Lost Friends...

This was a tough weekend. Sorry if this post is a little convoluted. I had a goal to speak about my recent trip to Waverly Hills Sanitorium, which I will do in a following post this one I would like to dedicate to lost friends...of which I am sad to say are gaining in number.

 I thought about writing the Waverly post yesterday, but I couldn't bring myself to open the computer at all, which is strange, this is my lifeline to my friends and family back home. I had a bad feeling all day Sun. I called and texted and left messages with various family members, talked to others on the phone cross country. They were ok or getting check ups. Still the feeling didn't go away and honestly I was afraid to open a tab for facebook.

I had a dream Sat nigh,t I was running around with San Francisco Bay Area with friends. I was dreaming of a blonde, screwball and funny,and a red head egging us on in our antics. We were goofing off pretending to be up to no good when our hubbies caught up to us. I remember it being a dream full of fun and laughter and left me with a homesick feeling.

 I thought since I was doing some reading about Old Hollywood that I was crossing over some things in my brain from my reading and that folks I knew in this day and time were the stand ins. Sarah aka Sparkly Devil, a performer I knew from San Francisco was Carole Lombard, my friend Elissa was Tallulah Bankhead and myself, hopefully as Dolores Del Rio. These folks I was dreaming about I haven't seen since my move to Kentucky but through the wonders of the internet, we kept up with each others lives sharing photos on Instagram of Sarah's athletic feats in weightlifting and marathon running , Elissa and I starting an online group for handmade curios. I'd been so enraptured with learning and posting about my new home that to be homesick for San Francisco doesn't happen to often.

This morning I went to find my phone which after I returned from the store left in my bag, its battery dead. It was with some trepidation I plugged it in, having a feeling there was bad news in there. I listened to my messages returned from my family members that have had health issues and relieved that they were visiting a doctor. But another call from a fellow performer friend, asking if I had seen the announcement on facebook.

The very girl I had been dreaming about had passed in a car accident that very night, her husband Bones in critical condition in a coma. Upon hearing the news I cried thinking of her co-producer of their World Famous Burlesque Show, Jim Sweeney,  must have a hole the size of the San Francisco Bay in his heart. After all, we all had just lost his co-host and my old friend and  co worker, Eric, just a a couple years before. I cried for all my city friends and the pain they must feel , losing such a dynamic personality and inspiring friend. I remembered all our moments backstage, the jokes we shared and the costume and choreography tips.

I had been having talks with my husband about the amount of friends in our artistic and creative community  that we have lost in the last few years on Sat. afternoon. He met me when I was recovering when I lost my best friend Heather Oswald, my brother Rory a year later, and held me when I lost my roommate Sunny Perkins aka Mia More in another car crash a couple years after that. We all had plans to move into together, cut short by death. All these car crashes... He reminded me just this Sat. about how important it is to remember the friends we do have left.

Take care of your loved ones and friends. Stay safe and hugs and blessing to all of you.

Artist Spotlight: Ugly Shyla: Dark Beauty with a Message

"Mother of Sorrows", my ultimate favourite piece so far!

I met Ugly Shyla over the internet some years ago through mySpace. I had seen her pictures of her & her work featured in photos in a Gallery Showing by Artist John Santerineross at Stormy Leather Store in the Soma District of San Francisco when I was Art Gallery Curator and he had a showing. Being a model myself that didn’t fit the modeling mold, it was exciting to see other people who also looked “outside the norm” being photographed and a new movement of Alternative models was born in the late 90’s early ‘00’s. What attracted me to her was that she, like me started modeling to bring attention to her Art, much as I was doing with my music. When I found out more about her inspirations and what she was expressing, I felt a kindred spirit in her. We were both not afraid to be characters of ourselves, or “ugly”. That being said this Cajun girl from the swamps is one of the most beautiful people I know, inside and out.

real blood tears

A long time ago I had this Misfits Doll from Jem and the Holograms that had long blue hair that I put Barbie hair straightener in. When I met Shyla it was like that Doll came to life, a Doll Maker whose art addresses the things about children that need attention, such as child abuse and mortality. It is often through these people that I see the Justice of the Universe working. Often the people you would be afraid of because of their looks are actually doing Sacred work. They are calling attention to things we should be preventing.

