Prizes for those who actually read this to the end!
August 27th, 2010I grew up wiith a class of young people considered the fringe. Because there were no large collectives of “subcultures” here, everyone who didn’t seem to fit in hung out together. Before I even met this circle of high school friends I had lost one of my close friends. I never told any of my high school friends about it. Read the rest of this entry »
Come Join the Circus!
August 19th, 2010Cirque Acirca flyers I tinkered into life last night. Please download and use freely to link to us. Thank you! For more info about this group, visit CirqueAcirca.com.
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I don’t like Mondays…
August 16th, 2010Myke and I spent most of our Sunday helping relocate the prized possessions of our friends Bethany and Jody. The home they were leaving was one floor and that was easy-peasy. Upon reaching their new digs we were faced with a very old house with those tight curling wooden stairs and them on the second floor. It was all good, we got them moved in and were totally jealous of their new home. I mean jealous. They are extremely good friends and we’d probably put our shoulders under the corner of a mountain for them if they needed it moved a few feet. Jody is a chef and Bethany is a writer and all around creative witch, so if you have a moment, check her out: Sings With Stars is her first book and a very good read for you who like fantasy worlds and steampunk.
Gloomy Sunday Book
August 14th, 2010![]() |
Gloomy Sunday By Bethalynne Bajema Forty full color pages of dark and distressed pinups by yours truly. Clicky here for samples and ordering options. |
Something Witty Here
August 13th, 2010Alright, I’m exhausted. I’m going to bed. But first…
We spent some time this evening with the two artists who created the Nessie sculpture from last year’s artprize competition. This year they’re doing a steampig, as mentioned earlier. It’s basically a giant, Jules Vern inspired flying machine in the shape of a pig. We got to see the smaller model of it and tour their workshop. Very nice gents. Please visit them here.
I took a few photos of the in-progress model of our own artprize entry. Basically we’re creating a circus type attraction. The top of the exhibit holds most of our dedicated artwork. There is an 8 foot tall many ridiculous feet wide mural underneath the tent part, with large shadowboxes I’m creating that you can actually look into by looking through the eyes of the painted character on the front of the box. The tents that line the top of the exhibit hold our own personal art rooms –think of them as little art museum rooms. The tents farther down are for other artists who couldn’t get space for artprize, vendors, and carnival boardwalk type of set up. The wall on the left is a place for performers. There is also an old fashioned truck that is being turned into a stage there that isn’t apart of the model. There is a large art piece that runs along the right hand side wall. The trees at the front also have art displays around them. In the middle of it is a stage for performances. In our troupe we have several fire eaters, fire twirlers and fire breathers… lot of fire there, no? Cassie is also an aerial acrobat and makes with the uber va va voom. We also have a variety of acts performing during the course of the exhibit. The exhibit is made for people to walk through and enjoy as you would a circus or carnival, but if you see it from above you will see that it is also an art display as a whole as the whole floor is a painted art piece. It’s a massive undertaking and the amount of art I’m creating for it is ridiculous. But I love the theme and I love the people taking part in it with me. Below are some photos of the model of our artprize entry. And with that, my weary ass is going to bed. I spent hours today making buildings and attractions for the landscape in the mural. I am now cross eyed. Goodnight.
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Steamy Dreamy
August 12th, 2010
My life has been moving in strange circles as of late. Take for instance today… in a few hours I’m going to an old building near downtown GR to see something called SteamPig (a steampunk pig, I kid you not -but it looks awesome) with a group of people I’m creating a turn of the century circus carnival art hybred with. Both of these things are being created for a competition called Artprize, which takes place in my own backyard of GR. The competition spans a few weeks over the last of September and first of October. The only way to take part is to find a sponsor and use the space they’re providing. Somehow we managed to secure a spot offered by the Grand Rapids Press. The space is roughly the size of a football field. One tent of artwork has turned into an entire circus exhibit with performances. This has become so completely overwhelming to me. Remember, I’m an artist who thinks “Go small!” as in, dollhouse size things. I like miniature things. Now Myke and I are working on a mural that is eight feet tall and many other large measurements wide. If you meet me and I seem somewhat aloft or scattered, fear not, just knock me in the head a time or two to draw me from my haze. I am simply lost to the 24-7 devotion of my brain to my own work, my store and this project. I am pretty much as terrified as I am overwhelmingly excited.
I’m not sure how many steampunk, dark cabaret meets turn of the century circuses there are out there presently. Have you ever wondered what my circus would look like? Probably not, but I so like to humor myself, har. It would look like the above. However, the group thinks it might be hard to get everyone up into that type of thing and there would be all that mess of people toppling out (I always get my fun taken away!) so instead it’s a massive land structure. I should have some model shots of it this evening after we go and poke the steam piglet. In the meantime, are you a Michigan or semi state local person? We are going to need a few volunteers to help with this creative monster. We could especially use you dreamy steampunk and cosplay folk who just like to walk around in your period finest.
