The idea for a greeting card came up and so this week’s comic was born. Do I go ahead and make it into a greeting card? Too mean? Funny enough, not to matter if it’s a little mean? Not mean enough? Idk. It makes me laugh so I’ll probably do a small run.

Today my friend sent me a link to an article on body art in the literal sense..art made with human blood, flesh, bones, hair, nail clippings, etc. You’ll recognize Gunther Von Hagens’ Bodyworlds work, but there is a lot that you might have never seen before. I think my favorites are the self portrait made of frozen blood by Marc Quinn:

and the sculptural pieces made of carefully arranged bones by Francois Robert:

More Whining –

I’m finding that this carpel and weird nerve stuff in my wrists really gets aggravated when I work on the computer (or draw a lot) but is pretty much fine when I work in clay. Thank goodness for that. I’m at a point where if I have a lot of computer work in a week and am in a lot of pain, I might just have to pass on doing a GingerDead that week. I used to just grin and bear it and overdo it anyway, but lately when I do that I end up being out of commission from using my wrists for anything for days at a time. That’s just too high a price to pay, so if I’m having a bad week, you might not get a GingerDead. Thanks for understanding if the updates are little less reliable. That said, I am working on odd dolls and creepy finger puppets and developing some new tiny clay pendant dolls. So if I miss a week here and you can’t bear it, you can always stalk me on facebook or twitter (calanree) or check CalanRee.com and see if I’m posting new work there.

That’s all for now. See you next week (probably!)

<3 calan

—- Vague News—–

Jim and I took an impromptu road trip to Gainesville, FL on Sunday because we had the opportunity to meet up with Drew Daywalt who was in town doing, among other things, a little ghost hunting. You might remember Drew from a few posts back. He’s the writer, director whose work I fell madly in love with recently. ( Daywalt Fear Factory YouTube Channel – watch Drew’s short horror films and you’ll see why!) It was well worth the 2.5 hour drive to meet a kindred spirit and confirm our collaboration plans. I don’t like to talk about stuff when it’s so early on so I’ll just leave it at that and keep you posted.

Watch Bedfellows by Drew Daywalt

—In the Studio—

I’m working on a series of pendant pals – little figures…sort of miniature art dolls for your throat. I posted this voodoo inspired one on my art blog yesterday. More to come.

–What We Did on our Micro-Vacation–

-We saw taxidermied alligator heads at free juice rest stops where every one was mysteriously out of juice.
-We drank free tequila because it was Sunday with a wonderful new friend.
-We got to watch an episode of the upcoming Camera Obscura web series by Drew Daywalt which made us Oooh and Eeek and cringe and clap and left us ravenous for more!
-We visited a friend who lives in a recording studio that houses the mixing board that UB40’s Red, Red Wine was recorded on.
-We went to the Florida Museum of Natural History and checked out the CSI insect exhibit which had loads of info on how insects like blow flies and flesh flies help investigators determine the time of death and whether a cadaver was moved or not.
-We saw giant sloth skeletons, bloated corpses and prehistoric shark jaws but found obnoxious parents with shrill voices a lot scarier.
-We ate hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
-We laughed and choked up listening to episodes of the Moth podcast.

–Events–

This Saturday at the Dunedin Fine Art’s Center is the 6th annual Wearable Art show. It’s really a sensational show that shouldn’t be missed. This year I’m actually modeling one of Frank Strunk III’s pieces. I’m honored of course…and a little nervous…I’m not the modeling sort, but what the hell? It’s not every day you get to wear a metal waist cinch sculpted by one of your all time favorite artists!

p.s.
I may need to take a week or two off from the comic to help heal the wrist and to keep up with boring work projects and exciting art projects. I keep thinking I’ll announce a month off but then i can’t bring myself to do it at the same time I really need to do something as the only thing that seems to help is taking time to let it heal. Anyway, if I miss a week or two, you’ll know why. You can always keep an eye on CalanRee.com/blog for images of latest works.

So, I found some cookies that are almost as mean as Vendetta! Check out these evil fortune cookies available from ThinkGeek. Each pack provides 10 nasty fortunes like this one:

I prefer something a little more buttery…like these yummy fetus cookies!

