STUDIO PICS AND COLLECTIONS PART 1

I thought I'd share some images of my own studio space and collections. My camera ran out of juice halfway through my rounds so I'll have to post a "part 2" when I find some batteries.

I'll start off upstairs in my dining room where my computer space is...


These walls are primarily devoted to my major loves/hobbies. Framed above my computer desk on the left wall are various Garbage Pail Kid items. My favorite is in the bottom left hand of the photo, a package of each series of GPKs from series 1-15 framed. There are large cards, posters, and samples of GPKs from other countries (Germany, Brazil, Italy, Australia, France, Argentina, Canada, Israel, Spain, Ireland, and Peru). I would really like to have a Japanese GPK (Bukimi Kun) to add to my collection but they are extremely rare and EXPENSIVE. Just below and out-of-frame is a row of binders where I keep my cards (Garbage Pail Kids, Wacky Packages, Bathroom Buddies, Trash Can Trolls, Hollywood Zombies etc.). Bottom center is a ceramic Cabbage Patch Kid statue I painted like Messie Tessy.



This is a chunk of the adjoining wall in the dining room. More framed GPK stuff. Mad Magazine "Garbage Pail Issue", Craze One (Adam B. Good) card by John Pound. a couple GPK posters, and autograped cards/personal sketches from card artists (Tom Bunk, John Pound, Jay Lynch, Mike Wartella, Strephon Taylor, Fred Harper, Luiz Diaz, Brent Engstrom, John Cebollero, and Fred Wheaton). Thanks Guys!! Below is my Pixies/Frank Black cd collection. Above those and to the left is framed records/photos of my favorite musician and lead singer of the Pixies, Black Francis. In the upper right hand corner is a shelf where I keep GPK boxes and larger items.

Now to my basement studio where I run away to hide from my life and work on artwork that is too big to fit on my dining room table.



Atop a book shelf in the corner miscellaneous toys. The above shelf, stacks of empty trading card boxes, monster figures, various comic books, and a quiji board (I hope I spelled that correctly?).



A closer shot.



Shelves displaying whatever I decide to put up at the time. Talking PeeWee, Showbiz Pizza junk, Rainbow Brite dolls, plastic Halloween masks, old View Master slides/viewers, Mad Magazine collectibles, Ren and Stimpy figures/toys, and artwork.



An extension of the same shelf as it runs down the wall... more Godzilla/monster stuff, old Golden Books, lunchbox of the month?



I have a lot of these racks with various PVC figures, Diener erasers, rubber monsters, Tomy windups, and small toys. I rearrange them from time to time when I get bored. Below (not pictured) are big plastic tubs from Walmart where I keep all the other little figures and stuff.



A section of my shelves where I keep a lot of my books. A lot of old reference books and kiddie textbooks that I cut up for collages or reference images for art. A lot of paperbacks dealing with ghost stories, monsters, facts, jokes, mysteries, etc.
Boxes full of organized crap (vending machine toys, cereal box prizes, keychains, buttons, platic figures/animals, matchbooks, postcards, coins/tokens, dice, marbles, magic tricks/pranks, bottle caps, stickers, etc...).

I'll post more soon...

PLASTIC TREASURE

I haven't been out of the house much since my surgery but I took Laura to go tan a couple days ago and while she was in there I walked down the College Hill and stopped into Hill Street News & Tobacco to look at magazines for a bit. While I was in there killing time my friend Noel called me on my cell phone. He wanted to know where I was at because he had a present for me.
He drove to the hill and got there right when Laura was done tanning. He had a little cigar box. I told him, "Noel, you are a dumb ass because you know I quit smoking". I was just joking but I did wonder what was in the box.
When he opened it up I saw that it was full of all these little knick-knacks. He knew I would like it. He said he bought the whole box for five bucks from some lady at the public library.
I didn't get a real good look at all the stuff that was in there until I got home and dumped it all out on the table. Here is some photos of the stuff that was inside:







All sorts of random cool junk.





There was a whole shitload of charms and I recognized a few of them as old "Cracker Jack" prizes because I've seen some of them at antique shows.



I let my daughter Sam put all the charms on a bracelet.



Here's a picture of all the rings that were in there. My favorite one was a really cool "motion" ring that flipped back and forth between the wolfman and the creature from the black lagoon. There was also a lot of Hostess rings. My dad worked for Hostess all through my childhood so we always had these laying around the house. There is also a yellow "Twinkie the Kid" ring I have a couple of them in my studio because they remind me of my dad and how me and my brother and sisters would raid his truck when he stopped home for lunch.

Anyway, thanks a bunch Noel. That was a neat gift.

MAD ABOUT THRIFT SHOPPING

I found a great Spy Vs. Spy board game while hunting at the thrift store today. I wasn't aware that they ever made one of these so I was pleasantly surprised. I already have two of the regular Mad board game and a Mad card game in my collection. The Mad board game is frustrating because it has all of these demented rules and the object of the game is actually to lose. I'll have to scan some of the weird rules and post them sometime. That's Mad's sort of humor though. I remember when I would forget to renew my subscription they would send me letters claiming that the Mad artists and writers had starving children and were facing eviction and it was all my fault. I wish more bill collectors were like that. Here is a photo if the game:





It looks like fun. The game still had all of the pieces and is in pretty good condition except that the kid that owned it wrote his name on it and drew on the inside of the cardboard lid.

Mad Magazine is the last survivor of EC comics which I am very fond of, and has been around since 1952. The are actually two issues away from their 500th issue. Mad actually came out a year before Playboy which was called "Stag Party" at first.

I've had a subscription to Mad for years, I think my wife signed me up for a twenty year subscription a couple anniversaries ago. I also have quite a large collection of older Mad Magazine dating back to the early 60's. I'm always keeping my eye out for more. At this time I've got close to 280 issues all kept chronologically in protective sleeves and right at 75 Mad books and paperbacks. I'll have to scan some of my favorite ones sometime. I actually had my artwork published in Mad #453 in May 2005. I did the letter of the month.



Here are some scans of my Mad magazine collection and Mad junk in my studio:






Ever since I was a kid I always dreamed of drawing for Mad. Until then I'll just keep reading.