Category Archives: Halloween Artist Bazaar

Featured Artist Interview September 2015: Art By Sarada

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To find where Art By Sarada sells her wares visit her artist page on HAB. 

Interview with V. Sarada Holt or Art By Sarada:

At what age did you discover your love of Halloween?

I can’t remember a time when it wasn’t my favorite holiday – having a birthday about a week after Halloween, they always kind of went together as festive, fun time of year. I conspired with my grandmother every year to figure out what my costume would be. I remember the first costume that was my own conscious choice, when I was around four, was a witch. I also made sure to get both princess and fairy princess in at an early age as well. After that, you could say that it was fandom based! I was born in 1973, so childhood was the 70s and early 80s, and there was some Princess Leia in there, a cat from the musical “Cats,” and even a character from the anime show “Star Blazers” – which no one else recognized, I’m sure. While it was all about costumes and candy during those years, I think I was born to love horror movies as well. My parents had been big fans of Hammer Horror and other 1960s and early 70s horror movies – I grew up watching them on TV on Saturday afternoons during the “Creature Double Feature” on a local TV channel. The fact that there was a time of year – around my birthday, no less! – devoted to these kinds of pursuits, AND dressing up, was more than I could handle.

What is your fondest Halloween memory?

It’s hard to say, as the actual day of Halloween itself has always revolved around just being home, trick or treating, or greeting trick or treaters. In recent years I have a new tradition that I love to indulge in, which is watching weird old horror films with my husband until we can’t stay up any longer. We joked about it for weeks, with me promising him that we’d stay up “’til 6 a.m.!” watching our favorites. Typically this includes a vampire film by the French director Jean Rollin, a favorite Hammer or Vincent Price movie, and maybe a gothic Italian film from the early 60s. I don’t think I’ve made it until 6 a.m. yet but I manage to get about five movies in most years. Last year we went to the Museum of Funeral History here in Houston on Halloween as well, which was a nice touch. Every year Halloween gets better than the one before, even though we mostly just stay around the house, it is always special.

How do you celebrate Halloween?

On the actual day of Halloween, it’s not too much different from any other, around here. I’ve never had kids, so I don’t get to experience trick or treating from that side, but I love to drive around neighborhoods to see how everything is decorated, and hand out candy at home or at a friend’s house. Then we have our movie marathon, as I noted above. My year-round wardrobe tends to include plenty of Halloween themed fabrics that I’ve used to make things for myself, when it’s not just all-black clothing to begin with, but I always go the extra mile on Halloween. It’s funny, because I don’t do much in the way of decorating or going all-out with festivities, because I feel like I live in a Halloween mindset all year round. We usually spend the entire fall watching favorite horror movies, aside from the big night itself, and I read lots of Victorian ghost stories in the weeks leading up to it. I just like to revel in that time of year, and the fact that for about three months you can go into stores and they will be full of bats, cats, spiders, moons and witch hats.

When did you start creating in your medium and what training have you had?

I started painting in 1986, after spending my entire childhood drawing fantasy creatures and images. I was inspired largely by my love of Dungeons and Dragons, at that point, and fantasy in general. I started to paint with acrylics, focusing on dragons, fairies and the like. I used acrylic paint, and was entirely self-taught, though of course I had a couple of elective Art classes in high school. I took a couple of classes in college as well but did not enjoy taking art as a subject. I liked taking art HISTORY, but as for hands-on creative work, I was more interested in just finding my own way. I experimented with oils as well and have used them more in recent years. I’m very much in favor of people seeking instruction and training in their chosen art form, but I enjoyed finding my own way, experimenting based on what I saw in other peoples’ work, since I was doing it mostly for my own amusement, and not as a professional pursuit.

On a side note, one of the main inspirations for me to start painting was a woman I met at a mall art show near my childhood home in central New Jersey, I think around the summer of 1986. Amidst all of the landscape and other decorative paintings on display was a booth where a woman was painting a purple dragon on a misty mountaintop. Her paintings were all on similar themes – fairies, dragons, angels, magical women. Her name was Ann-Marie, and we corresponded for some time after that, as she encouraged my interests. I took the same kind of themes as my favorite subject matter in my teens and was very influenced by her self-taught style and approach. I bought a number of her prints over the years as well and I still admire the detail and unique, original style she developed. Seeing someone paint up close and in person like that, and being able to see all of those paintings that were so close to my heart in their themes and inspiration, really gave me a huge creative push that has never gone away.

