This week’s artist’s spotlight is on @garfieldfrommemory

1. Tell me a little about yourself.

“About myself: I’m 39 and a woman – I feel like that’s gonna weed out a big segment of the internet but so it goes. I live a somewhat reclusive life with my dog Finnegan in Washington DC, and work a day job to pay the rent. I went to art school, did an MFA, and then life threw a few curves at me and here I am, drawing Garfield from memory every day.”

2. What made you want to draw Garfield in various forms? What was the inspiration behind it?

“The project itself is pretty self-explanatory: every day I draw Garfield from memory and post it. By every day I mean like 5 on one day and none for a day or two but I’m pretty sure it averages out.

Anyway, the reason I started drawing Garfield is a little dark, so fair warning to readers:

I’ve dealt with depression for most of my life, despite a wonderful family and the relative affluence of the 80’s and 90’s in the USA. In the summer of 2018, during a personal and mental health crisis, I attempted suicide. I was out of the hospital in a few days, but a part of me still felt dead inside. I stopped painting, I stopped drawing, I slept all the time I wasn’t at work. It was pretty bleak. But every time I’d absentmindedly draw some doodle I felt a little better. I was hanging out on the regular at a sausage shop – Meats and Foods – run by two rad individuals and Garfield true believers. There’s fantastically curated Garfield swag everywhere, and you can get a chilito, which is amazing, and a can of beer. I sit there and draw a little when it’s not busy. I started drawing Garfield since he was EVERYWHERE, and as I kept drawing him I remembered the feeling of being able to draw certain things from memory as a kid.

You know, you trade your chips for a drawing of snoopy or something. Anyway, something kinda coalesced around that idea, and I started drawing Garfield on the bus in the morning and posting them on IG. Someone suggested I do it for a year, and I thought that’s a low enough bar that I could maybe do it. That was in February, and it just kinda snowballed after that.”

3. What was your favorite Garfield interpretation you have drawn and why?

“My favorite Garf? It’s like picking a favorite child.

Maybe the Garf Bat, which I got tattooed by the fantastic@fork_spit at @ecstattoos. Or the Leatherface Garf. I love them all so much.  There have been a few commissions a little too weird for the Instagram that I adore.

4.What is your favorite episode of Garfield and friends and/or favorite Jim Davis comic strip and why?
“As far as my favorite Garfield comic goes, here’s the thing: I was never a big Garfield person until I started doing this project. Growing up we were not a Garfield household – my mom (hi mom!) intensely disliked Garfield – so I’ve really only started exploring the canon, if you will, pretty recently. I love the idea of Garfield, and I especially love the community of Garfield fans on Instagram – there are a ton of creative people out there making wild Garf stuff. To me, Garfield is my readymade, like Duchamp’s urinal, and he is infinitely mutable, and can stretch to fit any concept. On the web there’s a spectrum of Garfield, from the ridiculous to the sublime to the terrifying. I get to play around with all of that, and get feedback from followers all over the world.  It’s a kind of freedom and playfulness I haven’t found in my art in a long time.”

5.  Do you have any exciting news or events that you would like to share?

“Exciting news? I’m just livin that Garf life and I’m grateful for this project every day. I can’t draw Garfield forever, obviously, but it has given me a part of myself back that I thought was gone for good, and I thank Jim Davis, and now Viacom, for not suing me in the meantime. I would love to work with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or a similar charity on a fundraiser – I received a lot of help from a lot of people in the past year and a half, and I’d like to find a way to give back, or at least pass it on.”

If you would like more info on her art. This is her IG page:

@garfieldfrommemory

Thak you for the interview Kate!

Until Next time!

There is no secret that I love to read! I would totally pull an all nighter book binge. If a certain book made me want to turn every one of it’s pages then time becomes non-existent.

So during the winter months it is prime time for me to curl up with a good book or two…..or twenty.

I made up a list of five reads that I am planning to read this winter season. Or if you still have an avid reader to shop for and you are still on the search to get them that special gift (ahem like ME!). I will provide links on where to buy!

Chase Darkness with Me: How One True-Crime Writer Started Solving Murders by @BillyJensen I first heard about this book when it was first released in August. Author Billy Jensen decided to take matters into his hand decides to solve an unsolvable murder that even the police gave up on.

Link to buy is below:

Chase Darkness With Me

Supreme Glamour by Mark Bego and Mary Wilson. Mary Wilson is the founding member of one of my favorite music girl groups: the Supremes. Along with their amazing vocal cords I also remember their amazing fashion, Mary Wilson and Mark Bego goes in to deep discussion of 32 ensembles from the singing group.

Link to buy is below:

Supreme Glamour

The Topeka School by Ben Lerner. From the description of this book kind of reminds of the show “My so called life” but in book form. It has all the hidden teenage august set in the 90’s era that I would to read about.

