The Twilight Zone

You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!

The Twilight Zone is hands down my favorite show in the world. I used to look forward to New Years Eve where I could cover myself with fleece and binge watch every episode straight into the new year. Even when I was older and was expected to show up at events and parties, I still made a point to beeline for a TV and take in at least an entire season’s worth of the eerie tales from another dimension.

I have to admit I’m both a bit thrilled and saddened by the fact that all the Twilight Zone eps are readily for streaming nowadays and I can indulge in my New Year’s eve extravaganza at any time. But it isn’t the same, naturally. I did, however, jump for joy when I was asked to paint some of the old favorites from the show, though, and was grateful that I could watch dozens of episodes while painting it!

There is something so timeless about good ol’ black and white. But this set was done in technicolor.

Some details:

We’ve got the Mystic Seer from “Nick of Time” featuring a couple stuck in a small town restaurant and a pagan napkin holder; the Gremlin from “A Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” The Kanamit from “To Serve Man,” and the little space man from “The Invaders.”

 

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Ghost World Theme and Variations

Back when I was a studious piano student (albeit not a good one), I was often tasked with learning composers’ many “theme and variation” compositions. At the time I often wondered why anyone would want to do that, write different versions of the same core theme, but now I get it. I’ve been asked to paint a few dozen Ghost World sets, which can get a bit monotonous, but I find that if I paint something slightly different after a long day, my sanity can be saved.

This one features Enid Coleslaw and her friend Rebecca who are attending Seymour’s record party.

And this one is simply all about Enid Coleslaw in a ton of retro vintage thrift shop (I’m assuming) clothes.

Some close ups:

It’s mad to think working on something like this can save my sanity, but it’s true.

This set was painted a few years ago, right around the time when I met Alvin, Buenaventura. He was a giant in the graphic novels/comics publishing and from what I heard about him, he was the force behind a lot of the successful comic book artists out there today (Think BoJack Horseman). I not only had the pleasure of working with him, but I was fortunate enough to break bread with him when the hubs and I were in San Francisco. He had offered to give me a gallery show, which I turned down due to my overwhelming work schedule. It was a gesture I appreciated to no end because it showed how much he believed and supported me. It was why I was really devastated when I found out he has passed away. Ghost World had been our connection and I am dedicating this set to him. May you continue to shine wherever you are, Alvin.

When WWE Was WWF

As a child growing up in the 80s with an older brother, I would watch “Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling” on Saturday mornings as a warm up to the real thing almost immediately thereafter (rounded out by G.L.O.W) before changing out of my pajamas and starting my day. Saturday morning was the only time my mother would allow us to watch TV so my brother and I would abuse this decree to the max. It was quite fortunate also that my mother happened to be a Chinese language arts teacher and had decided to retain our linguistic prowess herself, or else we would’ve had to forfeit our Saturday morning toon time in a Chinese language classroom instead like so many of our Asian peers did. I can’t say my mother’s efforts allows me to speak Mandarin as fluently as I’d like, but I am grateful for being able to soak up as much 80s pop culture as I could back in the day because it’s quite useful in my line of work these days, largely because I know what people are talking about when they come to me with proposals.

Like always, I am always thrilled to receive emails from people requesting sets from my childhood, but this latest one took the cake. I was asked to paint the “old school” WWF stars so I was beside myself, thinking: Junkyard Dog! Andre the Giant! Roddy Piper! Mr. Fuji! Wendy Richter! The Iron Sheik! But I must’ve been A LOT older than the requester because aside from Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, I only vaguely remember the rest of the wrestlers in the lineup since by the time these guy came around, I was already a teenager and was busy smuggling V.C. Andrews books into my room. Still, this was a fun set to paint and I am now moving things around on my schedule just so I can paint the wrestling stars from my childhood.

This set features Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, The Undertaker, The Ultimate Warrior, and the ever so sexy Bret Hart who probably goes through a gallon of Soul Glo a week.

Edward Scissorhands

Although Edward Scissorhands isn’t technically a “Christmas Movie,” I always lump it in with my usual cache of holiday binge this time of year. And why not? I now live in a place where snow is non-existent, sort of like in the movie.

This set features Edward, Kim and Peg Boggs, Jim the hoodlum boyfriend, the Inventor, and a mini topiary dinosaur.

Well, Merry Christmas, wherever you are!

A Little Shop of Horrors Reprise

Many many many moons ago I made a Little Shop of Horrors set with a non-working Audrey II. By non-working I mean it’s basically just a Papier-mâché plant that won’t open. It’s been haunting me ever since the set was completed. Every now and then I catch myself looking up at the moon and thinking about what I can do to make it even more extra.

This is the older version:

I will admit that I had a lot of fun papier-mâché-ing Audrey II. It still has a place of honor in front of the TV set.