What was the inspiration to create what you create and when did you know you wanted to create Halloween?

After college, my painting pursuits trailed off a little as I felt my subject matter wasn’t going to be taken seriously by anyone. But I put a few little paintings on eBay when I started selling odds and ends from around the house, on that site around 1999, and the reception was pretty warm. I had started to collect antique Halloween postcards from the early 1900s around then and was captivated by the imaginative imagery. It occurred to me that I could make new versions of these kinds of images, and that proved to be fodder for art for years to come. I’ve continued to explore other themes that I love, including fantasy, surrealism, nature, gothic and ghost imagery and other subjects, but I always come back around to Halloween. I like to do things that are cute, but not cutesy. I love a colorful, bold palette with classic, antique imagery.

Please DO Feed the Ghosts

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Please DO Feed the Ghosts
 -By Debbi Decker

We are in the midst of a pretty dire season. We’ve only just made it past the dog days of summer and are thinking thoughts of fall, cooler weather, football, and our favorite of all holidays, Halloween. Don’t get too ahead yourself though. Right now you better be feeding the ghosts.

We are smack dab in the middle of a period that is recognized by the Buddhist tradition as the “Hungry Ghost Month”. Based upon the lunar calendar, this period usually starts in July. However, this year (2015) it started on August 14 and will end September 12.

Hungry Ghosts are believed to be the souls of the evil dead that reside in Hell, condemned, due to the sins they committed, to suffer eternity feeling hunger. Some souls will be hungry for wealth, some revenge, and some simply for food. Once a year, during the seventh lunar month, the gates of Hell are opened and these souls are released to roam the earth.

So, you are probably thinking that you have already missed half of the month and are saying “so what?” It is never too late to get on the right side of these spirits. Just as you ward your homes against the usual bad actors, you need to up the stakes during Hungry Ghost Month. Here are a few tips and things you can do to be sure that everyone is happy, both corporeal and incorporeal:

Burn fake money. Called “Hell Notes” or Joss paper. Do this in front of your home, your business, or anywhere else you want to protect. Never ever pick up any money you find on the ground during this period. That money belongs to the ghosts. Give money freely to charities and to the living during this time period.

Leave offerings of food and drink outside your home (be nice and use good plates and glassware). This should be left far enough away from your normal pathways so that you do not encounter any of the local wildlife that may investigate that tasty chicken leg. Never ever chase away any animals or bugs that might be near or on the offerings, and never touch the offerings after you have left them out for the spirits until the Hungry Ghost Month is over. Then you may clear away whatever is left. Do this respectfully, perhaps putting the remains in a compost pile. You may either destroy or ritually cleanse the plates and glassware and put all away for next year. I personally think it would be nice to have a small selection of pretty dinnerware and glassware to be used solely for rituals such as these.

Burn incense inside and outside the home. Rock salt sprinkled at doorways and on windowsills will keep the spirits from entering. Try not to conduct new important business or start new projects during this time. However, if a project or business venture was started before August 14, you can continue to move forward.

Never ever kill an unusual insect or bug inside your home during this time (roaches being the exception). It is believed that those unusual creepy crawlies could be reincarnations of your ancestors and they are simply stopping by to check things out and to say hello.

No whistling, going out alone at night, or hanging laundry out to dry. Any of these activities will bring attention to you and the spirits may decide they like you and move in. If that happens, you might have to have your home cleansed or exorcised by a professional. Wear a protective amulet during this time and have it cleansed when the period is over.

Following these tips will leave you unscathed, and the Hungry Ghosts will, with toothpicks in their mouths and money in their pockets, travel back to lounge on their couches in Hell to bet on a little after dinner football.

Sounds like Thanksgiving to me.

Debbi Decker is proprietor of Crazed Poppet Creations Art & Assemblage Emporium. Check out her artist page to find links to her shop and blog to read more of her writings. Visit again next month for the telling of hauntings and ghostly tales by Debbi Decker.

