features in Burbank on June 25th.

Fashionably Late to the Party for the Gallery999 Hatbox Ghost Tribute Show

"Fashionably Late to the Party"; 8"x10" Gouache; 2016

Greetings Ghosties and Ghoulies!  Another Bats Day in the Fun Park Weekend is upon us, and that means it's time to unveil my Gallery999 painting for the event.  This year's show was called "Home Is Where You Haunt Your Hatbox" and is devoted to everyone's favorite returning star, the Hatbox Ghost.  The unspoken theme of the show is 'where has he been all these years'.  My concept was that he's been trying to figure out what hat to wear!

If interested in prints or the original, they will both be available exclusively thru the Bats Day website until mid June, at which point it will return and be listed in my Etsy Shop, The Crypt of DOOM!!

Show Flier below.

Carnival Casanova at PiQ Products Hello Kitty & 99 Friends Show

"Carnival Casanova"; Gouache 7.5"x10"; 2016

Decided to post the final a couple of days early.  I just get so excited when I finish the paintings.  Anyway, just a reminder that this painting will be on display at PiQ Products Grand Central Station location in New York City starting this Saturday, April 16th, 2016.  It will be there for a month, so if you're on the East Coast, check it out!  If interested in purchasing prints or the original, while it's on display in New York, contact the gallery at: customerservice@piqproducts.com

Prints will be available starting May 1st, 2016 thru my Etsy Shop, The Crypt of DOOM!!

Hello Kitty & 99 Friends at PIQ

Greetings followers!

It's been forever again.  Let's face it.  I'm horrible at blogging.  Enough excuse making, let's delve in, shall we?

Work has been crazy.  Season 10 of American Dad has started airing over on TBS again.  Just last week the show's 200th episode aired.  I did a couple things on it, but not nearly as much as I do on other episodes.  We had a big party for it, but sadly I was home sick.  The byproduct over over working myself to finish a painting for a couple of shows.  Which I will tell you about NOW.

First, and super exciting for me, is that I'll have my first piece on display in New York!  A few years back I was able to display a piece in Philadelphia, PA and I've grown sooo much as an artist since then, that sending a piece to New York feels like the first time THIS incarnation of me is shipping a piece off to the East Coast.  (If that makes any sense.)  I'll post the finial piece on April 16th, when the show opens, but until then, have a work in progress image and the show flier!  (We'll disregard my name being spelled wrong, because there's a LOT of people in this show.)

The piece is called "Carnival Casanova" and features my favorite two little monsters:  Sheldon and Frannie.  But you may be noticing that I'm participating in a Sanrio themed show.  Where are the Sanrio characters?  The show's format is simple and kinda cool.  They went thru all the characters Sanrio has produced since they started and each person got assigned a different property.  Some properties were super well known, like Hello Kitty, and other properties were so obscure that there were no images anywhere on the web EXCEPT the Sanrio website.  And, you probably guessed it, I chose THE MOST obscure characters ever.  They're called the Youkai Kids.  They were a series of classic monsters and came out in 1986.  Since I had next to no reference, I chose to just "do my thing".

Reference Image:  Sanrio's Youkai Kids from 1986

As you've undoubtably noticed I'm super excited about this show, and this piece.  I've noticed I'm growing more partial to a teal/red/pink/gold combo choice when working with Frannie and Sheldon, but it sees to work well with their skin tones.

Anyway, that's it for now.  I'll blog a bit about this year's Bats Day/Gallery999 Hatbox Ghost painting next week.

Happy 2016

"New Year's Gillian"; Holbein Acryla Gouache; 2016

Just wanted to try kicking the New Year off right.  Sadly I couldn't get to this until late night on the 1st, but it was still finished before heading to bed. . . so yeah.  First painting of 2016.  Here's to hoping that I can make more time for the people and things I love (like painting) in 2016.  Thank you, as always, for your continued support and may you have the best of luck and good tidings for the new year.

P.S. I will be taking a year off from my vending events.  So no Spook Show, Bats Day Black Market or Hollows Market for me this year.  In addition to that, my shop, the Crypt of DOOM will be closed for a year as well.  I'm taking time to make new art, and making things to sell at these events takes time away from that.