Ugly Shyla Plushy commissioned by fan

A champion of the welfare of children, her art calls attention to their mistreatment.

Our work continues often through our progeny and Shyla is no exception, although her protégé is a most unique student/child that is because she is a handicapped Squirrel rescued from her other pet cats mouth. Wink the squirrel, inherited the big heart of her human mommy and has grown quite famous of her own accord by donating proceeds from her art work to help other animals in need. 

 Wink the Squirrel , On the News!

Personally, they both came to my aid when my own progeny, my daughter, had to undergo rounds of testing for a birth defect of which the costs cut into our ability to pay rent. Through the kindness of Shyla, Wink and my Musician community lead by Wire Graffiti’s Katherine Sawyer and Castles In Spain’s Biachi , their networking through the internet and call outs to friends, we were able to survive the ordeal and have peace of mind while undergoing the testing knowing we would not lose our home. My heart is forever grateful.

Often replicated, Ugly Shyla was one of the innovators of techniques of doll work that some find totally terrifying & fascinating.

All of them Witches!

Ugly Shyla

How would you describe what you do?

 I make morbid fine art dolls and also dabble in other artistic mediums from jewelry to tattoos.

How do you receive your inspirations?

Usually from my dreams and sometimes I get sort of flashes of visions in my head.

When did you first notice your connection to the Spirit World?

I'm from southern Louisiana so there is really nothing for us to "notice", because you grow up with it ingrained in your culture. I saw, hear, and felt spirits constantly as a child. I had to learn how to block some of it out because it was so overwhelming. Thankfully as I got older I got it more under control.

If you feel comfortable, can you share your faith or path with us?

I'm a voodoo practitioner I also mix Santeria in my practices.

How does this faith/path express itself through your art?

I think all of my art is related to my faith even if I don't realize it. And some of it is obviously voodoo related like the doll I did of The Baron.

How can you be contacted about your work from interested collectors?
(Website or contact info)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/uglyartdotnet *My new work goes up on my etsy first.
My website www.uglyart.net
Http://twitter.com/uglyshyla
Facebook for my dolls http://www.facebook.com/uglyartdoll?ref=ts&fref=ts
http://uglyartdolls.wordpress.com/

My email is uglyshyla@gmail.com

Anything  you would like to add that perhaps I forgot?

You KNOW I'm going to have to talk about the squirrel. LOL.

I have a little gift the Gods gave me. I rescued a little squirrel from a cat's mouth. They say sometimes the God's send you a animal to see how you treat it and will bless you if you right by the little animal. So I must have done something right because my squirrel Winkelhimer Smith taught herself to paint and became famous for it, she was all over the all the major news stations ect. We auction her art off and give the profits to animals or people in need. Her website is www.paintingsquirrel.com

This is but a small sampling of her work! 

Modeling one of her porcelain doll heads necklaces featured in my music video called "The Doll Dance" by The Wazzoo Sound. On the inside is inscribed: "Undertaker, Please Drive Slow" 

Dream a Little Dream of Haunted Houses?

So my dear friends, while I wait on other Artists to get back to me , I will take a breather from the Artist Spotlights to talk about dreams and dream work. I actually started this posting some time ago and saved it as a draft and it got lost during the frantic holiday season. I started a couple personal posts and wanted to insert a little of my self back in my blog and a little bit of the supernatural happenings that despite me writing about others, has not slowed down an iota!

My dreams have been off the hook lately! Even more so since moving. So vivid and clear and clearly helping me work out something. Sometimes they involved other people or online friends who I hope don't mind that I have to plug up their  inbox with my latest cooky night-time adventure.