2015 Trick or Treat Give Away

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Trick Or Treat!


Trick Or Treat!

Congratulations to Stephanie Grant!

The 2014 Trick or Treat Give Away has concluded! The winner will be contacted via email. Thank you to all the folks who Trick or Treated! Visit Halloween Artist Bazaar to find more holiday events and give aways through out the year. We appreciate your interest in Halloween Artist Bazaar and for keeping the spirit of Halloween alive!

Keep your Jack o’ lanterns lit in solidarity, and to all a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Congratulations To the winner!

How To Enter:

Step 1: Visit one of the contributing HAB artist from the list below. If the artist your Trick or Treating is an Etsy store contact them using the “contact the owner” tab on the left sidebar of their shop. If they are on the HAB catalog use our contact form. Leave them a message that states “TRICK OR TREAT!”.
Step 2: Visit our Facebook page and “Like” us and comment “TRICK OR TREAT!” on our wall.
Step 3: Fill out the official Trick or Treat Give Away entry form below.

Official Rules

Entry deadline is Midnight on October 20th 2015 Central Standard Time. The Winner will be chosen at random. One entry per person. Winner will be notified via email. The prize will ship on October 21st 2015. The winners name will be posted on the Halloween Artist Bazaar website and Facebook page. Information obtained will only be used to contact winner in regards to contest. HAB does not release or sell information from our entry forms or contact page. All ages welcome to enter. Members of Halloween Artist Bazaar are not qualified for entry. Contest open internationally, however please note that prize may not arrive before October 31st due to international shipping delays. *Your countries custom charges may apply. * Prize value an estimated $280.00

Contributing Halloween Artist Bazaar Artists in order of photo appearance:(check back as the list grows and photo’s of the winnings are posted!)

Twilight Faerie
Crazed Poppet Creations
Ghost Gap
A Paper Witch
Art By Sarada
Gothbunny
Jan’s Beads
Jynxx Designs
Lttle Shop Of Horrors
Plum Batty
PunkinPrims
Sauvage Raven Creations
A. Ryer Studio
Chaos In Color
Wicked Alterations
Art for A Gloomy Day

Faceless

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Faceless
 -By Debbi Decker

There sits on a shelf a doll with no face. All in red, round head and star shaped body. No gender implied. It is called a Sarubobo, and it comes from Takayama in the Gifa prefecture, located in the mountainous Hida region of Japan. Legend says grandmothers of long ago would have made this doll for a grandchild in various colors, with red bringing luck in marriage, fertility, and childbirth. That fact that the doll is faceless also allowed the possessor to project whatever image they wished upon the doll, such as the face of a mother, father, or even themselves.

Here in the United States, the Amish traditionally created faceless dolls based upon Christian biblical teachings that forbid people from creating and/or worshipping graven images or idols. A faceless doll would not allow the children to see it as a human likeness, and therefore they avoided the sin of loving or “worshipping” an idol. The faceless dolls of the Amish also kept a child from identifying with a beautifully-rendered doll and so guarded against the sin of vanity. In my research I found Islam also forbids the depiction of facial features of any kind, including those on dolls.

Still another example of a faceless doll would be the corn husk dolls of the Iroquois, a Native American confederacy. Traditionally, the women would plant and tend the corn, which would then be harvested and the husks saved to make rugs, masks, medicine bundles, and dolls that had no faces. Their reasons for the lack of faces runs the gamut from religious and medicinal purposes to teaching life lessons to the children. There is a creation story told by the Iroquois that tells us that the first corn husk doll had a beautiful face. She was put on the earth to take care of and to guide the children. When she caught her reflection in the waters of a stream, she became so enamored of her beauty that she continually stared into the stream and thus neglected the children. The Creator then took away her face to punish her for her vanity.

Sarubobos are made in other colors for love, health, money, and removal of bad luck. Corn husk dolls have been found in Iroquois medicine bags, and it was also believed by the People that to give a doll a face was to give it a soul. Waldorf dolls, another faceless variety, are used as educational tools for invoking imagination and fantasy. A Voodoo doll in times past would have been made without a face at the start, and only given one as the spell work upon the doll progressed, and only if necessary to increase the spell’s success. As an aside, Voodoo dolls actually came from Europe and were not an original part of the religious practices brought over with from Africa. The European poppet was a doll used in fertility rites and other magical working, and some were buried in the crop fields to insure a good harvest.

