Bestiarum vocabulum: The Book of the Beasts

Hi Hi everyone! We're pleased to announce/remind you about Monkey's upcoming split-feature show with gentleman-artist and all-around nice guy, Grant Gilliland! It's all going down this Friday, March 4th, from 7-11pm at Big Umbrella Studios (906.5 Divisadero x McAllister). It should be a great show, as we'll be getting down with live screenprinting (buy a shirt and get it printed in front of your eyes!!!), maybe the best vegan cupcakes on the face of the earth from Black Orchid Bakery, and amazing vegan/vegetarian tacos courtesy of Local Flavor SF. So much awesomeness in one night!

Anyhoo, we would love to see you there, and we wanted to share with you some sneak preview images of Monkey's paintings. The little guy has been painting pretty much non-stop for the past week or so - we hope you enjoy! You should definitely stop by the show to see the images in person, where they look much better than via an old iPhone's lens with bad apartment lighting.

The photos:

The Succubus

The Basilisk

Local Flavor SF's taco..seasonal veggies and beans topped with pickled onions, sunflower seeds, and a cilantro-awesomeness sauce

The details:

Bestiarum vocabulum: The Book of the Beasts

Join us for the "Bestiarum vocabulum" Art Opening featuring the work of painters/illustrators Grant Gilliland and Rick Kitagawa.

From the elusive cyclops to the dangerous succubus, from trolls to water spirits, we often think of mythological beasts as simply mythological. Grant Gilliland and Rick Kitagawa beg to differ. Let this pair of monster hunters bring these creatures to life in a series of all new paintings featuring a stable of unearthly beasts and "mythological" creatures from around the world that are just waiting to follow you home.

"Bestiarum vocabulum"
featuring Grant Gilliland and Rick Kitagawa
w/works by the Big Umbrella Studio collective

Big Umbrella Studios
906.5 Divisadero St (x McAllister)
Friday, March 4, 2011
7-11pm

*Collaborative Grant n' Rick t-shirt design printed live*
*food by Black Orchid Bakery and Local Flavor SF*

www.bigumbrellastudios.com

www.seegrantdraw.com
www.rickkitagawa.com

Inspiration: Psuedopod

The Nightmare Planter

Monkey + Seal have recently taken to listening to podcasts, which seem to be the best thing since sliced bread. One of which, has been helpful to get Monkey in the creepy, haunting mood that is suitable for painting a crap-load (a scientific unit of measurement), of monster paintings for his upcoming show. That podcast is Pseudopod.


Pseudopod is a weekly horror podcast, and thus far it's been pretty damn good. You can download them via itunes, which Monkey then listens to while he paints, while he's on the bus, walking between the Monkey + Seal cave and Big Umbrella Studios.

Listening to podcasts is great for us, as instead of listening to music on the way to work, or while painting, we can expose ourselves to new inspirations and ideas. Granted, we lose a bit in the transition back and forth when we're trying to paint and listen at the same time (see our post on the myths of multitasking to see what we mean), but overall it's really great.

So far most of the stories have been pretty awesome, and it's nice to be exposed to new writers of horror. The host's closing notes after the story are always interesting, tying in the theme of the story with real life and his own experiences. It's good storytelling and definitely worth a download or two or twenty.

So for all you fans of the creepy and dark, the supernatural and horrific, go check out the Pseudopod! You won't be disappointed.