Psssst…
August 12th, 2010If you go nab something from Etta Diem’s Attic Shoppe and all sneaky sneaky like put the word “moose” into the coupon box? $5.00 magically disappears from your purchase total. Don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret (no it’s not, shout it from the mountain tops!). Also… if you happen to nab something from my prints section on this site and you know my teenage nickname (look up there, say, what is that thing above us, the sky? now what color would you call that?) and stick it into the coupon spot, you know what? $5.00 magically poofs there too! It’s like the sites are giving you money! Sort of. In a manner of speaking. Kind of maybe, depends on how you look at it. I could do this all day you now, I’m that slaphappy right now.
Perespolis and Me
August 12th, 2010This movie is not only incredible because it’s a graphic novel I own, but because it gives such a radically different view of life, which I don’t think the trailor conveys. I love this movie, it makes me weep and laugh in equal measure because it’s told from the Read the rest of this entry »
Cirque A Circa Posters
August 6th, 2010![]() |
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Prints of the artwork from this series can be purchased here. To learn more about this collection, visit this link: Cirque Acirca, our Circus out of time.
Gloomy Sunday Prints
August 4th, 2010The Right Red Hand Assemblage
August 1st, 2010![]() |
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Pimpin out my mate and his new artwork. I’ve been an artist widow for the last week as he’s been either painting these really cool pieces for a group collection for Super Punch or lost behind a wall of sawdust in his workshop. Lucky for him the end result was really awesome or I might have had to go into fiancee pout mode. He brought this box up to my “office” last night and asked me to take some photos of it. I’m thinking of hiding it somewhere and not letting him sell it…
Gloomy Sunday
August 1st, 2010
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After five days of solid work from upon waking to passing out in the dawn, I’m devoting this Sunday to creating a bunch of dark and dreary artwork. Now, this might sound very somber and depressing to someone who is all about sunshine and rainbows, but I am a child with her head firmly planted in midnight and dark fantasy. I find a very understated beauty in the dark and I tend to think many people overlook this type of beauty. Plus you can be as light heart’d and happy as you want to be and still prefer the moon over the sun. I’m not actually a big fan of the day Sunday though, it’s typically that one day of the week I can’t focus and I get little done beyond watching True Blood eventually. I’m going to take the day and see how much work in this particular theme I can put together. I’ll even go so far as to call it a project. The Gloomy Sunday Project!
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When I was first putting together stories for Etta Diem, I became obsessed with this thing called “the motifs of harmful sensation”. I had never heard that term before. I was looking for urban legends and came across the wikipedia entry for it. It’s a known concept, I had just never heard of it under that particular phrase before. I’ve always liked the idea -which is to suggest Read the rest of this entry »
Art Collection in the Small
August 1st, 2010Nit-Picker…
July 31st, 2010Dear VH1 and the C List celebs you employ: Women in Marie Antoinette times often employed bigger and better hair pieces that often put them in mortal danger… that is, a lot of those old French birds caught on fire due to their hair pieces and costumes and the fact that the flame was the popular form of room enlightenment at the time. As for flaming tits? Rammstein performs with larger yet similar objects on their FACES, not just their chests for two seconds. Read the rest of this entry »
EttaDiem.com Nearly Done…
July 30th, 2010Playing with Etta Diem
July 29th, 2010
The best part of working on my Etta Diem Attic Shoppe is playing dress up with the stock. If I had my own physical shop it would be one giant, ridiculous over done store front wall to wall. For now I have to make do with photographs. Everything in these photographs can be collected, if you feel so inclined.
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Va va voom…
July 28th, 2010Vintage Work: Butterfly
July 28th, 2010Vintage Work: Bury My Lovely
July 28th, 2010Vintage is a nice way of saying old, isn’t it? This work is from around 1998, created for an exhibit on my original Bajema’s Web site. This is a last look before I tuck this very well loved but dated digital art back into my closet.
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Clint Catalyst
July 28th, 2010
The first of my Black Ibis portraits is available, starting with the lovely and talented Mr. Catalyst. Available: 8×12 prints on fine art paper and 7×10 prints on metallic paper. Each is hand embellished, signed and numbered limited edition. Touch here for ordering options.
You don’t know who Clint Catalyst is? What web rock have you been hiding under?! If this does happen to be your introduction to this interesting gent, I shall steal from his press bio to fill you in: Read the rest of this entry »











































