When we named our Halloween contest "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark," we didn't realize how prophetic those words would become for those of us on the east coast left without power by Hurricane Sandy. Our offices were dark and scary from the storm outage, but on the "bright" side, it created some great mood lighting! Macabre Mother Nature may have played a trick on us, but we were treated with some very fun and freaky submissions from many of our spirited Citra Artists.
Apologies for the delay in posting results. Congrats and goodies go to our top 5 winners: Kayann Ausherman, Marsha Carlton, Sue Faircloth, Judy Ludovise and Christy RePinec.
Kayann Ausherman
In Fear No Evil, a skull is frightened of me instead of the other way around!
Marsha Carlton
Gooie Louie… (cousin of Icky Mickey) nat'l geo manipulated to paint picture with brush, cloth and fingers… also color saturated in photo program for effect.
Sue Faircloth
Here is my entry called "Celebrating the Spook House"
Judy Ludovise
I'll Be Watching you....
And as she did last year, our Queen of Creating Creepiness, Christy RePinec, retains her crown once more for providing us with a daily dose of daunting and disturbing (and very amusing!) Citra Art. For her extraordinary extra efforts, Christy has even earned herself some extra jewels on her crown for outdoing herself this year. As she's done in the past, each entry was accompanied by some engrossing prose – you slay, us, Christy! Check out more of Christy's sinister submissions below.
Christy RePinec
I've been saving this one for a long time. It's called "Me and my Evil Twin Preparing for Grandma's visit!" It looks like he's considering "mayhem" or even worse for his saintly granny.
And in broad daylight…the evil twin will not wait for the dark.
He must begin when the dark spirits move him….
Ever wander across a country field and sense that you are not alone…something is beside you. No, it's walking behind you. They are around you, surrounding you. A shiver trickle down your spine, an ominous feeling of dread begins to overtake you…you begin to run. Faster, faster…
Evil is always devising more corrosive misery through man's restless need to exact revenge. It was said that the gods must protect their own by employing evil dark spirits to demand revenge…or so it was believed in ancient Egypt. The curse of King Tut's tomb has long been enacted on those brave or foolish enough to defile his final resting place. He sought his seeking on those defilers by making them dig for two graves - his and their own. This one is called: Tut's Revenge.
Her love was so passionate that it transcended time and even death. She loved with a love that could not be contained or denied. Alas, her handsome lover was not the man she thought he was…he scorned her love and mocked her fidelity. Which was his fatal mistake…
When I first saw the Wizard of OZ as a young girl, the Wicked Witch scared me so badly that I slept with my older sister for a week. Her wringing of her hands and that cackle of "I'll get you, my pretty" were an integral part of my nightmares for that year. But now, I love a good, ugly witch photo! So here's my Citra version of the Wicked Witch. Hope you don't see her in your dreams….
There are more entries from The Queen of Creepiness below
And finally, take a perilous peek at more scares, if you dare, with a few more haunting pieces that complete our chilling collection of Super-Natural Citra submissions!
Andrea Dyrdahl
I chose this page because of the dark colors and the hint of red (that I enhanced with metallic watercolor paint) that showed through, revealing the outline of a dark and mysterious lady. I found the quote online and wrote it in with the white pen.
Marsha Carlton
Hector the skull – (don't know why.. just looked like a Hector) skull image on nat'l geo. With paint to frame
The Image Over The Bed … nat'l geo manipulated to paint picture with brush, cloth and fingers
A nat'l geo page manipulated with citra solve using brushes and fingers
Spiders…. Ick.
Kayann Ausherman
In Toward the Light, a woman with long strands of dark hair moves toward the light, cheery and whimsical. The hair, melded from the many words of our thoughts like shame, regrets, guilt, fear, could hold the woman back, but instead, she strains toward the light and bright in an incongruous mix of styles.
Diane Robinson
Attached is my entry for the "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark". It is titled "story of the haunted house".
Linda Richmond
Ghouls and Goblins
Lynn C Davis
Grip of Ghools
Poor, poor Zorkadork! Zorkadork was lost. Zorky, as he was called, had mistakenly fallen out of his spaceship. And he landed on Planet Earth. Zorky was young for his species, only 17777 earth years old. He was still a zygote and he wanted his zymum. So he did what she always told him to do when he was lost. He called out again and again: Take Me to Your Leader! Take Me to Your Leader! Take Me to Your Leader! But the earthling hearing devices must not be working…poor, poor Zorkadork! What should he do? What ever should he do?
Today's entry is more of a philosophical statement than a scare-fest…it's called "Boring Cinderella."
Watch out! Walk fast and don't look behind you…someone may be following. Walking behind you, stalking you. No, not someone, but some THING! Once human, the Walking Dead wander at night looking for their next unsuspecting victim. Someone unaware, someone who's not careful. Someone like you….
Allright, I took pity on your nerves…but only for today. This entry is just a little spooky, but I add a wry touch on the tombstone.
You really didn't think I'd be nice for that long, did you? It was long, long ago that an evil magician cast a future spell upon an innocent (?) Citra artist living in the twenty-first century. His wicked spell included bats, vampires, skulls and a myriad of other grotesque, gruesome things that caused this sweet young (?) thing to replicate these disgusting things in image upon image upon image. His vile intent was to proliferate his wicked vision on thousands of ardent Citra Solv fans and artists.