 I have reoccurring dreams of clearing haunted houses, motels and theatres, and I mean like the Amityville bleeding walls type, with doors a banging  and windows flying open. Haunted hotels with screechy demons and things flying about. I am never scared but uncomfortable, I have a job to do, I have to clear this house. Over and over I recite the Lord's prayer , even when they try to trip me up and make me forget it. I think that it is really helpful they had us do the rosary in school so much, it actually helped me feel safer in the dream world. And even when I was feeling doubtful or skeptical the entitystill seem to respond to the prayer. (Perhaps next time to test my lucid dreaming , I will bring a rosary just to help with the remembering of the prayer in case they try to throw me off again)


Most recently in a dream I was in a beautiful home , with winding stair cases (as an aside the friend of mine who has the dream page posted a photo of a stair case that looked very much like the one in my dream-I haven't told her the weird connection yet but she will trip when she reads this!) and that I was there to clear the house. My sister friend Tsering (my aforementioned Buddhist best friend/Sister )was there and we were in a dorm all there for our powers I guess..I went to do a clearing and a huge ball of energy , like an orb, flew into the room, it was beautiful, opalescent lavender and pink and it flew to me and landed in my hand lighting up my wedding ring and making the stone it is glow like it did. I then knew that my job was done and that I wasn't supposed to clear what was there. It had somehow blessed me and I remember gathering my stuff and leaving.

The next morning Tsering called me and I told her about the dream of the beautiful house. She then related her dream of a Buddhist Monastery where she was a Nun taking refuge till she healed and told me about the Orb she saw that visited which was the Dalai Lama and described what she saw was so similar to my own dream! I was happy to share a healing moment with her and we often have dreams for each other.

She had a recent dream that had me as a Voodou healer where I cleansed her and channeled the colour pink and blue and she heard the name Ochun. Ochun is the Yorubian goddess of love and beauty and Ezurlie Freda is the Vodou counterpart, some would say. Although I study and have been initiated into the Yorubian traditions of Lukumi or Ocha de Regala (Santeria to some) I often have Voodou dreams for reasons I am still trying to learn, perhaps this is my Astral self's work. She, not having much focused knowledge of the Vodou traditions, which Lwa prefers which colour,I was excited about the her recall of the dream as I could , in my limited knowledge know what she was dreaming about. 

She had another Voodoo dream and in this one she was undergoing a healing, and I was present. She said we were working in a secretive place where some Priestess was buried who was helping with the healing. She described the Ancestor as having lighter toned caramel skin and longer hair. I jolted knowing that I had just learned that Voodoo Queen Marie Laveaux was actually buried in a secret location and not the tomb that most folks visit her at just the day before she related this dream and her description matched Madame Laveau.

 Now mind you, my friend describes these rituals in great detail not knowing what it is she describing and hoping it makes sense to me. She describes places I know of, such as an island that a friend of mine had invited us for an Oggun ritual near NOLA a few years back. I mention that and she says "that is the name I heard, Oggun. There was use of quartz crystal points in which a priestess blew breath into  them and thus rang the bells of Native American traditions and Medicine in my mind.Historically these traditions had been known to have enfolded and enhanced one another and became the practical basis of the practices known hoodoo. She then describes people who are friends of a friend, that I know I haven't discussed with her or spoke of since the trip fell through. 

We , as a group and this Ancestor pulled at areas of her body and removed a "demon"  or something residing in her that made her ill, removing it and some of the damage it has caused. I find this all so fascinating, this is the second dream where I participated or worked on healing her in this fashion.  Also interesting is the areas we are working on are the area's "governed" so to speak by my ruling Orisha Ochun.  For some reason in the dreams these energies overlap and names are used for one another. Something that we wouldn't do in the waking world. Perhaps it is a way for giving us clues? 

There was also a message from these Lwa on being more vegetarian and them being so as well, as a part of this healing, which is something she and I discuss at length in our personal journeys as Spiritual workers with each other in our different paths.

