2010 halloween posters are here!

I AM SO EXCITED.

The Halloween posters are done, and they look great! Thanks to Nat Swope at Bloom Press for another amazing print job. 18 x 24″, blue, orange, and GLOW IN THE DARK inks! These posters commemorate yet another fabulous Driveway Follies in the Glenview district of Oakland, CA. Do you want one? Yes you do! Go directly to the Wertzateria shop and buy yourself one. As soon as it arrives, put it under some bright light and then get in a totally dark space. Say “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary” in a spooky low voice, then open your eyes to see the Magical Glow of this poster!

BWA HA HA HA HA HA!

Olive is dressing as a dog for Halloween. She looks good, right?

If you’re in Oakland for Halloween, join Aunt Grandma and Jitters, won’t you?

Celebrate Halloween with Aunt Grandma and Jitters, Hosts of Driveway Follies 2010! Glenview’s Free Marionette Show and Yard Haunt! 3854 Greenwood Avenue, Oakland.

October 30: 7-10 PM: Puppet Show Only.

October 31: Show begins at Nightfall and repeats throughout the evening.

Adults without children welcome after 9 pm.

See you there!

xm

Halloween is Upon Us, My Lovelies

Dear Fans of Dressing Up and Acting Like a Goofball:

your national holiday is quickly approaching! Time to get out the pumpkin carving tools, fake spider webs and strobe lights! Time to stock up on pounds and pounds of delectable sugary sweets! Time to watch Let Me In and clutch your friend’s arm in the theater! The midnight hour approaches – can you hear Miss Gulch flying through the air?

We’re getting excited over at Chez Wertz because Falltime is Here. And that means cooler weather, falling leaves, and beautiful orange afternoon light. And Orange = Halloween.

This is a poster design I just finished for Carl and Larry, who, out of the kindness of their hearts, produce “The Driveway Follies”, an amazing Marionette Show and Yard Haunt in the Glenview district of Oakland, CA. Larry spends all year (literally) on this show. The puppet show has gotten so popular that they’re doing the show on both the 30th and 31st of October.

The poster is meant to be a two-parter: the top bit can be shown separately from the bottom bit. I’m thinking of perforating the posters like two giant stamps. It will be printed with orange, blue, and glow-in-the-dark inks. Get out your blacklights from Spencer’s gifts! 17′ x 24′. I’ll have them available for sale soon in the shop.

In Other Halloween News: The Argyll Adventure Tree is doing our annual Halloween radio show this coming-up Thursday, on the 7th of October, from 5-7 pm. You can listen in here. You can listen to 2009′s Halloween show here, and 2008′s show here.

Now I must close, and go meet the ghosts who’ve come out to socialize.

Have a safe & happy All-Hallow’s!

xm

Happy Halloween!

xm

So what are you doing for Halloween?

The Wertzateria *loves* Halloween. Seriously. More than Xmas, more than Thanksgiving. Halloween is the national Weirdo Holiday, and I embrace it fully.

This year, I’m celebrating by doing a small run of these posters for my friends Karl and Larry, who spend all year working on their contribution to the Halloween Madness. It’s called ‘The Driveway Follies‘, and it’s quite a marvel. They set up a small stage in their driveway in which they perform with hand-made marionettes – the kind I loved when I was a kid – and it’s just charming as all get-out. Watch carefully for the clown who rips his own clothes off to reveal his skeleton (without missing a single step of his spooky dance).

Here’s a color sketch for the poster. It’ll be two colors on orange paper. It’s a tribute to Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Australian Illustrator of children’s books. [edit: The posters are done, and you can getcherself one here!]

Here’s my brother and I in 1972, very much looking forward to bellies bloated with 1000 tiny candy bars (and 300 smarties). We used to spend hours drawing perfect haunted houses (complete with ghosts, graveyards, bats, vampires, etc.) and listening to “Chilling Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House“.

To provide the soundtrack for your happy haunts, The Argyll Adventure Tree is serving up some macabre delights on October 1 from 5-7 pm on Ninth Floor Radio. This is a co-broadcast with UB, the theme is “Spooky“, and it should be a hoot and a holler. Give us a listen! Last year’s Halloween show is also up and available for download.

I did a quick search, and came up with some amazing Halloween blogs from folks who are even more obsessed with Halloween than I. Check out the Franklin Mint Blog, or WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. Check this page for a crazy huge list of Halloween Blogs!

Have Fun, and be safe out there, people.

xm

Argyll Adventure Tree Halloween Show is up!

My dearest spooks and goblins:

If you know Andy and I at all, you know that we love Halloween. We love all manner of freaks, spooks, and crawlies. In honor of All Hallow’s, we’ve put together quite an Argyll Adventure Tree for you. It’s right here, and it’s show #8. You can either listen to the show on your pooters or download the mp3 and listen to it as a podcast. It features Racer X (who turned out to be quite the Goth) from The Ripple Effect, and lots of Vincent Price and Bugs Bunny.

Mwwwwwaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! Enjoy.

xm

happy halloween from the wertzateria

here’s a goody bag i printed last night. googly-eyed tootsie pop ghost, tombstone eraser, colored spider web, and pink dracula teeth are the goodies inside. mmwAAA ha ha ha! have a fantastic halloween, everyone.

no halloween would be complete without my favorite song by the shaggs – it’s halloween.

my teeth already hurt.

xm