Welcome to Night Vale Listening Party

Allow me to use my blog to shamelessly promote a local event that I’m co-hosting:

The Welcome to Night Vale Listening Party is happening THIS SATURDAY! You don’t want to miss it. Hosted by Matthew Carr and myself, hang out and listen to the 2 latest episodes of WTNV on the stellar sound system of the Lovecraft Bar. There will also be a raffle of official WTNV swag.

graphic design by Valerie Herron

 

A bit of background info for those of you scratching your heads: Welcome to Night Vale is a brilliant podcast. Influenced by the writing of H.P. Lovecraft, conspiracy theories, and community radio, WTNV is a hilarious and beautifully written production. Narrated by Cecil Baldwin as the Night Vale community radio announcer, WTNV illuminates the strange happenings in the desert town of Night Vale. I recommend it highly, so highly that I think you should listen to it in a group setting!

The Lovecraft Bar is Portland’s own “horror-themed” bar. With tentacles and sigils on the walls, this is the best place in town to get a drink or pot of tea, in my humble opinion. Matt and I thought it was the perfect venue for a WTNV Listening party. So go check it out. What a perfect way to punctuate the romance or disappointment of Valentine’s Day! See you all there 🙂

 

 

Secrets

Happy Wednesday, All. As promised, I am going to commit to updating this thing at least once a week. So what’s going on in Mystic Media studios today:

I CAN’T TELL YOU! Normally I would post about the process of my projects, but I’m in the process of working on a top secret painting. I will let you know this, however. It will be mixed wet media, much like my Crowley poem series, and I was fortunate enough to have the gorgeous and talented Sushila Battagione to model for this painting. I’m hoping to have it finished by the 1st of July. Stay tuned!

the lovely Sushila Battagione – photo © Scott Belding 2013

**NOTE: Does this lady look familiar? That’s because you probably know her either from her artistic excellence in producing Raqs Oubliettes or from her many services and workshops via her health spa Oracle Wellness. If you are unfamiliar with either of these enterprises, I insist that you check them out immediately!**

I was so pleased to receive so much positive feedback on my thesis post, I was even quoted in The Wild Hunt (WHAT?) Thank you guys for taking an interest in my art and taking the time to tell me what you think. And thank you all for being so forgiving about the offensive amount of typos in my mini dissertation! I basically sat down and typed it all out in an hour, so it was naturally rife with mistakes. Meh. Thankfully my actual 50 page thesis paper was coherent and beautifully copy-edited.

Enough with the face-saving. There isn’t much else new and exciting going on around here. I did get to visit with my dear friend Sean who blew in from the midwest this week. We went to The Lovecraft and caught up a little bit. I brought my sketchbook and drew in the dark. C’mon, that isn’t nearly as pathetic as reading a book in the club. Is it?…

Lovecraft sketching

Lovecraft sketching

OH YEAH, it was my birthday on Sunday. I had a wealth of birthday wishes, my best friend Kelli took me out for dinner, my boyfriend organized a surprise goth pool party for me (for realz) I received 2 birthday readings and my dear friend Maxine Miller gave me this AMAZING cimaruta. Maxine is the artist that designed this cimaruta for Raven Grimassi‘s line of witchy products. I was stoked to get it from the artist herself ❤

My Cimaruta by the amazing Maxine Miller

 

Curiouser and Curiouser…

Hello everyone. I have been so insanely busy it is just…. insane. Amongst all of this insanity, progress has been made on the Creatures of the Deep project. Here’s a little preview of the progress so far:

Who knew Deep Ones could be so cute? I will post the results when the project is finished. I also will begin painting my Crowley triptych tomorrow.

Tonight, I will be filming! At The Lovecraft, Raqs Obliettes will be performing a much anticipated show, Curiouser & Curiouser.

Now to decrypt that sentence:

ceiling of the Lovecraft Bar

The Lovecraft Bar is a horror-themed nightclub in Portland, OR. It is one of my favorite places in Portland, run by one of my favorite people in Portland, Jon Horrid. As you can imagine, they have several different theme nights (goth night, metal night, Tom Waits night, etc.) and host many different performances and events of the same ilk. The place looks like LaVey Satanists and H.P. Lovecraft enthusiast were hired for the interior decorating. Most likely, this is the case. One feature I love about this place is that they have a vegan menu that fits the Lovecraftian theme, and a selection of high quality teas that you can order in 16 – 24 oz pots. Again, I can not speak highly enough about this place, and you can often find me there. It is a must see if you come to Portland, OR.

Raqs Obliettes is a belly-dancing troupe with a dark aesthetic. Hands down, I have seen these ladies perform the best fusion belly-dancing EVAR! I believe this is the first themed show that they have performed, and I am most excited to see this Alice in Wonderland themed production of dark-fusion belly dancing, Curiouser & Curiouser. If you are in Portland, why on earth would you not go see this tonight? Doors open at the Lovecraft for this at 9pm. Just sayin’ 😉

Sushila - digital media, Valerie Herron 2011

Raqs Obliettes is led/produced by another one of my favorite people, Sushila Battagione.  She is an experienced tarot-reader and energy worker, as well as Doula and enviably talented dancer.

Alright, I must get ready go do a million things. At what point did I cease to be a lazy person?