DUe to my home computer going offline

This blog has been fairly quiet.
I'll upload the week 5 and week 6 reports within the next three days.
7+8
8 Considering the amount of work I have given myself for my final installation of work, I am starting early and working on pieces this week. The piece I know the most about where it's going is the Grimoire, and so I started the week oil painting another small skull to go inside the grimoire, along with the words"The story's in the soil, keep your ear to the ground" which is to hopefully act as an introduction to my project. I'm also looking at various stories across the occult and various religions that I would enjoy illustrating for my series of stippled images.
A reoccuring imagery in the stories that drew me in the most were of the butterfly.
I felt the black sun was relevant as an alchemy term and I also enjoyed the imagery conjured by alternate stories surrounding it. And I feel it's links to the butterfly and the black sun being used as a symbol of incomplete magnum opus makes it very relevant to a Christian tale of the butterfly freed from it's cocoon.

Stock references I'm interested in using.

Grandmother spider and the creation of the universe

[CHEROKEE]
In the beginning there was only blackness, and nobody could see anything. People kept bumping into each other and groping blindly. They said: "What this world needs is light."
Fox said he knew some people on the other side of the world who had plenty of light, but they were too greedy to share it with others. Possum said he would be glad to steal a little of it. "I have a bushy tail," he siad. "I can hide the light inside all that fur." Then he set out for the other side of the world. There he found the sun hanging in a tree and lighting everything up. He sneaked over to the sun, picked out a tiny piece of light, and stuffed it into his tail. But the light was hot and burned all the fur off. The people discovered his theft and took back the light, and ever since, Possoum's tail has been bald.
"Let me try," said Buzzard. "I know better than to hide a piece of stolen light in my tail. I'll put it on my head." He flew to the other side of the world and, diving straight into the sun, seized it with his claws. He put it on his head, but it burned his head feathers off. The people grabbed the sun away from him, and ever since that time Buzzard's head has remained bald.
Grandmother Spider said, "Let me try!" First she made a thickwalled pot out of clay. Next she spun a web reaching all the way to the other side of the world. She was so small that none of the people there noticed her coming. Quickly Grandmother Spider snatched up the sun, put it in the bowl of clay, and scrambled back home along one of the strands of her web. Now her side of the world had light, and everyone rejoiced.
Spider Woman brought not only the sun to the Cherokee, but fire with it. And besides that, she taught the Cherokee people the art of pottery making.

I want to illustrate this story, and the image of the grandmother spider, to include in my grimoire.

Derek Turcotte

Spirit Board gallery

 group show now on view at San Francisco's Articulated Gallery (previewed here.)Housed within the confines of Haight Street's overwhelmingly amazing Loved to Death boutique, Articulated has been putting out some great shows recently, notably Jeremy Hush's solo there a couple months back, and the eclectic space continues with their delightfully dark programming this month. Curated by Hi-Fructose's own JL Schnabel, aka BloodMilk, 'Spirit Board' presents inspirations provided by the Ouija Board as interpreted by approximately two dozen artists including Caitlin Hackett, Jennybird Alcantara, Kukula, Jeremy Hush, Buddy Nestor and many more. Get a look at the opening celebrations, as well as a selection of our personal favorite works below.

Scott Schiedly

uxtaposing flora and fauna with macabre elements such as skulls and menacing mouths, artist Scott Scheidly creates wondrously dark portraits. The merging of human and plants components adds a speculative element to the paintings, adding a narrative effect that harkens old horror tales and subtly hints at popular culture.