Atomic Tiki Terrors Post 2

"Go Home Brain, You're Drunk"; 8"x10" Gouache; 2015

Well, if you don't follow me over on my Instagram account, you missed out on all 1,000,000 work in progress photos of this bad boy.  If you do. . .I'm sorry you saw so many work in progress images of this bad boy.  :P

This past weekend, over at Creature Features in Burbank, CA, was the opening of the "Atomic Tiki Terrors!" group art show and the artwork was AWESOME!  I'm always excited and happy to contribute to the shows over at Creature Features, not only because I like supporting small businesses, but also because they come up with some pretty fun themes for their shows.  As I said in the last post, this show was a mash up of Tiki culture and old horror films, both of which with a focus on the 50's and 60's.  Also, if you saw my previous post, you know that I was using characters from 4 different b-movie horror films from that era.  For those that didn't see the last post, I referenced "The Brain That Wouldn't Die", "The Brain From Planet Arous", "The Reptile" and "The Wasp Woman".  The piece was a lot of fun, and although I almost didn't make it, I got the piece in JUST before the deadline.  The show is up and on display over at Creature Features until August 9th, 2015 if you'd like to see it in person.

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Coming up, in just two and a half weeks, is ScareLA 2015.  I'll be vending again and am really excited that it's going to be at the Pasadena Convention Center this year.  I'm working on some new stuff, not a whole lot, but some new stuff.  I announced on Instagram two nights ago that I had some purses made that have 11 different designs on them from my painting and sticker catalogue.  I'll be slowly previewing them over the next two weeks over on Instagram and the Facebook Page, so if you don't follow me there, and you're interested, you may want to check those pages out.  Also in the works for ScareLA a new pillow design.  I'm turning the Monster Date painting, who's actual title is "IceScream Social", into a pillow.  It'll be cropped slightly and have a pink stripe backing.  Unlike the other pillows this one will be more like a pillow slip and will be removable so you can wash it if it gets dirty.  I'm also going to try to restock some of the necklaces from last year that had Prudence and Frannie on them.

That's all for now.  Catch you next month!

Bats Day 2015 Wrap Up and What's Next

"In the Key of X=?"; 5"x7" Gouache; 2015

 Greetings and Salutations, followers!

Bats Day 2015 has wrapped up and I'm somewhat back to normal after the crazy, fun filled weekend.  So I figured I'd give you guys a re-cap!

This year's Bats Day weekend started on Friday, as always.  My husband and I headed down to the Sheraton Park Hotel in Anaheim, CA after loading up the car.  Every year the organizers of the Bats Day in the Fun Park weekend always throw a party.  This year was no exception and they had a wonderful costumed event.  Every year, I never commit to the party because I'm a horrible procrastinator.  I'm never sure if I'm going to  have everything ready for the Black Market the next day and choose to leave the party night open in case I have any last minute scrambling to do.  So, although I didn't formally attend the soiree, I was lucky enough to slip in for 5 minutes to check out the Preview night for the Gallery999: Through a Child's Eye's art exhibit!

"Rap on a Table"; 5"x7" Gouache; 2015

You can see my finished pieces above.  I did two small paintings for the event this year.  The first, the Trumpet playing ghost, is titled "In the Key of X=?".  It's a 5"x7" gouache painting on watercolor paper and turned out pretty darn cute.  The second, entitled "Rap on a Table" is also a 5"x7" gouache on watercolor paper painting.  I'm particularly fond of the little lamp behind the ghosts head.  At this time, the "Rap on a Table" painting is still available on the Bats Day website for $75.00 (plus tax and shipping) if anyone is interested.

Speaking of the ghosts, the companion piece I was working on didn't quite get finished in time.  Which really bummed me out.  I'm going to work on it and try to have it finished in time for ScareLA, and will have the original and prints of it on display there this year.  (Hopefully.)

@osoamelie and I are as ready as we'll ever be! Come see us. Please? Bats Day Black Market; Sheraton Park hotel in Anaheim. Here til 10! #bats #batsday #batsday2015 #batsdayblackmarket2015 #boogervampire

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on May 30, 2015 at 3:05pm PDT

So, the next day was the Bats Day Black Market, the spooky vending event.  I had to trim stock a little bit in order for everything to fit on the table, but what I didn't display wasn't really missed much (hair clips and earrings).  I took 4 different throw pillows to the Black Market this year:  the Candy Corn from the Spook Show in March, plus a pillow of the "Help Us Master Gracey" painting (R2-D2), and a Black and Green versions of the Kissing Bats I have available on Cosmetic Bags in my shop.  Since it's Bats Day (the day the Goth's take over Disneyland) I'm sure it'll be no surprise to anyone that I sold out of the Black colored Kissing Bats pillows, and the R2 pillows.  I do thankfully have more fabric on hand and will be making a few more to throw in my shop when I open it for business this Saturday, June 6th.  The new stickers went over well, and the surprising big seller was the Sushi Gremlin sticker. I sold out of a few of the Coin Purses and one of the cosmetic bags.  I'll be placing a reorder for those items in the next day or two so they'll be back in stock in time for ScareLA but not for the shop opening this month.

