The Night Mare - Halloween & Dark Art from Gypsy Mare Studios

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T07:22:00.000-07:00

My father in law and his wife love decorating their yard for Halloween.

Here are a couple of shots from this year!

Halloween Horses

2010-09-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

Some pieces I've completed this month.

Also made up a fun, spooky playlist on the right sidebar to get you in the Halloween mood!

Steed of the Dead

8" x 10" acrylic on 1"canvas

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

original 8" x 10" auction donation for

The Headless Horseman's Ball

@ Rock Ford Plantation

Witchy Arabain - sold

Bewitching Giraffe - sold

Appy Halloween - sold

Apples for Appys

I'll be at the Chadds Ford Great Pumpkin Carve on Thursday, October 23rd.

On October 30th join me for Pie, Poe & Pumpkins

@ Paper Mill House Museum in Newtown Square, PA.

Some of my Halloween art will also be for sale locally at State of the Art Gallery in East Petersburg, PA.

Hope you can join me!

EHAG Emporium - August Edition

2010-08-31T15:03:00.000-07:00

Click for a larger image.

"The Horseman's Wild Ride"

Original acrylic painting on gallery wrapped Windsor Newton canvas. Measures 12" x 6".

Painted around the sides so no need for a frame!

Signed, dated, varnished.

$85 plus shipping (weighs about 1 pound wrapped and boxed)

Email to purchase or with questions: jmacneill@hotmail.com

More Halloween horses for sale on EBAY!

Old Burial Hill - Plymouth, MA

2010-08-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

Old Burial Hill in Plymouth is a remarkable cemetery.

Many pilgrims laid to rest there.

Overlooking the harbor, I can think if no better place to be buried, the view was amazing.

Love this skull. Very unique.

William Bradford, Plymouth Colony Governor.

Fresh flowers had been laid at his grave.

The family is growing tired of my old cemetery curiosity!

Duxbury, MA

2010-08-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

While visiting my sister in Duxbury, MA this week, I had to visit the Myles Standish Burial Ground, oldest maintained cemetery in the US! It was an amazing little graveyard.

Yes, I make my poor family go to old cemeteries.

This skull is pretty though, looks like a heart for a mouth.

Abigail Alden was the wife of Capt John Alden who was accused of being a witch in Salem and escaped to Duxbury.

Myles Standish is buried in a plot surrounded by the cannons.

His gravestone is very bland and fairly new.

John Alden, said to be the first person to set foot on Plymouth Rock!

CRAZY hair on this figure.

Some more wild hair!

Dutch Bunny Halloween

2010-07-31T16:40:00.000-07:00

My offering for July's EHAG Emporium is an adorable folk art Dutch Bunny in a Jack O' Lantern sculpture. The JOL is made out of Fast Mache, the bun is sculpted out of Creative Paper Clay. Both products dry very hard and are extremely durable making this Halloween rabbit a treat that will live for years and years. Measures 9" tall and about 7" wide. Painted in acrylics with an aged patina. $195 plus exact shipping.

June EHAG Emporium

2010-06-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

As we get closer to Halloween, EHAG has decided to open the EHAG Emporium every month. On the last day of the month at 9 PM Eastern, be sure to check the Emporium to see our latest offerings. We have some new members this summer who have created really amazing pieces!

This month I have painted a vintage wood candy dish. I bought it at an antique sale and could see a Jack O' Lantern and Black Cat immediately in the shape of the two compartments. On the bottom, I have left the original stickers unpainted. It is hand made out of monkey pod wood which really gave me a chuckle. It is varnished, signed and dated. Measures 14" x 6.5". Price is $79 plus shipping depending on your zip code.
Email me to purchase. I accept Paypal, checks and money orders.