If you would like more info on I highly suggest Louis Martinie's Book "Talking to God with Food-Questioning Animal Sacrifice" which is  has been a great comfort to me for many reasons. I do not have the initiation of the knife, which is needed for properly feeding the Orisha's these types of ebbo's or offerings (usually only needed for dire cases) and my own personal feeling that I have taken part in enough animal death. I understand its purpose and that the meat feed the congregation, something in Haiti or Africa is much harder to come by then in America, and a boon for a congregation needing the sustenance . I personally have taken many containers of well cooked and seasoned Blessed food and fed many homeless in San Francisco in the past in Dolores Park after our Ocha ceremonies (where someone becomes a Santero or Santera, a priest)  but because of circumstance of moving far away from my Ile (place of congregation) and the diet my body feels happiest at , we my Orisha's and I had to make some changes.

Something in my heart and soul is evolving and I have had talk with my Orisha's that the ebbos and offerings for their help and guidance in my life will be different then before, that is for this time being, no blood for them and things have been going smoother and better with them then previously. This has been accepted so far.

She and I  figure these shared dreams is our close connection or some sort of Astral work. We have a strong feeling that these dreams are very important, but not being formally initiated into Voodou, I can only look through the lens of what my initiated Mambo friend's  have shared and my own initiations in Ocha.  What do they mean?  Could an Elder enlighten us? 
   
In any case I am glad to be a part of healing a friend! 

Artist Spotlight: Whitney Hall Rawls: Explorer of the Subconcious!

The internet can be a magical doorway to communion with like souls that otherwise you may have never met. For some of us now in new towns it is a godsend for meeting like minds. Such is the case with this installment of Artist Spotlight.  Whitney Hall Rawls is a self- employed artist out of Georgia. Her jewelry pieces I had drooled over on posts I got on the internet before finding out who made the fanciful Day of the Dead frames and my personal fave, a skull necklace with garnet and blue goldstone.

 Not only does she craft beautiful jewelry pieces and frames you can grace your Ancestor altar with but also rarer and practical: tobacciana pipes. I am a long ceased smoker but I can sure appreciate the uses of a beautifully crafted piece of practical art. I deem things that you can use in everyday situations as “practical”. It reminds me of being a teen when I would put together and decorate ceremonial and decorative Native American pipes.

Besides working with some of my favourite motifs like skulls and bones, Whitney’s etsy page is a feast for the eyes of a rock n mineral lover. Today being “Old Rock Day” this is the perfect day to post where you can find a wonderfully crafted quartz point collar or bracelet. Her use of garnet and coral, two great blood enhancers and love drawer the spiritual and magical possibilities of her pieces should be noted.

Without further ado, let us get to the words of our subject,

Introducing Whitney Hall Rawls:

“My art is inspired by whimsy, folk culture, and the illusive muse. As art is a passion that has many forms of expression, I find myself driven to try every form and mode of artistic endeavor, whether it be in the form of handcrafted gemstone jewelry, tobacciana, or three dimensional nichos and figures. I want to try everything.

How do I receive my inspirations? Well, I have always been stimulated by the unfamiliar. I need as much scope for the imagination as possible. I crave it; the exploration of sub cultures, ancient art, and the subconscious desire to breathe life into seemingly inanimate materials.

I come from a long line of sturdy Irish stock. It seems as though the women in my family are extraordinarily sensitive to the supernatural. We hear things no one else hears, and we see thing that no one else sees. The concept of the existence of a veil that separates the physical world and the spirit world seems more probable when I recount a lifetime of bizarre experiences.

When I create a piece of art, in whatever form I choose, I literally feel as though I am putting part of myself in the object. Whomever purchases my creations, will carry a little piece of me with them.

At the present time I have an Etsy page I named Moontang13. I can be contacted through that site, or by email at Mrspoodle78@aol.com”

Artist Spotlight- Witchdoctor Utu from the Dragon Ritual Drummers

Hello Dear Readers!

 I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season! I am continuing on with my Artist Spotlight series, in which I get a chance to introduce you to folks who took the time out to answer my query’s about how they are inspired to do their art! There is more to come after this as I meet more folks and get contacts of more amazing people! Not to lose the regular focus of this blog, I am currently working on a personal post that will showcase a happening in the nieghbourhood of Old Louisville during Halloween time! Stay tuned!