As far as non-stock related stuff and the Black Market, I just have to say Noah and the Bats Day team went above and beyond this year.  This year, the hotel layout was fabulous.  Everything in one place and it was clean, air conditioned and the bathrooms were easily accessible and tons of parking. . . my personal fave about the hotel?  STARBUCKS IN THE LOBBY!!!  I know, I shouldn't be so excited about Starbucks, but seriously, I need some caffeine or I'm cranky.  I had a wonderful time vending next to Ish and Jason from My Vicious Boutique and was super happy to be able to run in and chat for a second with the amazingly awesome Drew Rausch, the artist on IDW's limited Edward Scissorhands comic.  I got to chat with John, the man behind the awesome Killhouettes line, Kimmy from Moonlit Studios/Spooksieboo, and my good friend Queenie from Pocket Full of Posiez.

Overall, Black Market was a wonderful success this year and I'm contemplating doing it again next year (was thinking this might be my last year for a while)!

Your pal the Boogervampire made it into the LA Weekly!  I'm front and center, looking like a dork.

Big news about the actual Bats Day in the Fun Park event, that happens every year on Sunday of Bats Day Weekend, is that I went for longer than an hour this year!!!  Last two years I was so exhausted after the Black Market that I'd go long enough to people watch a tiny bit, eat some food, buy a droid at the Build-a-Droid stand and then bounce.  We were actually there most of the day and actually ran into people I know!!  I also had the great opportunity to meet a few people I didn't.  Overall, it was a great weekend.

So what's up next?

The Atomic Tiki Terrors Group show @ Creature Features in Burbank, CA  July 19th, 2015

Up first in July is the "Atomic Tiki Terrors" Group Show at Creature Features in Burbank, CA.  I just started the sketch and am hoping that I'll get it all wrapped up in time.  So follow the Instagram to see work in progress pics.  Let's just say, I'm putting a lot of brains into this one.  :P

All you need to know is in the picture!

Next, a month after the "Atomic Tiki Terrors" is ScareLA!  As I said in an earlier post, ScareLA is moving to Pasadena this year and if you haven't gotten tickets yet, guess who has a discount code?!  That's right!  Use your special Boogervampire discount code to get 25% off until June 22!  Just use the code: SCAREBOOGER at checkout.

That's it for this blog entry.  Later!

Sushi Gremlins and Spook Show 3

Sushi Gremlins; Gouache 8"x10"; 2015

I'm relieved, and overjoyed to say that this last weekend I was finally able to finish my Sushi Gremlins painting.  I started it back in November of 2013 and is the most time I've ever spent on a single painting.  I honestly lost track of how much time I invested in it, but I'd say it was close to 600 hours (if not more).  It's the most detailed piece I've managed to pull off and probably the most fun.

I also want to announce my participation in the Halloween Club's 3rd Annual Spook Show in La Mirada this March 7th (2015).  For more details, see Halloween Club's Facebook Event and get your free tickets are available here.

In addition to prints of the Sushi Gremlins, I'll have a new sticker featuring one of the gremlins available which you can see here:

Picked up my #sushigremlins #stickers this morning! @stickermule did a fantastic job, yet again! These will be available at the 3rd Annual Spook Show @halloweenclubs in La Mirada on March 6th! #sushimonsters #stickermule #spookshow #spookshow3 #sticker #vinylsticker #spookycute

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on Feb 6, 2015 at 1:58pm PST

And testing new product of the following items.  I'll only have one of each on hand, so be sure to get there early if you'd like to take one of these bad boys home:

Alright everybody!! I'll be testing new product at @halloweenclubs #spookshow3 next month. I'll have only one of each of these available on March 7th in La Mirada. Check their Facebook event page for more details and links to getting your free tickets! (The Mothra bag turned out freaking adorable!!!) Pictured: 2 canvas tote bags featuring my Godzilla and Mothra paintings, one cosmetics bag featuring my Museum of the Weird painting and one coin purse featuring a Sushi Gremlin. #cryptofdoom #boogervampire #spookshow #newproduct #kaiju #cutekaiju #sushigremlins #museumoftheweird #cthulhu #godzilla #mothra #spookycute

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on Feb 17, 2015 at 7:26pm PST

Hope to see you there!

