My Neck of the Woods

Halloween is fast approaching and it's my favourite time of the year. It puts me in mind of things like Michael Jackson's Thriller music video which I watched and watched to death as a teen. Driving home the other day it occurred to me that I (the girl from a minuscule English village that Brits haven't even heard of), now live right around the corner from two of the Thriller music video locations. (And I was also lucky enough to meet the director of the video, John Landis last weekend...!)

The cinema at the beginning of the music video, where Michael Jackson and Ola Ray watch the Werewolf film, is just 15 minutes away from my house. It's the Downtown Palace Theater.








And the spooky house that Ola Ray runs into towards the end of the music video, is a Victorian house on Carroll Ave, which is 10 minutes from my house.

This is the house - then and now! (Photo not taken by me. Photographer unknown.)

Actually all the houses on Carroll Avenue are gorgeous, and yesterday I took a photo of one of the houses which has been decorated in a fantastically Angelino way for Halloween.

Click to zoom.

But enough about my neck of the woods. Over at Tall Tales Productions I have completed some Halloween Jack O' Lanterns and crows (actually the crows have been blogged about before, here) and as usual, am selling clean out of everything this Halloween. Actually I am really looking forward to Halloween being over so I can stop creating for collectors and get back to something filmy.

And whilst we're on the topic of how Angelinos do Halloween, take a look at these photos below, taken by my little sister in Villandry. This is how they do Halloween in France. Wonderful isn't it?!

Leave it Out

Last night I dreamt about leaves. Tiny, miniature hand-painted leaves. The night before I also dreamt about leaves. This is what happens when you perform the same leaf-making task 400 times over.

So, I've been making hundreds of leaves and completed three identical green pumpkin patches - one for an exhibition, two for sale elsewhere. Aside from that, I have been putting something together for my first appearance in a Dutch magazine, working on some other pieces (which I'll share when they're further along) and... best of all... I met director John Landis over the weekend!

What a great time of year to meet the director of one of my all-time favourite horror films. LACMA did a screening of 'An American Werewolf in London' (a film I know so well I can quote almost every line of dialogue before the actor says it) and I was able to have a chat with John Landis himself, and his talented costume designer wife, Deborah Nadoolman Landis. It's Halloween this month and if you haven't seen 'An American Werewolf in London' (1981), then I'd make seeing it this scary season a top priority. It's hugely underrated and totally genius. Not to mention the jaw-droppingly fantastic special make-up effects by Rick Baker. It was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Make-up (the category was created that year).

Here are some photos of leaves and the base for the pumpkin patch. The fence is willow, the base is celluclay and mixed media, and the leaves are paper.