The beauty of the internet and connectivity is meeting people from all over the world you may never had gotten a chance too, especially if like myself, have spent the last 20 years doing constant gigging. Because of this one doesn’t often get the time to experience other Musicians (unless you are on the same bill at the venue!) but in my time off from the stage, I have managed to get artwork done and research into other Artists and musicians. Previously, my artists have primarily focused on the visual arts, and this entry will be a treat for your ears.

Getting to “chat” with Witchdoctor Utu was a real treat. His world renowned Drumming group The Dragon Ritual Drummers is coming together of different faiths to honour many Spirits from different Tribes from all over the world. Utu himself is from Scotland, where a bulk of my family is from and honours and drums for African and Native American Deities, something that makes my very own Ancestors proud.

I hope to be able to catch one of their ritual drumming performances just for the sheer joy of being able to express my connection to all my Ancestors. Coming from a Dance Background and as a drummer myself, I couldn’t think of a better way to honour them.

Many thanks Witchdoctor Utu!

 Utu from the Dragon Ritual Drummers

How do you describe what you do? 

Our shows are interactive ritual performances, honoring spirits, deities and cultures that we either serve, or have manifested with in our troupe and its magiks.

How do you receive your inspirations? 

Our drum troupe is composed of members from the Niagara Pagan men’s Circle, and many of the members are also part of the Niagara Voodoo Shrine, as well we are the honorary drum guard for the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple, and also serve as Egungun drummers for the Yoruba Royal House of Rebuja and Prince Bamidele. With a fabric like that to draw from, inspiration is a constant flow here; at times we can barely keep up. But while serving in our various guises, we will as a unit realizes that there is a spirit realm or entity that has manifested or favored us, or needs to be honored. Once we see that happen, we try to then compose something in their honor. At times too one of the members could be sharing their personal magik or workings and a light goes off, and again its clear to us all that we need to go in that direction.

When did you first notice your connection to the Spirit World? 

Me personally since childhood. I was raised very eclectic by my mother, and we traveled much when I was a child to exotic locations, and saw early how different tribal peoples viewed religion and their practices. I was always involved in their ceremonies...that and being from Scotland, the spirit world and ancestors are a big part of our culture.

 As for the Dragon Ritual Drummers, the troupe started by workings that the men’s circle was doing, connecting to an indigenous serpent power that was once placated here in Niagara by the mound builders that once inhabited the region. When they were routed by the Iroquois nation, their water serpent of thunder was cast into a negative light by the conquering Iroquois (something they did throughout the Ohio River valley and the north east, their sky god hero would slay a horned serpent and free a maiden). We were connecting with it the horned water dragon, whose mystical lair is beneath Niagara Falls, and discovered how attainable it was, and decided to create some music in his honor, with no real plans other than one offering. It’s been 12 years and we have never looked back. Despite all the other nations of spirits we drum for, the local horned water serpent is our totem, and the deity we take our name from, and all our music and power comes first and foremost from him.

If you feel comfortable, can you share your faith or path with us?

 Half the Dragon Ritual Drummers are members of the Niagara Voodoo Shrine and our home temple in the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple. The other half are occultists with many paths behind them (none of us are young..anymore :))...But as a collective, we serve the local water serpent and his consort; The Maid of the Mist. That’s the foundation that all our spirituality as a collective rests upon. As half our troupe is also born in Europe, we have such a huge eclectic fabric that would be almost hard to define. We discover new spirit worlds all the time based on who are drumming for, whether that be an elder or temple. We serve with our hearts, make the necessary offerings to appease the spirits we are serving, and then ride that relationship as long as we can or has been ordained.

How does this faith/path express itself through your art? 

Every one of our drum songs is an expression of our faith, everyone one of them is homage to a deity or spirit world. Every member of the Dragon Ritual Drummers, past and present, has a custom tattoo in the likeness of our horned serpent. Our way to dedicate ourselves to the entity that made all this possible, a dedication in blood.

How can you be contacted about your work from interested collectors?