Kind of awesome, no? Make your own with these darling ‘Fetal Bites’ cookie cutters from Hogmalion:

Okay, enough. Now I’m craving cookies.

Have a good week!
<3 calan

I call him EyeGore (also a reference to an old favorite film of mine Young Frankenstein) -

Speaking of Young Frankenstein, here’s another finger puppet I’ve recently finished. It’s little Frankenstein in his pajamas! (Remember the haiku comic about him?)

By the way did you know there really is an eyeball plant? It’s also known as the peek-a-boo plant or spilanthes oleracea . Here’s a photo:

Not as cool as you were hoping? I know, same here. It doesn’t blink or anything! Here’s something more our speed – A peek-a-boo plant by the lovely Ghoul Friday (with tips on making your own!)

Eyeball Plant or Peek-a_Boo Plant by Ghoul Friday

By the way, today’s comic will certainly end up as a greeting card in the near future. I’m working on some fancier printing on fancier paper and once that’s officially sorted out, I’ll be releasing the newer designs. Latest news will be on CalanRee.com/blog.

After I made this comic and was thinking about what to link to or talk about this week. I often look to the comic itself. Skeletons, pigs, bacon….hmmm….and then it hit me! I remembered seeing a blog last year that had something to do with bacon and skeletons. Did I dream this or did it really exist? Sometimes, I can’t tell the difference. A quick consultation to the all-knowing sage, (sometimes referred to as Google) and there it was, the Skulls and Bacon blog! I checked it out and it delivers just as the name implies – all things awesome that are skull or bacon themed. Just look at this fabulous Mr Bacon Boardgame I found on there. This is one delicious blog!

Recent Adventure
My snorkeling trip down Rainbow River with my Mom was fun. I saw an otter this time! We also stopped at lots of thrift stores. I bought a creepy naked baby doll to be our mascot and keep the car safe. The highlight of the road trip was when we found this fabulous graveyard for all things enormous and rusty. It was closed but we got out and took some pics. Next time I want to go in and poke around. I’m pretty sure I can find it again. I’ll just look for the giant missile.

What’s New
I finished a new art doll. Her name is Grissel. If you are interested in related shop talk, you can hit my blog but if you just want a photo, look no further because here she is!

I’ve also been working on multiple finger puppets. I have one pretty much done and a couple more taking their sweet ass time drying. This series of work is something I’m enjoying immensely. Maybe I’ll leave everything behind and live in a hole somewhere surrounded by a life’s work of finger puppet pals!

The wrist is doing better but I’m in the process of doing the graphic design job from hell so the relief might be short lived. I plan on having a comic for you next week regardless. So, I’ll see you then!

<3 calan

You know what is almost as scary as love? Drew Daywalt’s short horror films! Drew and I connected on Facebook last week and I became a huge fan in about 2:31 minutes as I watched Bedfellows. After which, I watched every other short on the Daywalt FearFactory Channel on YouTube. Some of my favorites are Jack (which might remind you of this haiku comic) and There’s No Such Thing From the dread filled atmospheres, to the fabulous creatures to the BOO! factor, Drew Dewalt’s films have put the fun back into horror for me. I am really looking forward to the web series coming out later this year – check out the Camera Obscura trailer and you’ll see why I’m so excited. You can also read Drew’s School of Fear blog on FearNet. I really enjoyed the article on introducing your kids to Horror films. It brought a lot of creepy movie-watching memories that I’m quite fond of.

News -

I collaborated with jewelry designer and silversmith Kathryn Cole. More info on the Calan Ree Blog, but here’s a photo of the our efforts:

Kathryn Cole and Calan Ree

Sorta News

I’m taking Mom tubing for her birthday so I’ll be away for a few days plus I’m having a wicked flair of carpel or whatever it is in my wrist that is made unbearable by typing and drawing on the computer so I might need to take a break. If you don’t see a post next week, you’ll know why. If I do take off, it should only be for a week.

