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Saturday, March 13, 2010

Winner & antique pen & ink goodies!


I wanted to so something a bit different for this blog post. I would like to show you some of my small antique treasures. ( treasures to me anyway ) Recently I have started to collect some antique quill & fountain pens and inks, bottles anything old that has to do with writing or illustrating. I am having so much fun using these old finds I thought you guys might like to see them! Before I send you to picture land though I would like to announce the winner of the Edward Spoo-kins contest! What I did was basically pull the names from a hat so to speak. People who referred friends and shared the post were entered extra times. One lady actually referred 25 people to my blog and website! Of course I am going to have another contest very very soon! So...the winner of the win Edgar Spoo-kins contest is....drum roll please......
Susan WALKER From Georgia!
Susan please email me with your home addy ok? Folkartist@spookyhollow.net. Please put contest in the subject line!
Your Edgar Spoo-kins will be haunting your home very soon!

Now let's take a tour of my dusty old farm house shall we? I'm not kidding about the dust lol!
I meant to post the old pen and ink photos first but as usual while making this blog I didn't think to post them in the right order lol!


This is a shot of the living room area with my old black forest clock I love. I hope to get it fixed one day so I can watch the tiny little Germans go round and round hehe.


This is a VERY old post card album. It belonged to my grandmothers mother!


Just a pic of the dinning area....notice my chairs don't match lol!


I took this photo because the lights you see are ones I WON last week! I entered a blog contest and won these beautiful St. Patricks Day silicone covered lights! Here is where they came from please tell them Carmen Sent ya! Silicone Bulb Shoppe!


Just a few antique toys including my fave little doll, game pieces my Oma ( German for Grandma ) called Piddlechens hehe and some antique marbles.
These are my fave stuffed antiques! The big bear is an old Steiff. I think her name is Molly. We actually saw her on Antiques road show once! The dog is also Steiff and her name is Zoty? I might have the names reversed lol! The bear with the chain is an old Herman Bear. I don't know much about him yet. All I know is that my Oma brought these over from Germany in the late 1940's.


The magazine is an 1875 Cosmopolitan. It only cost 10 cents back then! The little Titanic box holds a piece of coal from the Titanic wreckage. My ghost hunting friend Bob sent me this. It is rumored to be haunted even!
These are 2 antique postcards I found in an old album that was my Oma's
Now we are finally getting to the ink and pens lol!
The white Feather quill is real and you can write with it if you like! I also have antique ink and quill pens.

This pen is the PRIZE of my collection. It is a Grieshaber From the Chicago Pen Co. I am still learning about this pen but I think it is worth over 200 dollars. I am still investigating and If I am right I will be for sale in my Ebay shop lol

You know I am not even sure what all these are for yet! I use the long yellow one all the time. The little black one gives beautiful fine lines. I also have some fountain quill nib pens that are not pictures and I am trying to get them cleaned up and working. So this is my new love....old ink, pens and or anything to do with illustration! I am hoping to add some vintage wax seal stamps, ornate pen holder with the cooll built in ink wells and things like that. Some of these go for 100s on ebay so I don't see me owning one of those for a long time lol!

I hope you had fun peeking at some of myh old stuff! Also please watch this week for a new mixed media painting I will be listing and Wizard bunny!

God bless and have a wonderful weekend! Oh and hey...I might start the new contest as early as tomorrow!

Carmen Ellis

SPooky Hollow. net

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Tribute to Alice & Finished Spoo-kins!


Hi everyone! I have lots to show you today! First off I have been working on some Alice in Wonderland illustrations, Spooky Hollow style! I bought this wonderful hand made paper journal and am filling it up with all kind of pen and ink illustrations, little watercolor paintings and so on. On the very first
page of this book are my little ink & watercolor doodles of Alice in Wonderland characters as I see them anyway! I posted a picture of Grimmy Reaper as the mad hatter on my facebook page and he got some laughs so I thought I need to post him here at my blog too! One thing I am working on is turning these illustrations into vintage style Easter ornaments and as soon as they are complete I will list them and post photos for you.
I also finished my new Spoo-kins! Each Spoo-kin is made of clay, hand painted and sealed. I will have them listed very soon in one of my shops either Ebay or Etsy I am not really sure which one yet lol.
Now the orange guy is Edgar. He is the only Spooky Hollow character besides the scared little art doll I made that has skin hehe! Edgar and the illustration behind him are the prize to the win Edar Spoo-kins contest. If you scroll down to my last post you can see how to win. Basically tell your friends about my blog or just post a comment and you will be entered to win Edgar, the illustration and a print of Grimmy Hatter!
Oh a real quick funny story before I list the photos. This morning my husbands dog B.B. ( He named him Beatle Baum...don't ask hehe ) was outside chasing around a deer. Well what B. B. didn't know was that deer had friends. I saw 3-4 pop out of the cornfield and then 2 more from the woods on the other side of the property. Before you knew it the deer were chasing B. B.! It was a sight and I so wish I would have grabbed the camera! Basically about 7 deer were very ticked off at one not very bright dog. Maybe you had to be there but it was like watching an Abott and Costello routine looool!
OK...here are the photos and have a greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat day!
Ps...
Don't make the deer angry at our house because apparently they are short tempered and run in packs!