 Our web site is the hub for us, with links to all our social media, CDs, itunes and the likes.
www.dragonritualdrummers.com

Dragon Ritual Drummers Home Page

www.dragonritualdrummers.com

The Dragon Ritual Drummers are the #1 new age/pagan drum and performance troupe on the planet. They have a global fan base, and have been featured in countless mainstream and pagan media world wide, from international magazines to north America.

·        

Witchdoctor Utu

This is our facebook page too...https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dragon-Ritual-Drummers/18136761075?fref=ts

Artist Spotlight: Madrina Angelique : Crossroads Mamma!

Madrina Angelique (along with the very talented Denise Alvarado) are one of my teachers for the online school I attend called Crossroads University. (www.crossroadsuniversity.com ) This is where I and other students learn all about Hoodoo, which is to say a working with the roots & herbs, as well as a good dose of history in the American Indian and African American Traditions. With classes that offer caveats such as kits and online chats to go with these classes such as "Indian Spirit Hoodoo-Working with Black Hawk", "The Spiritual Traditions of Marie Laveaux", "Foundations of Southern Rootwork 1-3", Foundation in New Orleans Voodoo 1-3" and "Doll Baby Conjure"  one can get their fill and then find some more to study. Being in a new town and state and away from all that I know I found this community a fulfilling one in continuing my Spiritual Education. (Stay tuned to that website if interested I saw that they are also adding more classes in the future as well!) I found a home in their online community.

I was lucky to win a beautiful raffle created by Madrina of a portable altar for La Santisma Muerte or Holy Death. She is what some call a "Folk Saint" that is a Saint that people recognize and asked for help and prayers, but is not recognized by the Official Catholic Church.

 Madrina Angelique's etsy page is also a great place where I have purchase great quality Red Palm Oil ( a must for folks with Elegua or Eshu residing in their homes) as well as handcrafted Florida Water that smells so amazing (without that alcohol chemical smell some commercial products have), along with the La Santisma Muerte Oil and Water. I have also taken advantage of various specials in readings when I need some outside advice. I found that by doing these by email is especially helpful as I have the reading to refer back to when I need to and it isn't coloured by my own note taking. If you are interested, her contact information is below.

She also makes custom handcrafted Spirit dolls as well as charged Eleguas' that I know he is proud of!

Devotional Doll

Copper Elegua

Madrina Angelique also teams up with Denise Alvarado to write affordable books in which I highly recommend : Crossroads Mamas' 105 Spiritual Baths for Every Occasion   and Workin' in Da Boneyard. both are available on website below. You can find them on Amazon of course but I suggest going to the source or joining the Creole Moon Book club where you get these in downloadable form (a book a month plus weekly exclusive articles for a $6 subscription!)

Madrina Angelique

How do you describe what you do?
I am an initiated Santera and Palera but I think of myself as a Rootwoman. 

How do you receive your inspirations?
I receive many inspirations from nature, the spirit world and people. 

When did you first notice your connection to the Spirit World?
When I was 2 years old. I saw a skeleton dancing back and forth across my doorway with a top hat and cane. I remember getting a spanking for lying when I told everyone about it. It wasn't until years later that I saw Baron Samedi in a book and knew that was who I saw. 

If you feel comfortable, can you share your faith or path with us?
I see myself as eclectic with some tradition. Spirit is always with us, not matter where it comes from. 

How does this faith/path express itself through your art?
It's all I do. I craft for the spirits. I try and let the world see through their eyes. 

How can you be contacted about your work from interested collectors? 
www.rootmamaconjure.com and www.crossroadsmojo.com

Artist Spotlight: Nik Seizure: Cute n' Creepy Success!

I met Nik at a Tower Records in the mid 1990’s, the go to place for a job for musicians, artists and those who loved the freedom of the relaxed dress code. Tower was one of my all-time favourite places to work, a haven or an enabler to those of us who collecting toys, magazines and obscure music were a part of our daily life. He was a coworker of my best friend and spiritual muse Heather Oswald in which the 3 of us had many fun adventures. Foggy beaches and cemeteries come to mind. I remember visiting Nik when he lived in Colma, a city just north of San Francisco, that was literally a city of Dead. It boasted more graves then living people and in fact is where most of San Francisco was re-buried when developers moved many of the original cemeteries in the city itself. 