Dolls trigger all kinds of emotions and feelings. Many do not like them and avoid them, while others collect them and fill their homes with them. Then there are those like me who find the faceless dolls intriguing and useful. The thread that ties together the aforementioned dolls is the use of imagination to project images and feelings upon the dolls. Which is an important part of all magical workings. The components and tools that we use in our spiritual practices are, as a rule, imbued with our thoughts and feelings, and certain outcomes are projected upon the components as a whole. I will, however, rarely buy any kind of used doll at a flea market, collectible or antique store, as I have no way of knowing who had that doll before me and what that doll meant to any previous owner.

My Sarubobo was given to me by someone who knew I would be appreciative of the magical purpose for the doll, but who clearly did not realize the correlation of the color. At the time of the gift, I had already married, birthed children, and divorced, and I was well beyond the desire to ever remarry or have any more children! Therefore, the doll sits on the shelf, is rarely handled, and, in my mind, remains faceless. After all, I am keenly aware that to handle dolls is to imbue qualities upon them and to awaken the magic they hold. And I am afraid that should an aspiring husband show up on my doorstep I will be forced to bring out that other faceless doll of ill repute and begin a working with some pins.

Photographs “Sarubobo”, “Faceless Goddess”, “Faceless Poppet and “Voodoo Doll” provided by Crazed Poppet Creations and are copyrighted images. To contact Debbi Decker for purchase of these prints visit her website.

Debbi Decker is proprietor of Crazed Poppet Creations Art & Assemblage Emporium. Check out her artist page to find links to her shop and blog to read more of her writings. Visit again next month for the telling of hauntings and ghostly tales by Debbi Decker.

Featured Artist Interview August 2015: Intricate Knot

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To find where Intricate Knot sells her wares visit her artist page on HAB. 

Interview with Intricate Knot of Art For A Gloomy Day and Tarryfails Corner:

At what age did you discover your love of Halloween?
My love of Halloween began several lifetimes ago, at least a few centuries. Hope there aren’t any witch hunters out there reading this!

Seriously, my love of Halloween did begin over a multitude of pagan incarnations. In this lifetime it is pure icing on the Jack O’ Lantern. From the time I was first allowed out of the house to Trick or Treat (somewhere around the age of 6), I realized that Halloween is the best thing going.

What is your fondest Halloween memory?

This is a challenging question, as all my Halloweens are filled with fond memories. If we’re talking this lifetime, putting together costumes for my son’s trick or treating adventures. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we loved getting creative with my brother’s old make up kit (from his theater days). One year, my son transformed into the Terminator. Resplendent with partial robotic skull exposed (alá scar putty, oozey fake blood, and humble tin foil), and the ever-important black leather motor cycle jacket. Schwarzenegger eat your heart out.

Recently, I would have to say the first year after I joined HAB and participated in the Trick or Treat Giveaway. It was a first in many ways, not the least of which it was the first time I’d ever participated in a giveaway. It gave me such a wonderful feeling seeing a photo of my offering lined up next to such amazing pieces done by the other artists in the group. I felt like, phew! It’s been a long time coming folks, but I finally found my tribe.

How do you celebrate Halloween?

If time and energy allows, Halloween celebrations begin with some kitchen magick: making candy apples, apple pies, cinnamon potpourri, simmering, savory stews…and the list goes on! My husband and I decorate our sizable patio and our house. Stringing up candy corn lights, red skulls, and glowing purple LEDs…oh my!

Halloween is the great no-pressure holiday. It’s more than that, though. There is the entire season of autumn…the snap in the air, the energy that all builds to the day itself. The images, art work (especially the creations of our group!), sheer fun (and horror), not to mention the most excellent treats and tricks of Halloween is a spirit that I carry within all throughout the year.

When did you start creating in your medium and what training have you had?

Well it all started with a doodle of something that looked like a cross between a gloomy gene and a disgruntled meatball. (Hopefully) I have improved from there. I’ve had no training what-so-ever or at least not in any formal capacity.