Link to buy is below:

The Topeka School

Dali. Tarot (Taschen) This is actually a book I gifted myself. Taschen is one of my favorite book companies because they make their books so exquisitely well. Every time I opened a Taschen book I get a eye full of beautiful photos and exciting words. So when I heard this set of tarot cards was coming out I knew it was something I had to get. There was a limited edition version of this deck that was published in 1984 which is extremely hard and expensive to come by. I thought the reissued version was worth getting.

Link to buy is below:

Dali. Tarot

All about Sergio Leone: The Definitive Anthology by Oreste De Fornari: I am a huge fan of Italian cinema. So when I heard that there was a book about Sergio Leone coming out soon on December 27th it was a pre-order must buy for me.

Link to buy is below:

All About Sergio Leone: The Definitive Anthology

What books are on your reading list this winter? Comment below!

Until next time!

This week’s Artist’s Spotlight is on @billylillyuniverse

1. Tell me a little about yourself.

“Here’s a little about me.

I like wearing overalls but I don’t like being called Mario. One time I built a pool in the woods for my Abbigail to swim in. Took 15 water hoses to fill it up. She’s swim naked in there at night with the frogs, like a big mama queen.

I got a real bad memory. Had to ask what year it was just yesterday. I try to document often to help with that. I keep a scrapbook full of screenshots from Instagram. Just anything interesting to me.

I make wood cutouts of my friends and family and keep them around too.

I’m making my own movie theater in my town’s old gym. Been whittling away at it for the past couple of years. I’m always thinking of new things to tack on.”

2. Where do you get your inspiration from?

“Well since I started the theater’s I’ve painted over a hundred pictures of movie stars and posters about movies. I like the ones from the 80’s and 90’s mostly. Stuff from my childhood. I make it a point to see a movie before I do a painting about one. I wrote a poem called Movies are my Friends.  It goes like this: “Movies are my friends, on them I can depend. When I’m lonesome to no end movies are my friends. If you’ve ever seen that silver screen then you know just what I mean. I can keep my VCR heads clean cuz movies are my friends.”

Lots of other things inspire me all the time too tho: My soulmate Abbigail Rose Lilly. (We met in the 5th grade if you can believe it.) She’s obsessed with Disney and that’s seeped into my work a lot lately.

Last summer, we went swimming one night and around 3 in the morning. we saw 3 fairies flyin real quick into the barn. I think about things like that when I’m feeling creative.”

3. What are 2 favorite pieces you created and why are they your favorite?

“I don’t pick favorites. I love all my babies.”

4. What artist dead or alive would you want to collaborate with and why?

“Well if I could remember who she is. I would know right away who I’d pick. There was this sweet, middle aged, Asian woman on Instagram who I absolutely adored. She was very cheerful in her videos and confident too. She’d say “I love my painting!” I wish I could find her. I suppose I took her uncommon magic for granted. That’s why I make my little books now so I can keep track of all my special people whom I admire.”

5. Do you have any up events or any exciting news that you would to share?

“No big news right now. Just chipping away on my movie theater. It’s called the Super True Love Theater, which is part of my bigger vision called Lilly Land U.S.A (located in Brandenburg, Kentucky)

Once my work is done it will be open and free to the public. I still have plenty of workin to do tho. My next big conquest is a handmade arcade. You can follow my progress over on @billylillyuniverse  on Instagram

Thank you for reading there here interview. It was a real pleasure. Have a happy day

Love,

Billy Lilly

Thank you for the interview. If you would like to buy their art their shop is below:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/billylillyuniverse/

This week’s Artist Spotlight is on artist Inherit My Breaking Wind

1.  Where did the name “Inherit My Breaking Wind” come from?

“Basically I wanted a name that poked fun at something dominating public interest while at the same time not taking myself too seriously/ keeping myself immune from the same criticism.  It was a riff on the play “Inherit the Wind.”  The play being about a teacher willing to go to jail for teaching evolution in spite of faith-based laws.  I wanted to create art that opined on the current zeitgeist….in contrast to the play, I’m taking no real risk in “breaking wind” on how seriously people are taking whatever subject is at hand; then, in turn “breaking wind” on the my own position. ”

2.  Can you describe your art aesthetic?

” I would say my aesthetic is visual non sequiturs that incorporate my obsession with pop culture as the symbology.  All of which is told through a narrative of someone in a state arrested development at age 16.”