EHAG Emporium

2010-05-31T13:58:00.000-07:00

May 31st means another opening of the EHAG Emporium at 9PM EST. This month I am offering an original folk art painting of a young witch named Lily Vervain. She is holding her familiar black cat, Smudge, and in the other hand, a stuffed mouse cat toy. The canvas measures 8" x 10" and has paint and a simple ribbon around the staple-free sides. I have added a crackle finish to give an aged appearance.
Price is $75 plus exact shipping.

I also have another small painting available of a young vampire named Carnelia. This canvas measure 5" x 5" and is painted around the sides so no need for a frame.
Both paintings look lovely hung together and you can have them both for $100 plus shipping. If you would prefer to purchase just this painting, it is $35 plus shipping.

The painting below of the Bride of Frankestein is also available for $75 plus shipping. Pleas email me if you are interested in any of these Halloween beauties!

She's alive! Alive!

2010-05-04T07:54:00.000-07:00

I have been neglecting my poor little Halloween art blog for a bit too long but the EHAG B&W Fright Challenge has given me a great reason to post. When I think of b&w frights, I think of those wonderful old horror movies I used to watch with my grandfather when I was a kid. Everything from Dracula to Frankenstein to Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. I love them all. My favorite is The Bride of Frakenstein, you've gotta love the hair (that was my favorite part to paint). I've painted her on an oval wooden plaque which I've antiqued an added a crackle finish. Her frail body looks like it can barely support that enormous head! Be sure to search EBAY for other EHAG art, I'll have my Bride up for sale starting sometime today.

EHAG Emporium

2010-01-28T15:37:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to join me and my fellow EHAG artists over at the EHAG Emporium on January 31st at 9pm EST for our GRAND OPENING! I've been working behind the scenes to put together this amazing Halloween marketplace full of the most spooktacular, one of a kind creations and let me tell you, there is going to be a lot of eye candy for sale!

Zombie Shelter

2009-11-09T10:11:00.001-08:00

I won a giveaway for a Zombie Shelter sign, zombie stickers and buttons from Zombies & Toys. I entered a giveaway on their blog around Halloween and as a fan of the genre, was so excited to win. I put the sign above my studio door just for fun. Maybe someday I should paint a zombie horse for Halloween. That would be weird, wouldn't it?

I was lurking around the old St. James Episcopal cemetery Lancaster, PA last week and found three intriguing graves. I thought it was nice that someone put a pumpkin on this one belonging to a 3 year old, poor thing. The epitaph was really neat too.

I really enjoy finding old gravestones with skulls or winged children. I got lucky here finding one of each! The skull with the hourglass is one of my favorites.

Halloween Night Mare

2009-11-01T17:00:00.000-08:00

We went to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire today and it was all decked out for Halloween. Right before the main gate, they had set up the ultimate night mare. I had to snap a few shots going in and coming out when it was dark. I would LOVE to have this in my yard! The eyes lit up, the head moved, there was a smoke machine and the moon was nearly full - how cool!

On the eve of Halloween...

2009-10-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

O let Us cast Dull Care away

Again be Children for a Day

Witches Goblins have their sway

Tis Hallowe'en lets Joke and Play

-from a vintage postcard

I'm playing in the graveyard. Can you spot me?

More Halloween decorations...

2009-10-29T09:59:00.001-07:00

As I've said before, I love decorating on the cheap. Yesterday I took black constructions paper and cut out mice to stick all over the house. I cut out a witch flying on her broom with her black cat, she looks great in the front window. I made some ravens, bats and owls too! Here are some decorations around my house. I can't wait until Saturday! If anyone has any good recipes for Halloween food, let me know.

Haunting the Kitchen

2009-10-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

Still working on adding some spooky decorations to my house. Since I don't have a lot of extra money to spend I'm always looking for decoration on the cheap. This morning I made some spooky jars with labels from Love Manor. They have tons of label designs on their flickr page that you can print out. My printer was running out of ink but I think it gave the labels a cool effect. I also burned the edges of some and affixed them to various jars with Modpodge. Inside the jars I added candy corn, old twigs, oily water and plastic snakes. It was a lot of fun. On one bottle I dripped some candle wax to cover up the writing. Thank you Stephanie for sending me the link to these labels!