Remember the dreams you had when you were a little girl? What did you want to be when you grew up? Was it a ballet dancer, president, business woman/owner, educator, engineer or artist? Or all of them? Or did your life turn out completely different that you thought it would be? Well, Angelina Jolie kinda wanted to be a vampire…so here's my entry of what I thought she'd look like if she was a girl vampire. Yep, it's creepy!
Long ago in the kingdom of Glowadora lived a good witch, a very good witch indeed, who wanted to be bad, really bad. So she decided to change her name to Black Icky-a-bra or B. Icky for short. Now B. Icky had just moved into a dark, gloomy house that had been deserted for a long, long time. It was the perfect place for a good witch to practice being bad in; because it was at the end of the Haunted Glow-a-dome forest. For B. Icky's nasty, evil, evil plan was to unsparkle everything that sparkled in Glowadora. She want to make everything black, pitch black. No shine, no glow, no sparkle, no twinkle. Not even a shimmer. Gasp! Another gasp! No! Really?!!! Wow, that was wicked! It was her naughty plan to show everyone how bad, really bad, she could be. She knew it would work.
To be continued…
This is the view of the sparkly, shimmery forest from her window before B. Icky started to do her bad, bad plan…
Hope your weekend is filled with treats, not tricks. Lots of them, in fact. Are you wondering what the creepy Queen's costume will be on her sacred night? This year the evil one will be masquerading as the most evil of all…a Marketing manager. Yes, how wicked is that!!!!!! She's been practicing this vilel look by using this devilish facade to create promotional flyers. By October 31st, she'll be able to pass as the aforementioned villainous manager. Check out some of her recent work…
Welcome to "Who's Your Mummy" week? I found a NatGeo that had mummies in it! Goood ol' creepy mummies! Perfect for this contest. So each day this week, you will a scary mummy and/or maybe a freaky skull entry. Be prepared! Here's the first one called "Final Sleep." Enjoy, if you dare…
This has to be the ugliest mummy I've ever seen…not that I've seen a lot though. Although I suppose none of them are beauty queens, right? But he is the "King of Ugly!"
Complete with a rope around its neck. Extra creepy!
This one is funny…in a strange, oddly weird way. Really weird way! And check out that hair! It was in the original picture. What's even stranger is that the NatGeo article was on Asian mummies! Sometimes ya just can't make this creepy stuff up!
Here's day 4…just your average mummy. As if any are…
This is one is actually a kinda "pretty" mummy…if there is such a thing. And just a little creepy.
Your final mummy delight(?) is a mixture of mummy faces you've seen before and a few of their skeletons friends. Mummies apparently like to hang with their bare bone buddies….where else but in a…wait for it, wait for it…in a graveyard!
See not everything is my life is creepy! Just kinda creepy…like my dancing Calaveras.
See, I don't forget my girlfriends when my favorite boy is around. This is an old favorite from last year resurrected. It's Mr. Happy No-Face with a new look, more teeth and a pithy quote. I like him even more now….do you?
Today's entry is another pinkish one…and not too creepy.
Today's entry is apparently the last in my pinkish skull series. It's called "Laugh Clown." Just the way the CA background worked out…it gave it a circus feel. And the skull itself reminded me of Bozo the Clown. Do you remember him? He was big in the Chicagoland area.
I must be feeling a bit devilish this morning…so here a devilish entry for you. Like all creepy girls, I like to share my evil doings, er, I mean art.
The mummy weeps
This entry is my Halloween twist on the man in the moon. Notice the lovely CA moon with its seasonal visitor. Do you know who he is….?
Alien.
I've been saving this one for a long time. It's called "Me and my Evil Twin Preparing for Grandma's visit!" It looks like he's considering "mayhem" or even worse for his saintly granny. And in broad daylight…the evil twin will not wait for the dark. He must begin when the dark spirits move him….
Fall is in the air, the leaves are turning colors and New England has an apple festival every weekend. But even at such an innocent event, one must be wary. Evil is everywhere…sometimes hiding in the old crone's body. She takes you under her spell as she generously offers you a bright red, succulent treat…
Today's entries are alike but different…two different color treatments of the same art. A pale vampire and her colorful twin sister. I loved how the CA background along with a picture of roses created their wild flower hair.
One of my biggest fears is running out of chocolate…what's yours? But according to my friend pictured below, you should not fear death. Something to think about during these haunting days.
Soon it will really be the official "fright night" when scares are expected and fear dominates our senses.
Boooo
Okay, these two are dark because of their message. Sometimes the darkness exists in our thoughts. Now that's really scary! The first one reveals how not thinking for yourself can keep you in a dark, dark place and lead ultimately to the scariest place of all. (Again, I love how the CA background created an image of souls following someone to their end.)
Vampires do exist among us…watch out!
This entry is a true "hell house" from New Orleans. Legend has it that during the 1800s a female human monster did unspeakable depraved acts on all inhabitants. And their tortured souls roam seeking revenge and absolution.
This entry combines a CA background with a picture of a black cat to create a "green-eyed monster." Love, love how CA backgrounds can create scary effects out of anything! Meowwwwwwwww!
Of course, dolls can be scary or just plain freaky…ala Chucky. This is the freaky doll that haunts your childhood home…need I say more? Yes, it does have a face that only a "mother" could love!
two entries for today…watch out for what shines and/or glows in the dark!
a black pumpkin with Citra Art eyes and smiles…
a glowing creature that lurks in the dark…
something gothic for your Halloween…
This one is just a kinda generic Citra Art demon. If there is such a thing! I just enhanced his surroundings a touch, like adding flames for a "hellish" effect. Hey, tis the season, right!