But you know how it is when you’re looking at something online and one thing leads to another (I now know how to fully furnish an underground bunker, thanks to one of my after midnight forays into the interwebs), I found an old Maxwell coffee can, the same one Seymour used in the movie when he first bought Audrey II and things sort of spiraled from there.

This is the new and improved Audrey II. The plant structure itself, I’m happy to say, now opens. Most of the leaves and vines are papier-mâchéd. As this is one of those sets I constructed after after hours, I more or less use what was sitting around to make the greens, including utilizing hardanger fabric meant for embroidery, wires I filched from the Hubs, and tissue papers saved from something someone sent me. I suppose years of working as a public school art teacher has taught me to successfully scavenge for supplies!

As the plant now opens, I can happily put in the core cast from the movie. Here’s Seymour Krelborn and Chiffon, Crystal and Ronette…

…along with Audrey, Dr. Orin Scrivello D.D.S., and of course, Mr. Mushnik.

The Ultimate Babs Johnson Set

I’m the first to admit I’m not the most fashionable person in the world. Once, when I was the dance teacher, a job that I believed was handed down to me out of pity and desperation, the only thing that got me up in the morning was the knowledge I could spend the day in sweat pants. Nevertheless, I do appreciate fashion and what people can do with bits of fabric and a fabulous sense of color. This is why every now and then I feel the need to paint something fashion-y and what’s better than going through “Pink Flamingos” and examining each outfit Babs Johnson wore piece by piece? This is the outcome.

Naturally, what with Babs being the “filthiest person alive” and all, the seventh “doll” is a pile of poo.

Divine Madness

It’s always fun knocking out a Divine set, mostly because she was such a colorful entertainer. This one features dolls shaped just like my favorite rotund entertainer!

The best part of doing this set is making those cotton candy wigs!

Happy Halloween!

I never have to think long and hard for my annual Halloween sets. The list is a mile long and growing. I am thrilled that I actually had the time this year to make this particular set, the main doll being the Cenobite from “Hellraiser.”

I sort of wanted this one to be more about the supernatural killers, but I can’t help lumping Captain Spaulding from “House of 1000 Corpses” in here. These ones are so much fun to paint. Maybe next year I’ll get around to painting an all-female killer cast…or even one featuring children! The possibilities are endless!

Happy Halloween!

The Divine Dynasty

Every now and then I like to shake things up so I’m always on the look out for new and unusual nesting doll-related objects. I had my eyes on this particular set for a really long time now but I never got a chance to really think about what I could do with it. But like all things, if you leave a nagging problem well enough alone long enough, you’ll eventually come up with a solution. After watching my neighbor, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Divine the first drag superstar, parade in and out of her house in myriad of outfits in just one day, it hits me. I should paint Divine in some of her more memorable costumes!

This white gown IRL is prominently featured in the Divine Museum, which I’d been salivating over ever since I saw photos of it. Whilst creating it, I realized, to my horror, that the skirt I made was a blinding shade of white and didn’t go with the dress at all. I dug through my fabric chest and unearthed the leftover tulle from my wedding garb, which was a preferable shade of off-white, did some ironing and mixed it in with the bleached teeth shade of white tulle and thus all is once again well with the world.

Unlike the traditional nesting dolls, this one opens up to reveal three individual dolls, all of them are a fun sized 2.5″. It’s still large enough for me to make a little wig for the Babs doll but I fear that the ones after these ones might be a bit problematic. I decided to feature Divine from movies such as “Pink Flamingos,” “Female Trouble,” and “Polyester.”

Well, I said to myself, I have to tools, I have the technology…well, mainly just the tools really, and got to work on these guys. I had to trim off a bit more hair off my .0000 brush in order to get the eyeliner down. As for the Babs dolls, a bit of clay and a toothpick did the trick just fine.

It’s a miracle I didn’t lose these dolls I like normally do!

And there you have it. I may have to try this one again!

The Room

When Tommy Wiseau decided to turn a script he wrote into a movie, “The Room” propelled itself to the Worst-Movie-Ever-Made Stratosphere and received the kind of cult status that can only make the viewers believe that you should never let normality stand in the way of your dreams. I loved “The Room” in all its horrific glory, the book “The Disaster Artist” about the making of the movie by one of its co-stars, and I’m sure I would really enjoy the new James Franco movie based on the book when it hits the theaters!

There are far too many random characters in this movie to make it into this set, but here are the five definitive characters to start with: Johnny, Oh Hi Mark, Johnny’s Future Wife Lisa, Denny, and of course, Lisa’s Mom Claudette, whose cancer was only mentioned once in the film but quickly forgotten as the drama and melee ensues.

Who knows? One day I’ll get around to adding Chris R and Michelle and Michelle’s boyfriend and Peter and that other guy who replaced Peter halfway into the film…