3. What is your favorite art piece you created and why?

” Most of my work is a means of working through something and usually isn’t something I revisit much afterwards.  In terms of my favorite art pieces they aren’t my own and are inspiring and sentimental. That said, my favorite piece of my own is an oil painting I made of my dog Capone—he was really sick and I finished the painting the morning of the day he passed.  It’s nothing special aesthetically but it makes me well up when I look at it (he was my sidekick for a long time as well as across some significant life moments)”

4. Where do you get your inspiration from?

“It’s all over the place and runs the gamut between a reaction to topical events to stupid observations.  Always at the core is the pop culture I love as the vehicle for the story (traditional symbols never meant as much for me as random pop references….which I guess illustrates my perspective that nothing is sacred and these pop culture symbols that are equally meaningless).

5. Do you have any exciting news or events that you would like to share?

“I just released my first solo “product” of sorts—it combines my prior commercial failures (art and music).  It’s an instrumental record I wrote, performed, produced and mastered paired with a hardcover book of my art prints.  I did a very limited run (~100) with the hopes I can actually sell enough to cover my cost and hopefully get lucky where it begins to fund the follow-up (which is nearing completion).  It’s something I’m pretty proud of as it chronicles ~60 art prints of released and unreleased pieces over the past couple years as well as the music I started writing last year after my brother in law encouraged my to get back into playing/ writing music again (note his is the one song on the record not mine and he let me break it by adding my own take with guitars).  The music (kind of remedial math rock) is more personal than the art is but similar inasmuch as hopefully there’s something new for the audience to hone in on each revisit.  I’ve put together bundles where there’s an option for just the book and record with a couple pins

I made for $50 with added options to get original drawings for $120 as well as the toy collaboration I recently did with Retrogimmick riffing on an Alex Jone’s conspiracy for $100.  Anyone interested can check out more:

https://inheritmybreakingwind.bandcamp.com/releases

thank you so much for the interview. If you like to see more of his works please visit the sites above. As well as his IG account:

@inheritmybreakingwind

Until next time!

Hello everyone and welcome to another installment of Welcome to the Insta-hood! Where I interviewed fascinating people and their IG accounts. This week I  interviewed fellow IG account @thejamesoliver !

1. Tell me about yourself.

“My name is James Oliver. I used to be a failed heavy metal musician but now I am an Instagram star thanks for my up and coming series “Unegging with James!” I currently reside in Austin, Texas.”

2. How did you come up with the Kinder Egg Instagram Video concept?

” I stumbled across some unboxing videos on Youtube in which BORING people with no charmisa were opening up Kinder Eggs and assembling the toys. The videos had millions of views despite their WEAK content. I decided to take it upon myself to provide entertaining and providing informative videos for the obviously deprived Kinder Egg audience. I started doing the eggisodes on my Instagram story ( a very unorthodox medium to try to create an internet based show). Because only a  handful of people who followed were already watching whenever I would posted weird videos. I knew at least some of the people who follow me would see them.”

3. Why did you pick Kinder egg candy vs an other candy?

“I picked Kinder eggs because I noticed them one day at CVS when I was there picking up my Xanax prescription. In addition to Kinder Joy eggs I have also unegged several other products on the show. Including   Shopkins Choco Treasure, Yowie Surprise Egg, Yummy World, and various others.”

4. What are your three favorite toys from Kinder Egg and is there a toy that you have been searching for that you haven’t come across yet?

” Some of my favorites have been the Mystery Lab series that was in stores in during the Halloween season. There was a couple I didn’t end up finding in my eggs, including a blue guy with an extra face on his stomach and a female cyclops. One of the coolest ones I’ve ever gotten was the motorcycle. I’ve found it in one of the earlier episodes called “Market Eggs.”

Another toy I’ve found pretty neat was a wizard with a blue cape and an orange hat.

My least favorite toys are the Marvel Avengers toys. My dream Kinder Egg series would be Universal Monsters or some sort of horror film icons series.”

5. Do you have any exciting news or events that you would like to share?

“Not really but I have a couple ideas jotted down for potential eggisodes . I would encourage anyone reading this who is intrigued to check out my highlighted series stories on Instagram. That is where I have been archiving all the various eggisodes that I have made. I’m saving up money to buy a proper video camera and some editing software so I can start a YouTube channel. I’m not sure when that will eventually cometo fruition that that is my goal right now and is the main reason I continue to put out episodes of Unegging with James on Instagram.”

To find out more about James and watch some amazing episodes: This is his IG page:

@thejamesoliver

Thank you so much for the interview James!!!

Until next time !

Today’s Movie of the day is Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) directed by John Hughes and  starring John Candy, and Steve Martin.

This movie is about a man called Neal Page (who is played by Steve Martin) who is trying to get home to his family in Chicago from a business trip and runs into a bunch of flight cancellations. By mere chance he runs into a shower curtain salesman (played by John Candy)  at the airport and they tried to find a way to get back to Chicago. They encounter so much obstacles along the way! They literally in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

So I didn’t know anything about this movie until a couple of years ago. It was Thanksgiving and I wanted to watch a movie on Netflix and this was on my recommendation list. So I took a chance and pressed play and I am beyond happy that I did!