2015 Begins! (Sushi Gremlins WIP Post 3)

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on Jan 18, 2015 at 1:34am PST

Greetings blog followers!!

2015 is starting out much better than I'd hoped it would thus far.  2014 was a doozie of a year for  nearly everyone I know, myself included, and not in a good way.  A lot of things I didn't write about here happened, most on the negative side, thus being the reason I didn't blog about them.  Bad news is, 2014 was a horrible year of art posts as I was too depressed and distracted to work, BUT the good news is that I am now in a good place and my head is firmly screwed back into my body and I'll hopefully do better at being productive this year!

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on Jan 12, 2015 at 12:55am PST

So, why have I delayed posting thus far in 2015, quite simply because what I've been working on is taking SO LONG that I was trying to wait until it was finished before sharing it.  Since I've still got at least another two weeks worth of work to go on it, I decided to give up waiting and just post a work in progress post.

As a few of you may remember from earlier in the year, I've been working on a painting 'for fun' (just means it doesn't have a deadline and isn't for an art show of any kind).  You can see the first posts here and here.  In all honesty it's been in some state of work since August of 2013 and I just couldn't either get the time or motivation to work on it, but with the new year and my better outlook on things recently I decided that it was time to wrap this baby up!  I've been working on it diligently now since just before christmas and am hoping to have it done before the end of January.  I hope you enjoy some of these work in progress photos from my Instagram account, and a happy, belated, New Year!  May this year be better than the last!

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on Jan 19, 2015 at 2:19am PST

Ten: A Magical Collection Show

Greetings Guys and Dolls!  I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween full of spooking people and eating way too much garbage.  Time for the next event announcement, and an apology that it took so long to announce it.  My hiatus came to an end back at the beginning of October and things have been screwy the entire month as I readjusted to the schedule and workload.  Anyway, NEXT SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT!

Ten: A Magical Art Collection By 10 Fabulous Females
Opening Receptions Friday, November 7th, 2014 from 6-9pm
The Animation Guild's Gallery 839, Burbank, CA

For more info please visit their Facebook Invite:

https://www.facebook.com/events/350475755111742/?fref=ts

A month or so ago I was invited to fill the spot of an artist who unfortunately had to drop out at the last minute.  I'm really excited about this show for two reasons.  First is that I've never had an opportunity to hang a bunch of my paintings in the same place for the same show.  Well, never outside of my living room anyway.  Secondly I'm excited because this will be the first time I've had the opportunity to put the original of the "Pretty-Pretty Pirate Playset" on display.  Since the painting was done for fun and not specifically for a show it's just kind of been quietly sitting on a wall in my home.  Below you'll see a sampling of the original paintings that will be on display, and for purchase at the gallery thru the month of November.

"Madame Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners"; 11"x 14" gouache; 2014

"Ice-Scream Social"; 8x10 gouache; 2011

"Truly Outrageous"; 9"x7" gouache; 2009

"Pretty-Pretty Pirate Playset"; 5"x7" gouache; 2012

"Wee Emily Dover"; 8"x9" gouache; 2013

"Dear Prudence"; 4"x6" gouache; 2014

Also, since it's the first week of November, I want to start prepping people for my one week holiday opening for this Christmas/Chanukah/Winter Holiday of your choice over at the Crypt of DOOM!  I will open the shop on Black Friday (November 28th, 2014) and close it at midnight the following Friday (December 5th, 2014).  This will be the only time the shop is open for the holidays this year as it's become difficult to run the Crypt of DOOM properly when I'm at work.  So if you'd like to get someone special from my collection of products, please do so during that first week of December.  Also, it'll give the post office proper time to *fingers crossed* get you your packages before Christmas.

That's it for now.  Until my next update!

Can I Help You?

