New year: Am I making MASKS again?

I felt some of my last newsletters were a bit lackluster, so I wanted to make sure in the new year I gave you something more engaging. I want to share what I'm up to and provide more work in progress images.

Which is why this newsletter is now much longer than I ever intended newsletters being haha. Feel free to skip to the specific parts that interest you - and please leave comments to let me know!

In my first newsletter of this new year I share:

• the poll results from the end of last year

• work in progress on the wedding arts and crafts I'm working on

• horror stories I've read recently

• thoughts on making masks again.

Oh yeah, and happy new year!

Poll Results

There's been a small response to my polls but those small numbers have shown definite majorities. I am completely taking these results into consideration when I plan my art business - so, if you want to have your say you can still vote.

Results:

What art would you prefer to see?

60% said longer-term paintings

40% said daily drawing challenges, sketches, and doodles This was the closest poll, and it makes sense. To be honest, you'll always get a bit of both - I'm not giving up painting and the painting requires some drawing first. Drawing is also more portable and time-friendly so I have more opportunities to do it. However, this poll pushed me to start new paintings immediately (which you can see in the wedding update).

What shop items would you prefer?

100% said art merch. (t-shirts, stickers, etc)

0% said pre-made book covers

Ok, ok, I get it! In saying that, obviously pre-made book covers have a specific audience and this newsletter isn't reaching that audience. But if you're out there and want a book cover, let me know! Merch. will definitely come back at some point, but as you know it hasn't been a focus recently. Maybe in 2027...

If I re-opened the shop for merch., how would you prefer to buy?

100% said onling shop on this website

0% said in person at markets

I'm kind of glad coz I'm not super keen to regularly do the whole market thing. However, when I reopen the shop I think it may be a reality that I need to do markets to build up my customer base. Once there's enough of you, then I can be purely online (also, this means when I do reopen the shop - I'm going to need you all to buy a lot to make it sustainable!).

What custom product would you prefer to buy?

100% said horror portraits

0% said open commissions (no portraits)

This one kind of surprised me. Maybe I wasn't clear in the limited space I had but the open commissions was meant to be any requests you want. Or maybe that was understood and the specificity of portraits is just preferred. I've got some ideas for the horror portraits and may open up spaces for those once wedding stuff is under way...

Which of these other random projects would you be interested in?

100% said horror and art educational resources

0% said horror and art quizzes and minni games

This one also surprised me a little bit. But to be honest, I'm glad because this is what I wanted to do anyway.

Wedding arts and crafts update

As you already know, I'm getting married this year. That's partly why I don't have time to fully do all the art business stuff - but I'm making sure to stay creative (and save money) with some arts and crafts for the wedding.

Couple portrait and other sketches

I'm obsessed with how these portraits of me and my fiancé are turning out. I've got a bit more of the looseness I often strive for but fail to do, but still have the detail. Most importantly, they look like us (phew).

Not sure what these will actually be used for (or if they'll be used at all!) but this is good practice for if I do those horror portrait commissions I mentioned in the poll....

Accessories for the dress??

I don't want to get into too much detail on what I work on in this regard, but here's a sneak peak of my dress form and craft desk right now. Some of it is experimentation and might not be

used - I guess I'll have to show you a wedding photo once I'm married?

Recently Read

I read some things recently that I was really into and are also relevant to my horror art, so I thought I'd share them!

The House is Sick by Amanda Ruzsa

You might remember I did a painting for Amanda's horror poem collection called It's Dark in Here. I wanted to read some more so tried out The House is Sick which is a nice short story which I absolutely loved. It's very creepy and I think I'll return to it to make some paintings one day. It's only $1.14NZD on Kindle so give it a go! You can check out Amanda's website here.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

My fiancé and I stream horror games on Twitch and a little while ago we played I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. I had been intrigued by the game and really wanted to read the short story which was its source material. Turns out it's very easy to find free PDFs of this online and it's only 11 pages! If you're familiar with the game - read the story: It's completely different while being completely the same vibe.

The Telltale Heart and Other Stories by Edgar Allan Poe

I have a physical book of Poe stories but read this collection on my Kindle while I was overseas. I find Poe so readable and the short stories are so fun to return to. I realised I don't care much about the adventure ones but of course the horror/mystery ones are classic. Very easy to find Poe stories free to read online (I have at least two free collections on my Kindle) so if you haven't read him I suggest you do.

Tomie collection by Junji Ito

I only got into Junji Ito in the last couple of years. I'd seen his art and thought it was so cool, but I'm not super into graphic novels. Then my fiancé bought me two of his collections (Shiver and Smashed), and I loved the movement and momentum of reading the stories alongside the art. We also have the Tomie collection (and I currently can't remember if we bought it together or if it's his book.... but we're good at sharing). I loved getting to know Tomie's law.

Am I Doing Masks Again?

If you've been here a while you might remember these masks I made. I haven't done a lot of sculpture but I loved these. I always thought I'd make more, but it's been a "one day" type of thing.

I recently sold a few of these masks to a horror and erotica photographer. You can see his work on FetLife (if you're into that!); his username is TheDevilsLens. He encouraged the idea of me making more masks, and I've had a bit of (not very serious) interest in this in the last year or so.

I won't have time to start making masks this year, but it was something I'd planned to put in the new shop ("one day"). These new ones would be much better, as my sculpting and painting has improved, and would be wearable as well as decorative. If there's enough interest, I might prioritise these for later this year/early next year.

If masks are something you would buy, comment and let me know!