I have always been such a huge fan of both leading actors in this movie because the first movie I watch of them was:

Little Shop of Horrors:

And in Plane, Trains and Automobiles they play off each perfectly. This movie is so endearing and have the perfect mixture of laughter and tears. It quickly became a staple viewing for the holiday season for me.

Here is Steve Martin talking about working with John Candy on this movie:

Here are some fun facts about this movie:

When John Candy is riding on the bus he is humming the theme to the Flintstones which was his favorite cartoon.

Director John Hughes originally wanted Tom Hanks and John Travolta to play the lead roles in this movie.

In Del Griffith’s trunk he only has the following items inside: a pillow, and a picture of his wife.

Actor Rick Moranis was another actor that was considered for the role of Neal.

Until Next time!

Hello and welcome to this week’s Welcome to the Insta-hood! This week I interviewed fellow IGer: @madshelleyfilms

1. Tell me a little about yourself.

“I’m an Emmy® Award-Winning Writer-Filmmaker who serves as the President of the nationally recognized educational film company, OutreachArts, Inc. and its award-winning, sister company, Mad Shelley Films (‘Under the Flowers’, ‘The Halloween Girl’). In recent years I’ve stepped away from my company, OutreachArts to focus on our Mad Shelley Films work.

However, I’m incredibly proud of our OutreachArts’ Emmy® Award-Winning teen drama series, ‘Maple Ave’ which aired on public television – and was even featured on IFC! These days, I’m probably better known for our spooky web series, ‘Under the Flowers’.”

2. Can you talk about your company: Mad Shelley Films?

“Well, on our web site it says that Mad Shelley Films was born of my ‘love for classic ghost stories’ but, really, the catalyst was losing both my parents within six months of each another and deciding to make, a one-off film, ‘The Halloween Girl’ to deal with my grief. In the end, the film did help me through a very difficult time and I’m happy to say it was also very well received; we had some Hollywood screenings, awards and great reviews. But, little did I know, the Halloween Girl would demand a resurrection in what became our supernatural web series,  ‘Under the Flowers’! It was as if all these characters and their stories had been patiently waiting for me to finish up with OutreachArts and then, boom!, this sudden explosion of Hammer Films, Twin Peaks, Mario Bava, Dark Shadows, 70’s horror comics and Neil Gaiman-influenced stuff was spilling out everywhere! Sounds like a mess – and it was – a great, big, beautiful, spooky mess!”

3. How did you come up with the concept of your company?

“When I decided to start up the company, I instantly thought of a blurb I’d read in High School about the poet, Percy Shelley and how he got the nicknamed ‘Mad Shelley’ at school because of his passionate, eccentric behavior. Well, right away, I felt I had discovered a kindred spirit (and a favorite poet)! So we had a name – and then I thought of Rod Serling and my love of the supernatural and our tagline, ‘Supernatural Dramas – with a Twist!’ was born. Really though, I consider our work ‘bubblegum art films’ because they’re rooted in both my love of dark, classic literature, art films and retro horror (particularly 60’s & 70’s stuff). So, I’m afraid, we’re always going to be more ‘The Innocents’ (1961) and ‘Let’s Scare Jessica to Death’ (1971) than the latest jump scare rehash! ”

4. What has been your favorite project that you have worked on and why?

“Well, my favorite project is always the most recent so that would have to be ‘Under the Flowers: Waking the Witch’ (our third season). Though I was pretty sick during filming, our amazing cast and crew pulled me over the finish line – they truly are the best and really share a special spot in my heart.

Anyway, I enjoyed this ‘Under the Flowers’ chapter the most because there was a real joy in making it (much like ‘The Halloween Girl’). We had arduous shoots the first two seasons and I was determined to reverse that trend while digging deeper into the characters with a more adventurous storyline. And, I’m happy to say, it’s been the most well-received ‘Under the Flowers’ season to date!”

5.  Do you have any exciting news or any future projects you would like to share?

“Yes! I recently finished the script for the last episode of Book 1 of ‘Under the Flowers’; it’s called ‘Catch Your Death’ and we hope to shoot it in the Spring of 2020. In this one Charlotte gets her wish to return to her old life for a redo – but quickly learns witches shouldn’t play with dead things! Also, I’m in the process of adapting the ‘Under the Flowers’ series and ‘The Halloween Girl’ as a graphic novel series – and having a blast! So, come on 2020!”

If you like more information about Mad Shelley Films the following contact information is below:

Mad Shelley Films

Their Instagram account:

@madshelleyfilms