When I was a kid I wrote stories and doodled pretty much 24/7 and by the time I reached the age of 16, I’d decided that this was what I was meant to do with my life. Then [insert dramatic music here], I allowed one teacher’s opinion of my work dissuade me from this course. Years went by. Then one day, I had the proverbial epiphany (more like a swift kick to the head) and now I just don’t look back. I still doubt my work…I think all artists and artisans do. Just part of the package! But the difference is now I keep going, despite the doubts.

What was the inspiration to create what you create and when did you know you wanted to create Halloween?

I’ve always loved all of the symbology of Halloween: witches, black cats, Jack O’Lanterns, scarecrows, ghosts, goblins, things-that-go-bump-in-the-night, ravens, owls, haunted trees, and on goes the list! Artists are inspired by what draws them in and Halloween draws me in. It’s simply a magical time and the only time of the year when it’s not only okay, but you’re actually encouraged to come out of the proverbial closet and be a witch, which is freeing. That’s what inspires me.

The Watchers in the Woods

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The Watchers in the Woods
 -By Debbi Decker

It was not always like this. She has traveled through many woods in many countries. They always held a sense of magic for her, a sacred place to wander and to worship. Not these woods. The forests behind her new home hides something she cannot identify.
It isn’t that the forest is a fear-filled place. Rather it is the feelings it gives her as she wanders amongst the trees.

Tall trees they are too, with a high canopy that lets in just enough light to allow her to see her surroundings. The light never brings detail to anything to give her a real sense of safety. Covered in leaves and moss, the forest floor offers no bracken or shrubbery to hide within. So, why is there this sense of being watched, being weighed, and always being found wanting?

The paths through the woods are barely there, trodden only by beasts of habit. She is never sure what beasts these are. There are watchers in the woods. The eyes she feels on her sometimes feel like the eyes of something “other”, something elemental and only found deep within the forest. Babbling brooks and moss filled nooks take on a different meaning here. It is a dare to drink from the streams, knowing the stories told of enchantments placed upon the flowing waters and the fates that befell those who took those dares and drank.

Blame it on all those fairy tales she thinks. Red Riding Hood’s wolf and that gingerbread cottage in the depths of the woods. Funny how both of those tales speak of cannibalism. Death by a supposedly trusted or respected person. Both stories feature women who are not as they seem. Makes one wonder if the Gods of the woods require such sacrifices. Surely not, she thinks, but one never really knows when it comes to the Gods and their needs.

How is it that she did not sense this when she first viewed the house and the land? Had she known, she would have continued her search for a new home. She must have been dazzled by whatever lives in the shadows there. It must want something from her.

She feels compelled at times to pass through the forest as though some force or lost soul calls to her, luring her into the deepest, shadiest, darkest parts. The forest uncovers her darker side and throws it mirror-like back in her face, forcing her to embrace those secret bits of her soul. The bits that recognize the demons hidden within those fairy tales that tell of old women wearing wolf’s clothing and homes with deep ovens. Whose big eyes see everything you do and whose appetites can devour you right down to the tiniest crumb of your very essence. These woods feed on those bits.

No, this particular forest is not her friend, no matter how Pagan her soul and no matter that the Gods she worships revere this place. This forest is not for her and she passes through it only when called and only as a last resort. She wants to keep her soul. This is not her place. The Gods will understand after all. She hopes. Because no none ever really knows when it comes to the Gods and their needs.

Photographs “Watching”, “Green Man”, “Forest Moon and “Portal” provided by Crazed Poppet Creations and are copyrighted images. To contact Debbi Decker for purchase of these prints visit her website.

Debbi Decker is proprietor of Crazed Poppet Creations Art & Assemblage Emporium. Check out her artist page to find links to her shop and blog to read more of her writings. Visit again next month for the telling of hauntings and ghostly tales by Debbi Decker.

Featured Artist Interview July 2015: A. Ryer Studio

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To find where Angela Ryer sells her wares visit her artist page on HAB. 

Interview with Angela Ryer of A.Ryer Studio:

At what age did you discover your love of Halloween?
Around 7 or 8. My parents made a big to do about it when they bought New Halloween decorations for the house we moved into, I was fascinated by them. They (my parents) hung a sheet in the foyer, put up a black light, decorations and when I came home from my own trick or treating, *this* was MY world….and I loved it; my introduction into Home Haunting.