Oh, btw, today’s comic was made as a possible card idea. I’m pretty pleased with it, so I think I’ll add it to the GingerDead Greeting Card collection. I’ll let you know when it’s available…

Thanks for reading! I’d love some haiku inspired by my illustration or the bunny ring or one of Drew’s films…

<3 calan

So why do I have fossils on my mind this week? It could have something to do with that surprise adventure I told you Jim was taking me on. It might have been to an undisclosed location with an anthropology student guide to forgotten property where some digging has taken place which unearthed some cool fossils. Perhaps I found some megalodon teeth (that’s an ancient giant shark species) and manatee rib bones and things like that. If I did go on such an adventure, maybe I’d have a photo of my loot to share with you that would look something like this:

florida fossils

It was a lot of fun! (allegedly)

If you are interested in finding fossils, Florida is loaded with them. You can go fossil hunting on Peace River and find all sorts of cool stuff. You can also scope Venice Beach which is known as the shark tooth capital of the world. (Remind me not to swim there!) You can also obtain a fossil hunting license for a mere 5 bucks which enables you to keep findings on state property, etc. One of the coolest things found in Florida that I’ve heard of was a giant ground sloth skeleton. Jim’s favorite animal is the sloth so when he found out enormous sloths not only once existed but left their bones around for us to find, well, it’s pretty exciting. Look how big and dopey these beautiful creature’s bones are!

I think it’s safe to say that through research and the spirit of adventure, we have found ourselves a new hobby. Our first ‘official’ fossil hunting trip will probably be to Peace River in the near future. It’s only an hour away from us! Don’t be jealous, if you do a little research I bet there are fossil hunting adventures near where you live as well.

See you next week…
<3 calan

Does it sound like I’ve been tackling some enormous demon? Not really. Oh, I’ve had my share of nasty ones, but the most recent monster I’ve dealt with was simply technology and time. I’ve been meaning to create a main website for myself for a 2 or 3 years. What I had up was so outdated it was embarrassing. But because the sort of site I wanted was not the sort I knew how to create, I put it off and was quite willing recently to just pay someone to get the backbone of it built for me. When that didn’t seem to be happening any time soon, I got fed up and dug in to the task myself. It was actually not much of a monster at all. I just had to sacrifice time and a little patience. Now here I am, a week later and the silly thing is done. I can’t believe I put off dealing with it for so long….especially when I do similar stuff for clients! Anyway, enough about how ridiculous I am. Please visit CalanRee.com and check it out. It’s nothing fancy, but I’m really happy with it.

The comic and the idea of monsters in pajamas actually came from a new finger puppet I’m working on.

Here’s baby Frank in progress…

More of Frank and his strange doll friends plus my mixed media piece for pinkghost’s Book It show are on the new site’s blog. If you really love me, you wont mind clicking over to look.

So, tomorrow I’m going on an adventure…to seek treasure!! I don’t know what kind of treasure. I don’t know where I’m going. I know there might be some bending of the law involved. I’m not certain if I should be worried but I don’t think there will be too much danger since Jim is the one taking me. It’s all very top secret. There is a ‘guide’ of sorts involved too and no guarantee we can even get to the place or find anything since the secret guide hasn’t been there in over a year. It’s kind of exciting! With any luck, I’ll be posting photos of my loot next week. I’m hoping it’s skulls or bones of some sort. Shark teeth, maybe? What else could it be? Spanish Doubloons? Doubtful. Sand Dollars? I don’t think those work as currency and are pretty common so that can’t be it. The suspense is killing me!! (Hopefully, that’s the only thing!)

See you next week?

A couple of days ago, my mom found a hunk of vertabrae on the lawn at a garage sale. It’s kinda large which makes me wonder who or what it belonged to! All these bones got me wondering if you could buy human bones or animal skulls online to which the answer is, “Of course, you can!” Check out Skulls Unlimited International for all your real and museum quality replicates of all things bone. They even have bones with a little scent left in tact for training search and rescue dogs. Don’t even get me started on the wide assortment of bacula!