He is funny and fascinating and I am so excited that he took me up on offering his works and words for my blog. I still have all the little wacky and weird gifts he would always bring me when we’d hang out, lunch boxes full of spooky ephemera and vintage findings that still make it into my pieces today. I am over the moon at his success which I find most inspiring, a true story of artistic success that is so rare these days.

How do you describe what you do?

I'm a fulltime artist and illustrator; I've done over 250 shows and have sold over 3,000 pieces of art. My web comic Mosquito and Spider (http://www.scary-art.com/Mosquitoandspider.htm) was featured in the Cartoon Museum's Monsters of Webcomics show. I also work on movies, I won an audition to be Milla Jovovich's sketch artist for a film called Clocktower and you can see my Scream Serpent in Scream 4. I produce art books, zines and graphic novels (http://www.scary-art.com/scaryartpublishing.htm) and am a regular contributor to WordPlayThursday, Save the Bedbugs and Shlocksuckers. I've shown my work everywhere from adult boutiques to the Moss Library in Norway to The Mutter Museum and you can catch me regularly every 3rd Tuesday at Kaleid Gallery's Two Buck Tuesday in Downtown San Jose.  

How do you receive your inspirations?

When I was growing up in the Bay Area I watched a TV show called Creature Features with Bob Wilkins religiously. I was always interested in monsters, dragons and haunted houses and the movies screened on Creature Features only cemented that there was something else. Monsters existed in a broken reality. They were the things that shouldn't be there but they were. And so my inspiration comes from speculating what could be there in the dark. 

When did you first notice your connection to the Spirit World?

My family was never religious so I sought out spirituality, even joined a punk rock church. I knew there was something out there, something undefined but I could never put my finger on it. I was even a tour guide at the Winchester Mystery House just trying to get close to them. There were little omens that came out of gumball machine prizes, there was always a safety net under me in life. There have been so many times I could have been homeless or dead yet after losing everything again and again somehow everything became right. I was very good about making bad decisions but in the end there was always an invisible wall to myself destruction. I studied the new age, quantum physics, and philosophies only to come to the conclusion that I'm no closer to understanding it than anyone else. There are spirits and they speak in subtlety. I've accepted that they're never going to pop out and go "Booga booga!" but I know they're there every time I have a thought hammering at me.  

If you feel comfortable, can you share your faith or path with us?

I think we exist so that god is consciously aware of itself. Imagine if god was glass and we shattered it into a million pieces, each piece is a part of god and the physical world. One of the reasons we're always aware of a spiritual side is because we're enveloped in it. And it's legion. It's peace. It's unfathomable filled with spirits both holding on and letting go of their egos. 

How does this faith/path express itself through your art?

You know those movies about the psychic shouting at the dead, telling them one at a time? In my head, in my soul they're all talking at once and they don't shut up unless I push them all out in canvas, even cartoonish. It's kind of a reluctant symbiotic relationship. I think creativity is the other side trying to get through, even just to say "It's going to be ok" 

How can you be contacted about your work from interested collectors? 

http://www.scary-art.com/nicolascaesarshop.htm
http://www.hyaenagallery.com/scaryart.htm

Anything you would like to add that perhaps I forgot?

nope :> 
--

Nicolas Caesar was the curator and one of the artists for Scream 4. His webcomic Mosquito and Spider was a selection for the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. His work is collected internationally.

Shop now!
http://www.scary-art.com/nicolascaesarshop.htm
http://www.hyaenagallery.com/scaryart.htm

Mosquito and Spider - Daily
http://www.scary-art.com/Mosquitoandspider.htm
Danson with Wolves every Friday!
http://iwasmadeinkorea.com/danson-with-wolves/

Other places you can get my work:
http://scaryart.tumblr.com/
https://twitter.com/scaryart1973
http://www.zazzle.com/scaryart1973
http://www.gallerysevven.com
https://www.facebook.com/psychodonuts
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Funhouse-Gallery-Detroit/119535524795776

I thought that painting looked familiar!!