What is your fondest Halloween memory?

Around 13 or 14 years old, at a new house, my dad hung up sheets outside on the long front porch. I had a ton of masks hanging on them. My neighborhood friend, Bo, a REALLY big kid for his age stood up against the house in a mask and gloves. I was in my mom’s old witch costume, TRYING to be creepy, saying my shtick. One of our schoolmates went “Aww, this is LAME!!” while some of the other kids were standing there eyeing my friend against the wall suspiciously. Just as the one kid made the lame comment, Bo SPRANG into life screaming and got a hold of that kid by the throat!! Just on the other side of the sheet, my brother and his wife stood there as butts fell from under the sheets and kids scattered screaming their heads off like the devil was after them with Bo in hot pursuit!! LOL Yeah!!! How do you like me NOW????

How do you celebrate Halloween?

I do a small display (built a free standing ghost woman with no head) carve lots of pumpkins play Midnight Syndicate and give out candy.

I also tend to bake a lot of pumpkin stuff…

When did you start creating in your medium and what training have you had?

The ornaments started in 2004. I had ABSOLUTELY NO TRAINING in sculpting or mold making. I was in a professional Halloween/haunt group and asked for help in getting started. Some good people pointed me in the right direction and I literally started from scratch. I taught myself.

My cemetery artwork came a little later. The only training I had in painting was high school level. I stopped for a number of years. Back in 2002, after discovering Midnight Syndicate, I became inspired and took myself much more seriously. I started painting from my own cemetery photographs and discovered, I REALLY liked painting nature and capturing my images on canvas. The rest is history.

What was the inspiration to create what you create and when did you know you wanted to create Halloween?

You could say, my ornaments are my *marching orders*.
They came to me in a flash of divine inspiration of what I knew I was supposed to do, for whatever reason, as an artist. I wasn’t looking for anything. It just hit me and I found myself creating something beyond what I ever dreamed. When did I know I wanted to create something Halloween??? After creating my first yard haunt. Sitting there in 40°weather staring at what I created; it literally looked like a mini movie set. I knew in my heart I wanted to create something unique to me in the realm of Halloween.

Black Cat Art Event

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Halloween Artist Bazaar Black Cat Art Event and Benefit 2015!

Participating members of Halloween Artist Bazaar have created special edition artworks and are donating proceeds to sponsor black cats through Austin Pets Alive! Take the thumbnail links to purchase any of the items below and a donation will be made to help sponsor an elder black cat within the Austin Pets Alive! foster system.

These funds will go towards spay/neutering, medical and feeding cost for black felines. Black cats are the hardest to place in homes and usually the first to be euthenized in animal shelters. Austin Pets Alive does all they can to keep these magnificent kitties alive and healthy so that they can be someones forever companion. Please help in our efforts to raise awareness of how wonderful black cats are and help keep them safe! You not only will be buying a unique piece of one of a kind art to cherish, you will be doing real and permeant good for a special black cat!
Read about the cultural history and myths surrounding “The Black Cat” here.

Visit Austin Pets Alive! and Visit America Pets Alive! to find out how you can help black cats and make help make your city or town a no kill community!
Austin Pets Alive!

Below you will find items for sell from members of Halloween Artist Bazaar with proceeds going to help black cats!

Featured Artist Interview June 2015 with Twilight Faerie

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To find where Twilight Faerie sells her wares visit her artist page on HAB. 

Interview with Michelle Angelique Duncan of Twilight Faerie:

What inspired you to start the Halloween Artist Bazaar group?

There are those who are Halloween people. At some point they fell in love with that day that falls on October 31st. For them Halloween isn’t just a holiday that comes once a year and then it is done. For Halloween people it is part of who they are. They surround themselves with, and some have a passion to create, Halloween. Halloween Artist Bazaar was started to preserve the spirit of Halloween for those people who create and those who collect. What we do is a very special niche in the art world.

You are guiding this group into being much more than just an Etsy team, where do you see HAB headed?