So, did anyone watch Bravo’s Work of Art last week? I really enjoyed it. For me, the judging is unimportant. I just want to see how various artist’s tackle a theme or medium or challenge. It’s more than seeing a themed group exhibition though because you also get to see some of the process. I really enjoyed it. There are quite a few artists on there who I really related to Erik Johnson in regard to his down to earth, non-pretentious, inexperienced to the fancy pants art world way. He just loves making art and doesn’t analyze why or what each piece is about. I’m the same way and am currently struggling with finally putting together some sort of bio, but I refuse to fill it with a bunch of bullshit. Besides that his self portrait was really dark and he painted this creepy ass clown that made me laugh, so yeah, he stood out to me.

Much to my surprise Erik friended me on FaceBook and commented on one of my pieces. This made me curious and the next thing I know I’m watching some short films, time-lapsed work, checking out his paintings, etc. I’m really glad i did. Erik’s work can be pretty dark and I think that sort of style takes courage and heart. I really loved a lot of what I’ve seen so far, but one thing that really got to me was this time-lapsed painting. It’s more than just a sped up demonstration of him painting…at least it is in my perception. The figure changes just keeps revealing more and more of itself in the process, layers of emotions, both masculine and feminine selves, dark and light aspects. I’m not analyzing the artist, here. I’m expressing what I got out of it. I think that’s what art is all about and for me I had this voyeuristic experience that felt both like an honor and like a dirty secret. I really recommend checking it out.

Erik is currently wrapping up a new short film called Ugly. You can check out the Ugly trailers and also see a couple of his other dark surreal short films. See if you can find the spinning Christmas tree. Hehe. You’ll also find his paintings, masks, photography, etc. on ResidualScars.com

Time Lapsed Painting by Erik Johnson -

Mask by Erik Johnson:

Painting by Erik Johnson (look it’s the Elephant Man!)

As for ‘Work of Art’, if you aren’t the ‘i’m too good for tv’ sort, check it out. I think you’ll be impressed with the creativity and varying styles of the artists. I was simply hoping it wouldn’t suck and it definitely didn’t. I’m not really rooting for anyone right now, just rooting for all the artists to do their thing and get some exposure. If you want to catch up on last weeks premier episode or don’t have cable you can watch on Bravo’s website. You can also view the artist’s portfolios.

News-
–I’m working on a new personal site that covers my own art. It will be chock full of images and have a blog that will focus more on whatever I’m currently working on, processes, events, etc. It will definitely be done next week so I’ll link you to it then.

–I’m pretty sure I have a piece in pinkghost’s upcoming Book It show opening Saturday night at the pinkghost gallery and store at 1888 Polk Street in Hollywood FL. I mailed my submission but then went away and never checked on it’s arrival. I’m sure it’s there though! So, um, if you are in the Hollywood, FL area check out the show and let me know if you see my piece. I’ll post a photo next week after the show opens. In all seriousness, I have been admiring pinkghost’s shows for some time now. They are consistently awesome.

That’s all for now, see you next week.
<3 calan

Birth is always a good place to start. Dig in to this beauty!

Maybe the birthing process makes you a little queasy? Try this one instead. I can’t decide if the cake is eating the baby or the baby is hatching from the cake. Whatever. Cake is cake, right?

Still too birth-y for you? How about we skip the process and dig right in to the baby! Oooh, my mouth just watered a little.

I’m sorry. Is that too weird? I guess even pretend-babies are too precious to eat. Okay, how about a over-medicated, semi-conscious adult covered in…um…poo?

No? Okay, i give up. Find your own tasty Cake Wreck.

By the way, I wont be here next week. Tomorrow I’m off to the Postcard Inn for a night on the beach with my darlin’. (Thanks Mom!) Then next week, Jim and I are going tubing/snorkeling in Rainbow River. We found a lil B&B nearby and are taking off for a couple of days. Hooray for adventure. We had planned this out and then my Mom surprised me with the Postcard Inn so I’m ending up with 2 micro vacations. I’m beyond grateful for the time off and away, but also know it’s unlikely I’ll get time to create a comic next week. Rather than stress, I’m just taking next week off. So there!

<3 calan