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The Sweet Smell of Recovery

I am back online. I’ve finished fixing the images in the store, and got a lot of the more recent blog enties (though I still have ten years more worth to go).

The timing for the server going down couldn’t have been worse – as during those 4 days, I not only got featured by Internet Jesus, Warren Ellis, but I finally got one of the Daily Deviation thingers on Deviant Art – sending anyone who searched for me by name or tried clicking my homepage link to a dead page.

… I hate to even think of the dead page casualty count there… 1200 faves on that image in one day, says that number would be approximately …”a lot”.

Today, Browsing Warren Ellis’ blog, I found my good friend, Eric Adams: Moon Zombies
and also my fiancee Bethalynne Bajema: Cthulhu Maestro. It seems like the internet gods are smiling upon our little cluster of artists this week.

In other news, I’ve added three new artworks to my stock – prints of two new engravings (here and here) and prints of one new painting (here). I’ve also made a single page about prints, print quality, and print types (here). The new painting, as all my paintings from this series, was sold before the last brush stroke was done – if you are interested in either of the two engravings they are currently listed on Etsy (here).

Pollen
Pollen - a weird art engraving not necessarily from my Airships and Tentacles series
See Monkeys
See Monkeys - a weird art semi-steampunk engraving of ocean depths, man-made contraptions, and ancient beings.
Red Queen - A fast and rough spatter painting in acrylic on birch panel
Red Queen - A fast and rough spatter painting in acrylic on birch panel
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Steamcon and Vampire Ball Aftermath, plus: Sorry if I gave you the Plague

Cold… very cold. I’m probably burning up though. A bit dizzy, very hungry… no food in the house really, and it’s too late for delivery. We have two cats, a bag of rice, and I am sure I can find something resembling soy sauce if I look hard enough. I am however trying not to use up my options.

I’ve read up on this H1N1 thing: Next stage: My head pops off and sprouts tentacles, and then we all have to deal with Kurt Russel until the end of the thing. In Grand Rapids… lots of shelter. I need only kick a Yeti out of his ice cave.

Right now I must go outside and start yanking distributor wires, as per the President’s mandate on flu, second after “going back to school”…

… or so the dancing ad ladies on myspace tell me.

Steamcon, as I hear, went incredibly well. I am reading rave reviews about the event, and was informed by the promoter that we sold most of the prints we had sent there. A serious thank you to all you people who made purchases there, and another to the promoters and everyone who helped, from organizers to patrons – you are all incredible.

What?? Why wasn’t I there? Where was I?

Well, aside from having the flu very bad, which isn’t an excuse because that happened afterward – but something you should consider when you think about rattling my cage…. aside from having the flu… Well, even with month’s of notice, there was no way Beth and I could scrape together what was needed for flights to Seattle and hotel stays and shipping our things to Steamcon. We are artists – and as a result, our budget, after saving up – was more or less the “We have $20 for gas and $40 for tickets (if we don’t worry about next week) WEEEE! Let’s go” variety…. which was perfect, considering there was just that sort of event in just driving range, on just that night… with Voltaire, Bella Morte, Versailles, and Hellblinki Sextet (for these great acts links below)

… If it makes you feel any better… I got the flu.

[BONUS! – some pictures, pre flu]
Vampire_ball001
I am not this short, nor is Steven (of Ego Likeness) this tall (though he is tall) I am sitting
on the floor, unaware that Beth has been waiting minutes for me to notice the camera.
At the Table, moments before, Donna (Ego Likeness) had mentioned really liking our interview
in Weird Tales Magazine. I was surprised – actually, I had given up on seeing that
interview see print – forgot to ask when it was being published. I suppose they interview
well in advance, or have to push things back and forward as editors and magazines do.
Maybe they had to edit all the crazy out of mine. Anyway, it was a very nice surprise, and
having such news given to you by a favorite musician…  who just happens to have
copies of the mag… even better.
Vampire_ball002
Opening Band: Versailles. I liked them, will have to give them a closer look.
Vampire_ball002
Donna Lynch. Looks so much better in person, yet I have many more bad photos on my flickr
account.  I am not good at show photos with a point and shoot, not at all.
Vampire_ball002
Hellblinki Sextet with Voltaire. Not the same as the Skeletal Orchestra, I’d imagine,
but not better, definitely not worse – just a different sort of awesome.
Vampire_ball002
Voltaire‘s eyes started to glow, and then snack foods appeared on all the tables.
This may not be what he was trying to do… and perhaps I should be glad for this.
Vampire_ball002
Valerie from Hellblinki Sextet posing for Bethalynne. Aside from the band putting
on a fantastic show, they were all pretty damned amazing people in addition to their music-ness.

More bad photos at flickr.com/photos/mykeamend