Halloween Artist Bazaar was never intended to be Etsy-centric. When the group was formed it just happened that a lot of contemporary Halloween artist were selling on Etsy. Forming an Etsy team for the group made sense as a valuable tool. Halloween Artist Bazaar was always intended to be a cross-platform group with members who sell from all kinds of online venues and our own selling catalog. I hope that HAB will be able to establish itself as an online shopping catalog where Halloween collectors will find one of a kind handmade Halloween works that embody quality craftsmanship, unique character and sincerity.

What is your fondest Halloween memory?

I can not say there is only one fond Halloween memory, more of an amalgamation of Halloweens from childhood. Growing up in the 1970’s Halloween was a big deal in my neighborhood. Nearly the whole neighborhood participated. All the houses would be decorated with a least a lit Jack o Lantern or a sheet ghost. Kids and grown ups all dressed in elaborate costumes, most of them home made. At dusk the streets would fill up with the excitement of trick or treaters, screams and music could be heard from makeshift yard and garage haunted houses. It was as though the entire neighborhood magically transformed into something different and we were all celebrating on Halloween.

How do you celebrate Halloween?

I used to throw elaborate Victorian style costume parties complete with silly party games, costume contests and an Autumnal feast. My situation is different now, so gone are those days.

I still dress in costume, usually as a cat. The yard gets decorated and house get decorated. We carve pumpkins and I bake Autumn treats. A few friends will come by for the evening. We burn a fire in the fire pit, grill sausage wraps on the smoker and give out bottles of water to neighbors who stop by. There is a huge bucket I fill with candy and hand out to kids. My rule is to get the candy the kids have to yell TRICK OR TREAT as loud as they can, and they must have on a costume of some sort. We host a food drive on Halloween night where folks can drop off donations in big decorated boxes that I set out in the yard. The neighborhood I am in has a lot of kids and some years we have a huge turn out. Most of the houses are decorated and folks hand out candy.

When did you start creating in your medium and what training have you had?

My family was filled with artistic people, so I was always around art and art supplies. There isn’t a time I remember in which I wasn’t drawing, cutting paper or gluing glitter on to things. I received a lot of instruction from my family when I was very young. I took art classes through out junior high into college. My floral work comes from 15 years in the floral industry; the decoupage comes from a love of cutting and gluing. The joke I make is that the floral work supports my glittery Halloween habit. Even when I was very young I painted; however, it wasn’t until 2014 that I finally got brave enough to try and sell the paintings. I created Twilight Faerie and started selling the Halloween and floral pieces in 2003.

What was the inspiration to create what you create and when did you know you wanted to create Halloween?

The inclination to create Halloween came back when I was nine years old. Deciding the household did not have nearly enough decorations (and my parents didn’t see the necessity of buying more), I decided to create my own to hang about.

There were tissue paper ghost and construction paper bats that dangled from yarn and paper Jack o lanterns with cut out tissue eyes that hung in the windows. I had started constructing a scarecrow from scratch. He was drawn in pencil and colored with watercolor markers. He stood about 4 feet tall and his head arms and legs where cut out and attached to brads so that his joints would move. Making these decorations for the house became a huge project that lasted for three weeks building up to Halloween night.

The scarecrow was an undertaking. It took me a very long time to get him just right and time was running out. I worked feverishly as soon as I got home from school that Halloween to get him finished to hang on the door before the trick or treating started. Somehow I felt he had to fulfill his Halloween destiny and be displayed before dusk. It was that Halloween, when it got dark and I was hanging the scarecrow on the door that I knew some day I wanted to do something to contribute to the world of Halloween.

All my life I have loved Halloween and the imagery of folklore and fairy tales. I was inspired to create ornaments and decoupage pieces as a way to preserve the imagery that is so dear to me. I didn’t want those magical images to be lost to the world. It was as if the images from the past had to be put out in the world for another foray. Back when I started there were only a handful of Halloween artist and only a scarce few who where creating pieces from vintage images. The paintings I paint echo that love of Halloween and fairy tales; there is always a need to get the images that frolic around in my head to paper and out to the world. I suppose I am hoping that Halloween and whimsical imagery might mean as much to others as it does me, and might give those images and creations life that is passed down through generations to come.