Cate Anevski

Acrylic on Wood

Yep, I'm upping the ante. Next up: acrylic on skin! Oh, wait, I already did that tonight. Well, then, next up: more acrylic on wood! This little ghostie is available in my shop.

An Army of Horny Guys

And here I thought I was finished with college...

For anyone who may not be aware, I'm terrified of serial killers. I'm not so worried about muggers or carjackers or regular burglars, but I'm convinced that someone is going to break into my house and torture and kill me. Of course, my obvious reaction to this fear is to watch every serial killer movie ever made.

When I get really scared on nights that Kieran works late, I usually turn on an episode of Monk, and I don't leave the couch until he comes home. Well, last night, Kieran and I watched Silence of the Lambs, and I noticed a strange familiarity about Buffalo Bill's voice. Turns out, the serial killer who scares me only less than Hannibal himself is, in fact, Captain Leland Stottlemeier of Monk. Now, every time I hear his voice on the show, I'm just going to think "It puts the lotion on it's skin, or else it gets the hose again."

Stupid October and it's overly-tempting Halloween movie marathons. Maybe going out to see Saw 4 will cheer me up...

Grow

Sometimes, people are forced to grow out their hair to cover awkward features. I personally don't like my ears. We all have our battles, you know.

If I can get my act together in time, I'll have these two pieces colored for a show that opens on November 3 at Cranky Yellow.

It is all of my latest illustrations of girls, which I just can't seem to stop drawing. I'm excited, since this is just my second solo show, and the first one that I've actually had time to plan.

Also, after a long argument with my sewing machine, I started stitching the faces onto my little horny guys by hand. It's so relaxing. I can't believe I've found a stuffie that I'm enjoying creating so much.

Prototype, etc.

This is the little guy who inspired the paintings in my last post. The one up top is the prototype, and the things on the bottom are faces for ten more.

I actually enjoyed making this stuffie, which is something that hasn't happened for a while. I feel like I'm finally getting back into my crafting groove. I used to make random things all the time, but I stopped earlier this year. I got discouraged by a bunch of stupid stuff, but I'm finally getting over it. That slump I was talking about earlier is all but gone, which feels good.

When these are done, they (and hopefully others) will be shipped out to some of the consignment shops that carry my stuff.

I Can't Believe It's Not Oil!

That's right, folks. I actually painted with acrylics last night. The painting above is the first acrylic painting I've done since high school. David sat me down and forced me to try his paints, and I actually liked it. I think I'm going to try mixing in some of the water-soluble oils in the near future, but this is actually working for me, shockingly enough.

I did this one today. He's the Ghost of Little Heart Dudes Past. Huzzah! for October and the ghostly inspiration it brings.

I'm adding all these little guys to the shop.

Can't Keep Up

I have been getting so far behind on everything these days. I'm finally done with all the craft fair mania, but all my running around has left me with a nasty cold. The past couple of days I've just laid around like a bump on a log watching Big Love and Walking with the Dinosaurs. Since I have nothing else to share, I'll leave you with a setting exercise I wrote in class last night:

"Sarah shivered in the drafty old church. She couldn't see much—just what the illumination from the streelights outside showed her though the cracks in the boarded-up windows. She wouldn't have thought that anyone had been in here in a decade, but the scent of freshly burnt candles mingled in the air with the ten-year-old ashes.

"She couldn't believe she had been talked into going into this abandoned church at all—let alone on the spookiest night of the year. Her so-called friends had assured her she'd be here all alone, but the evidence of a recent visitor made her leery.

"She tried to swallow, but her throat was too dry. At that moment, she heard the sound of running water. Perhaps it was her lucky day, as she had forgotten to bring water on this trip, but her gut told her the rushing sound was not a good sign. One of the few things she could see were broken rusty pipes sticking through a charred wall. Where could water possibly be running from? Perhaps she should run from there, too."

This is what happens when your creative writing teacher reads you a passage from a Poe story as an example of a good setting the day after you watch The Crow in mid-October. I'm in a very Halloween-y mood, and I hope my cold lets up soon so I can get a costume done in time. Well, I'm off to the couch to work on my pototo impression.

Cleopatra

Next up on the list of things that tickle me: rats in balls. Bridget's rat has a roommate and now I want one, too. Or is that the other way around...

200th Post!

Yep, that's right. I've posted 200 times on this blog. What have I said? I really couldn't tell you. I guess you'll just have to check the archives.

I'm blogging from out of town again, which just tickles me for some reason. (Yeah, that's right, I said tickle. You wanna fight about it?) Handmade Chicago was a great success. I covered all my costs (which means I just got a free trip to see Bridget), and I had a good time. There were a bunch of great sellers there, including Recycled Rings, Craft Leftovers, Prix Prix, Les Vieux Jours, and Lindsey Wisz (who is an amazing illustrator and promised to email me as soon as she gets a Web site going). Meeting online sellers in real life is another thing that tickles me, so today was an all-around good day.

I also got the pencil parts of two drawings done today. They're just little fun things, and I can't wait to finish them. There are also a couple of big-hatted drawings in the works, so be on the lookout.

Open

This is one of the many talking flowers Alice encountered along her journey. He is, of course, open.

I should mention that the Alice in Wonderland show at Cranky Yellow has been postponed, because both David and I want to do a lot more for the show than we could get done in the time allotted. Instead, I'll be doing a show of a bunch of my new work.

Serpent!

After Alice eats the Make-Me-Bigger side of the mushroom, her head zooms up above the trees, where she's berated by a bird for being such an awful serpent and attacking a nest. I always got a little freaked out by the idea of a person with such a long serpentine neck, so I decided to draw it. This is for the Inspire Me Thursday topic, Birds.

I've been rather absent from here lately. I've had a pretty bad week, which I'll blog about later. Right now, I just wanted to get some artwork up here to get my creative mind going again. I have been working a lot, as usual, but I've been a bit of a hermit. I apologize to anyone I've been ignoring. I really do appreciate everyone's comments, and I'll respond soon, I promise.