My version of the classic Alice in Wonderland characters!




The evil queen!

Alice!

The mad Grimmy ....er um I mean Hatter!

How cool is this journal? All the pages are hand made paper! Very thick and wonderful to illustrate on!
I am so into drawing my characters with pen and ink only! I love the look!


Now onto finished Spoo-kins!

There is a story behind the spider guy. His head was a bead I had made last year and I forgot to put a hole in it! So I thought why not add a clay butt and make it a spider like thingy ma bob!


I think I will call the blue guy Nemrac.....psst that is my name spelled backwards bahahahaha!






Have you hugged your Mummy today??? ( sorry bad joke hehe)



Gaze into my eyes.....you are feeling sleepy very sleepy.....Muhahahahahahaha!




I just like how this photo turned out lool!



How my doodles look in Sepia! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!


I've had 5 cups of coffee today can you tell???


Now start postin if you want to win an Edgar Spoo-kins of your very own...Don't forget the winner also gets the illustration of the Spoo-kins and a print of Mad Grimmy Hatter!


I'm off to work on my Alice in wonderland ornies now! BUH BYE!!


Carmen Ellis


Spooky Hollow.net

Ebay store

Etsy Shop


Tuesday, February 23, 2010

WIN EDGAR SPOOKINS & Friends!



Hey all you creep lovers out there! So far Edgar is the only character with Flesh lol.


Edgar is a grumpy little fellow who's best friend in the world is Grimmy Reaper! Actually Grimmy likes to hang out with poor Edgar so much Edgar gets a bit peeved. I thought I should also tell you that Grimmy now has a boat load of cousins ranging from tiny to very tiny...


Grimmies tend to multiply like rabbits!


so I am posting a few new illustrations I came up of Edgar, Grimmy and the regular Spooky Hollow gang and the new smaller and younger Spooky Hollow characters...


The Spoo-kins!


Spoo-kins are like baby versions of old Spooky Hollow gang and do they get themselves in trouble! Keep watching my blog, Ebay and facebook for new Spooky Hollow/ Spoo-kins art! Right now I am on a post card kick lol.


When I draw out my guys I only use the best of the best inks and papers. I also will be doing a few on ACEO sized illustration board.


Right now if you go to my Ebay Store I have 2 postcards listed and one Painting.


One postcard is totally done in Sepia ink made in Italy. I used a quill pen and love how it turned out!
Because of that post card listing I have a new commission piece I am working on! When the piece is finished it will be part of a wonderful book. More about that later though!



Now about the contest! The key to winning is spreading the word around about Spoo-kins and Edgar!

Post right here at the blog and get one entry.

share this post via facebook or Twitter and get 2 entries!

Post about my guys in your blog and you get another entry.

the more you share the more chances to win....
What do you win?
why you will win the illustration shown in color with the brick background and a clay Edgar that I am working on today!

So whoever wins will get the very first Edgar in clay and the VERY first Spoo-kins Illustration ever made!

If you have any questions about how to enter just email me at folkartist@spookyhollow.net
So here are the new guys and I seriously would love to hear your comments!

Oh and this week I am trying to list a new item To my Ebay store daily....This weekend will be the big New Grimmy/moon and cat piece!!!! Don't miss that one!
PICTURE TIME WEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Meet Edgar Spoo-Kins above!

You could call him a grump butt!


This post card was done ONLY with sepia ink!


You can bid on it by clicking the link above!


Later Prints will be made of all the illustrations shown here so if you want go grab the originals!~


Tiny annoying Grimmy cousin! Spoo-kin Grimmy!

You can bid on it
here
!



You can find this original ink and watercolor postcard in my ebay store!



The illustration above is part of the prize! It is the very first Spoo-kins I made!
The fuzzy part was a smudge on the camera lense loool!







