New Illustration...Getting a Bit Batty for Halloween!

There is something so great about the ending of summer and upcoming autumn months. The fall is my favorite time of year and I am ready to for the cooler days and the changing color of the leaves. The energy in the air changes, it is time to get back to work and get serious.

That being said I am also mentally getting myself ready for Halloween. I know it is a bit early but I LOVE this time of year and I am creating some new work in honor of the upcoming spooky holiday...and "Everyday is Halloween", right?

So I would like to introduce you all to Herman! He a sweet little brown bat that pays a bit of a homage to all the tiny bats I grew up with that lived around my families barn. I imagine little Herman zooming around the night skies looking for new friends to fill his heart and perhaps a bug or two to fill his tummy.

This cutie is now available in the shop!

I hope you all like him!

Happy Halloween!

May the all Spirits be good to you this evening!

Seance via Victorian Room

Memento Mori via Fearless

Turn of the Century Seance via Maudelynn

Have a happy Halloween and delightfully scary evening!

I'll be out and about wearing my Victorian kitty costume and visiting my friend's haunted house. What are you up to tonight?

Wishing You A Happy Halloween!

Victorian Witches c. 1875 via Tweed Life Tumblr

Haunted Organist via Tumblr

Dem Bones at the Piano via UK National Archives

Boo to you all! Hope you all have a wonderfully fun Halloween evening! Hoping you can forget a little of the crazy world for an hour or two and have a good old spooky time. This year, I must confess, seems a little harder to let myself relax enough to play...but I'm going to try. Hope you do too.

This NPR Halloween music stream is helping me a bit too. Enjoy!

Super Creepy & Wonderful Vintage Halloween Masks Ahead.

Halloween is just around the corner. I can't wait! I better get working on my mask. I'm not sure what I'll be. It is an under water theme amongst my friends this year. (They do an haunted house in SF.) I better get thinking...

What do I like in a mask? The creepier the better... no pretty things for me.
I think the best masks are handmade, a little off  and usually pretty old. 

Here's to the lovely, vintage and weird...

Spooky Edwardian 1910 via national geographic

Creepy Skeleton mask from 1938 via Boston Public Library

Dog Masks via Graves and Gouls

The Lovely vintage witches via Always Halloween

too cute to not include...Vintage kitty costume via Maudelynn

A little music with your spooks... via My Heart is a terrorist

Creepy Halloween group of musicians from 1920's via here

The baby scares me more than the mouse.... via My Little Time Machine

When costumes weren't so obvious from 1905 via Vintag.es

Little ghost...via national geographic archives

Sisters/masked cowboys from 1950's via Shorpy

What has been your favorite Halloween costume? I've been going with a semi-victorian theme the last few years, but this year, I wanna do something new.

I hope you got some inspiration from my old masks and costumes. What will you be this year?

New Illustration - Into the Woods

 As many of you may know, I have a deep passion for all things dark. Illustrating fairy tales is a great way to get some of this "Grimm" creativity unleashed. I just love painting a world of darkness. I like strong heroines that will usually survive the harshness that come their way. This is the case with my new illustration, "Into the Woods". The young girl is set out on her own as a punishment and she must face her deepest fears...and all the creepy harmful beings in the woods. Will she survive? Well, I'm creating her as a fighter...but only the next illustration will tell.

"Into the Woods" by Debra Styer is 6x8, painted with Watercolor and Gouache.

A closer look....

What is your favorite Fairy Tale? Do you like your stories spooky or sweet?
Oh yeah...a print of this lovely illustration is available in my shop!

Haunted Places

I thought I share this amazing haunted house I walked by the other day in Alameda, CA. I love when people have such passion for these things. It really made my day. My friend told that the folks behind this amazingness are set designers and, man you really can see that they do this for a living. Great job!

Here is a peek at their transformed house...

Donner Hotel "All You Can Eat Buffet" ha..ha..

Mister Bones

DOA Corral

So fun...I must make it there when it is dark out.

The Black Cat and The White Mouse.

I just wanted to share my newest illustration of a black cat vs a white mouse. It was really rewarding to paint. I love trying to get the expressions of my subjects just right and the mouth on the kitty was a fun challenge.

I hope you like it...

 Merrrroooowwww....Look into his eyes...

The print of this illustration is 5 x 7 inches and was created with Watercolor and Gouache.

And he is available in my Etsy shop too.

Creepy Vintage Halloween Masks are here!

It is that time of year again. The time to look back at all the scary covered faces of yesteryear. I love these things. The more handmade the better. There is just something so right about all the awkwardness of these costumes. They feel real. They feel genuine. They feel good.

I did include some pretty ones too. I always attempt a really pretty mask/costume every year but they seem to end up being more of a wabi sabi finish. But that is OK right? It is just Halloween. So get out there, make what you can and have tons of fun.

Little wicked Witch via tissueclouds

Clara Bow and a scary clown mask via Carbonated

Love the laughing girl via izismile.com

Ok so this not a vintage one but isn't this Owl mask from Martha Stewart perfect?

Love this Bird make via Costumerism

Creepy kids via Shorpy

Which animal is this? via thanatosdotnet

Black or white circa 1911 via shorpy

Amazing Victorian Mask/Hat via VintageGal

Classic Skeleton...done extra creepy style...via Carbonated

What will you be this year?

Happy October!

Here is a little film with some very devilish bits. It is a old film from 1899 by the cinematic genius George Melies. I love the crazy sets. Check out the wonderful large monster cat head in the middle of the story...

Virginia City!!!!

Just came back from and amazing trip to Virginia City, Nevada. I've been celebrating Halloween there for the last 5 years or so and it has become and annual event. It is such an amazing place. It is full of history and hauntings and such beauty and decay. By Halloween most of the tourists are gone and the town becomes yours.
I feel it is a spiritual place where you can stop the whirlwind of your life for a while. Here are a few pics from my trip...you can see the flickr set here.

this is the decay of which I speak...

little baby rest in peace...

As seen between the gate...

holding hands with death...

My hubby doing the robot...

Me in my fox mask...

Devil in Red...

To a lovely weekend, full of spooky things...and coming home to San Francisco to the SF Giants winning the world series and people partying in the streets. Tonight a Day of the Dead celebration in my neighborhood and a very needed nights rest. Can you say sensory overload?

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend full of fun. What did you do for Halloween?

Scream queens unmasked...

I love all the cheeky old spooky TV shows of the past, like the Munsters and the Addams family. And what little girl didn't want to be Wednesday Addams?  I miss staying up late to catch the creature double features that I'd watch at midnight as a teenager. It makes me wonder, where are those horror queens that would show all of those terrible b-movies? I suppose they are dead or retired. Well, I am happy Elvira is still around although I see her less and less of here these days...I suppose it will be an end to an era. This makes me sad. Who will inspire this next group of kids to go goth? This is a question I can not answer...

Sigh...Here is a little salute to the ladies that showed the naughty side of horror.  I've posted pictures of actresses that played these spooky parts for years and were pretty much only know as that character. I think they are beautiful both ways but I must say, it is amazing what a little makeup can do. Enjoy!

Cassandra Peterson

as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

Carolyn Jones

...as Morticia Addams

Maila Nurmi

 

...as Vampira

Here's a little extra scream for the Halloween weekend...Hope you all have an excellently spooky holiday!