Above the stove, I've changed my usual cheery art with three photos I took in New Orleans in St. Louis Cemetery #1. Some Ichabod and Screaming Pumpkin Ale, a bottle of Vampire wine and Zombie Zin for my Halloween party, black cat tile was a gift from my friend Carolee of King of Mice Studios, cool "BEWARE" blocks from TJ Maxx, and glow in the dark & glitter skulls that were 60% off at Jo-ann Fabrics.

From my father in law, who may actually love Halloween more than I do, although not by much, is the flying skeleton I've been coveting for years. He looks great above the kitchen sink!

I'd love to see links to your Halloween decorations so post a link in the comments section if you have one!

Flowers in the Graveyard

2009-10-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

My mom and I were on a weekend adventure in Bucks County and we stopped by a beautiful cemetery in the morning to take some photos. Here are a few. More on my other website, The Mare's Tales.

Go time...

2009-10-22T06:21:00.001-07:00

Yes, it is almost go time. I can almost smell the burning pumpkin flesh! Tonight is the first night of the Chadds Ford Great Pumpkin Carve and I will be working on #21. Still haven't finalized my design, it's between Death on a pale horse and a raven for Edgar Allen Poe. I really want to do the raven but I think someone did something like that last year.
To see some of my past pumpkins, please click here. To see some other carver's pumpkins, click here.
My since 2004 my designs have won Best Overall twice, Best Halloween once and Best Carving once. I go in to the challenge with no expectations of winning, just the thrill of the carve!
My pumpkins have also been featured on Martha Stewart's website and The This Old House website. Here is one of my favorites!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

2009-10-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

My favorite Halloween tale, hands down, is the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I love the characters, I love the villian (he's my buddy), I love the time period and setting. The short story is awesome, I love the cartoon, the movie with Johnny Depp rocks!
The Hessian soldier makes his way into a lot of my artwork and someday (in my dreams) I hope to be known for my Sleepy Hollow art (I know, I have a way to go). Still trying to work the Headless Horseman into a not so spooky children's book in the near future.
And someday, hopefully not too many years away, I will visit the town of Sleepy Hollow, NY. I am dying to go to the graveyards!

I just completed one of my largest Sleepy Hollow pieces and wanted to share. I think the Hessian's horse is the ultimate nightmare!

The chief part of the stories, however, turned upon the favorite spectre of Sleepy Hollow, the Headless Horseman, who had been heard several times of late, patrolling the country; and, it was said, tethered his horse nightly among the graves in the churchyard. -Washington Irving

On mounting a rising ground, which brought the figure of his fellow-traveller in relief against the sky, gigantic in height, and muffled in a cloak, Ichabod was horror-struck on perceiving that he was headless!--but his horror was still more increased on observing that the head, which should have rested on his shoulders, was carried before him on the pommel of his saddle!
-Washington Irving

Some fun links for you...
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

The end of the Disney Sleepy Hollow where the Horseman is chasing Ichabod.

A couple that made a lifesize Headless Horseman in their yard!

Sleepy Hollow Tombstone Prop (I want this!)

Sleepy Hollow Movie Fanlisting

Dear Annie

2009-10-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

We miss thee from our home dear Annie.
We miss thee from thy place.
A shadow o'ver our life is cast.
We miss the sunshine of thy face.
-epitaph on gravestone of Annie H. Landis
age 19 yrs, 8 mo, 22 days
died May 18, 1907 East Petersburg, PA

It's no secret I love to walk around graveyards. I'm usually not interested in graves that date before 1900 but the epitaph on Annie Landis' grave made me a little weepy. Poor girl, only 19 years old. Didn't have the chance to marry or have children. I imagined her mother writing the words to go on her grave in tears.

So far this is my favorite grave in my town of East Petersburg, PA. Nice skull.

And only a weirdo like me brings a jack be little pumpkin to the graveyard.