I'm crazy happy about how many watchers i have already!

Oh and I hope you do go visit my auctions because a lot of love was put into the template and music!

One way to easily find my auctions is type PFATT in the Ebay search box...I will be mingled in there with some amazing artists!

( I love this group they are so nice and I feel so welcome there! )



Ok start sharing this post and post a comment if you would like to be entered to win SPOO-KINS and Edgar! ....



I am going to go finish up Clay Edgar for you guys and post a pic of all the finished clay spoo-kins as soon as they are done! I also need to make a mummy huh?

Have a booooooo ti ful day!


( btw tiny print...all images and photos are copyright protected and sole property of SPookyHollow.net)


hate putting that there but lately an artist needs too!


Thursday, February 18, 2010

Howling bunny Just for fun!


You have to watch this lol.....I am so interested in claymation and when I watched this cute video I had to share it!
God bless your day!
HOWWWWWWWWWWWW-EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!




Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Super Grimmy & Spoo-kins!




Oh I have so much to show you! Lately I have been working my buns off on photos and graphics. I am finding it so fun editing my photos and spending way too much time on it lol! Today I have some finished pieces I want to show you and some new ones I am working on. I also wanted to take a mintute and talk about copyright. Lately it seems like all I read online is how some artists are taking ideas and copying from other artists. I see it everywhere I go this week. I thought I would share what I know about protecting your original work.


First off...If you created some art and posted it to the net like I do you really are already protected somewhat but I think it is better to have a back up plan. We decided to go through legal zoom awhile back and it was fast, inexpensive and painless. There is also a sight I just learned about via facebook called Copyright deposit. You pay a very small fee, upload photos and descriptions of your work and the very next day you get a copyright number. This is a great way to back up your work and new pieces! Super Grimmy and my other new goodies were backed up that way last night.


Here is the link and I strongly recommend it these days.


Copyright Deposit.com


Most folks are good people who don't steal work, ideas or even graphics but I am finding out that there are lots of not so good people who don't think twice about taking work that does not belong to them and claiming it as their own. Ok that was my 2 cents on that subject now on to the next!

Recently I was asked by the sweetest lady to be a guest blogger and she wanted me to write about what my art means to me.


First off I never planned to be a folk artist. I fell into it I guess. In school I did a lot of cartooning and illustrating but put that part of my life aside when I got married and had children. Through a series of events I picked it back up and got brave one day posting my Spooky Hollow guys to ebay...

It sold. I fainted....I painted more....They sold...I fainted more.....

So now I get to work from home doing what I love and I am so thankful to God for that.

But the question was what does my art mean to me?

More then I ever thought it would. Because of my luck with some of my painting and clay sales...

My older children are proud of what I do. My little surprise Child Jake, and just about my best friend thinks what I do is totally cool and he tries everything I do. I am smiling while writing this.

If I paint a Grimmy that boy is painting a Grimmy. If I make a new guy called Spoo-Kins..we even have some Spook-lettes coming....he is making one right along with me. When I got really lucky and sold some work to some ghost hunters...My little boy thinks I'm famous looool!


My art has created this amazing bond I have with my youngest child. ( the others are grown up and moved out - sigh) I never expected any of this out of life.

So what does my art mean to me? "The world."

I hope I get to do this until the day I become a spooky Hollow Ghost lol!


I also have a lot of dreams I hope to accomplish with my art...One day at a time...


Ok..


I got a little mushy there but something made me want to share this. I love making SPooky Hollow art, I love my little boy for loving it...

I am so blessed.


( blows nose lol)

Now I would like to show you the finished piece......SUPER GRIMMY!

Super Grimmy is a larger Piece that you can actually take apart.

The moon is on top with the siggy Spooky Hollow smile, Super Grimmy is flying under the moon while Salem the cat is desperately holding on to Super Grimmy's leg! The base is a vintage block with Spooky Hollow & Vintage Halloween prints.


The black cat can be removed, The moon easily removes from Grimmy's back. I did it this way because I had no idea how to ship it if it were all one piece.

So this is art but you can also PLAY WITH IT LOOL ( adults only please not safe for little children of course )

I also got my little scared girl finsihed up and I will be listing these in my Ebay store over the weekend...finally lol.

I also added a few photos for you of the spoo-kins and a Vampire I am working on. Nostrocuteness of course the vegitarian vampire!

So please enjoy the pics, give me some feedback cause I love that lol and watch for a really really cool contest!


I am now going to go make a samich!!!

Boo to all!

Carmen Ellis


Spooky Hollow.net




















































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