I've been busy, busy, BUSY the past few weeks and haven't had much time to update my blogs. I had a dance performance to prepare for and lots of crocheting and other crafts to work on. I was hoping to sell some of my stuff at the fest I was performing at but didn't get enough finished to warrant having a booth. Oh well, it'll all work out in due time.
These are some of the ATCs that I did recently. They were for a Serial Killers/Forensics swap. I've found a few groups that do these kinds of "odd" swaps and I'm very happy about that. They are right down my alley! I have long been interested in true crime, forensics and the psychology behind deviant behavior, so getting to combine that with art was a rare treat for me.
About the cards: The skull, which I called "Blunt Force Trauma", and the ribcage, which I called "Death is Graphic" are the "Forensics" portion of my set. The other are most of the "Serial Killer" part. (There was one more but I didn't post it.) I don't have time to go into great detail about these cards, but suffice it to say that they represent some of my "favorite" serial killers. Most people are somewhat familiar with John Wayne Gacy ("Killer Clown"), but the other two may not be as easily recognizable. "Murder Castle" (the one with 1983 on it) is about H. H. Holmes who had his "murder castle" built in a Chicago suburb in time to draw . "Mannequins" is about Herb Baumeister. Both of these stories are all the more intriguing to me because of their close geographical proximity to where I currently live. I have visited the house in Irvington where H. H. Holmes stayed for a short period and even created another card with a visual image of my intuitive impressions of that house. The Baumeister property is mere minutes from my home and the mannequins are representative of one of the more memorable moments in the story for me. If you would like to know the details about these cases you'll have to Google them yourself. I don't want to either bore or offend.
In the Serial Killers swap post I mentioned the other ATC that I did with H. H. Holmes as the inspiration. This is from an actual photo taken outside the house which sits on the same spot where H. H. Holmes lived in Irvington (Indianapolis). While we were there I got the distinct impression that there was something dark lurking about this particular corner by the garage. It was as if it were trying to find a way into the house. I kept catching quick glimpses out of the corner of my eye so I snapped a few pictures of that area. Nothing came out in the pictures, but when someone suggested a swap based on our personal experiences with ghosts this image was one that came to mind. I simply added the dark figure to the photo in Photoshop. Nothing fancy. But it sure does give me the willies because it really brings back that creepy feeling I had while there.