"Can I Help You?"; 5"x7" gouache; 2014

Well, the Rolly Crump/Museum of the Weird show at Creature Features has come and gone.  It was the first time in a very long time that I'd been asked to participate in an art show that had a line going around the corner to get into the joint.  Although my finished piece was not exactly what the curator or the audience attending was looking for I'm really proud of how it turned out.  I'm actually contemplating posting the original for sale over in the Crypt of DOOM, along with prints, if you're interested.

Speaking of the Crypt of DOOM!!  I'll be returning to my regularly scheduled day job on October 6th and will try to leave the Crypt open as long as my work schedule allows.  That being said, do not be surprised if the Crypt of DOOM!! Closes for a couple of months starting October 13th, 2014.  Once I do close it, I am thinking of opening it for a week at the beginning of December for anyone who needs Christmas gifts.

Bats Day 2014: Wrap Up

Composited Sketch for "Little Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners" made up of 5 separate layers.

So many things to report about this year's Bats Day since I didn't do my usual multi-post ramp up to the event as I did last year.  Overall it went well.  There weren't as many attendees this year, which I think was due in part to the Hotel.  The hotel they had been using in previous years raised their prices and the organizers had to find a new one.  Sadly this place wasn't as large and there was a dentist convention the same day so I think a lot of people had trouble parking.  BUT, the people who did brave all the dental congestion were awesome!  Got to see some friends, make some new ones, meet some followers and just have an all around great time.

The final painting, unframed and cropped to the size of the mat's bounding.

Friday night was surreal.  Last year, the night before the Black Market was spent frantically trying to finish my limited edition Bats Day hair clips before the morning.  We didn't get to enjoy any of the festivities or go to the Gallery999 preview night.  This year, everything was all made and ready to go by Friday evening so we got to go to the Nightmare Before Bats Day Dark Park thingy and the Gallery999 Preview.  More importantly (for me)  I got to finally dust off a dress I'd purchased for our company Christmas party and finally wear it!  (Pin Up Girl clothing is the best for girls with curves, and I pretty much bought over half of their halloween line last year.)  We dance a little bit and just observed people.  We also tried our first Monster Energy drink.  All I can say is DAMN PEOPLE!! How the hell do you drink that crap on a regular basis?!  It was disgusting and kind a looked like your mouth after you rinse it at the dentist office.  I'll stick with pepsi for my caffeine, thank you very much.  :P

The framed painting prior to dropping it off with the curator of the show.

Saturday started earlier than we had been hoping it would.  After the party Friday night, just as I was dozing off and planning table layout in my head, I realized I left my print rack at home.  So, Saturday Morning started at 6am with a quick jaunt back to Burbank to pick up the print rack.  We got back just in time to meet my ever diligent assistant and buddy Tashi and got the 'real' day started.

Carlos and Natasha are always the best assistants for these things!

We  had a fairly decent spot this year, only down side was it was right in front of the DJ booth.  I have horrible hearing to begin with so imagine me talking to potential customers with a DJ booth right behind my head.  The Disneyland Tourist stickers were a hit, which I was hoping for.  Sold a couple of the mini paintings and a few prints of the Godzilla and Mothra paintings.  I'm thinking that if I do it again next year I'm going to need to come up with a bunch of new stock, though, because most of the stuff was the same as the previous year.

Above you can see the designs and finished stickers that were made especially for this year's Bats Day Black Market.  They will be added to the Crypt of DOOM's inventory when the shop reopens June 1st.

Sunday, the actual Bats Day in the Fun Park was entertaining to say the least.  The whole day was one of those days where strange little things would go wacky.  We tried to get on Big Thunder and it broke down after we were 30 minutes into the 50 minute wait.  When we went back, we got on the ride this time, but it broke down with us on it just before we got to the end of the ride.  Plus side to that was that it was in the mine shaft so we weren't out in the sun AND we got to do the behind the scenes evacuation.  They did also give us a fast pass good for any ride so we totally went on Space Mountain with it!  We over ate all day because there were limited edition Bats Day treats and we went on a scavenger hunt to find them all and we never seemed to run into any of our other friends, but those are all minor little things.  It was a great day overall.  Great weekend.

Many of the special "Bat Day" treats they had around the park for the occasion.  Wanted to try the Red Velvet cake but settled for a cookie and cupcake.

Next up on the Docket is the reopening of the Crypt of DOOM!! for the summer.  The Crypt will only be open as long as I'm on Hiatus from my day job.  Once I go back to work, the Crypt will close up so I can focus on that and try to not stretch myself too thin.