Craven Farm and the Folk Art of Cindy Mangutz

If I was still living in the Northwest, (from where I just recently departed after ten years), we most certainly would have visited Craven Farm by now, our favorite pumpkin patch haunt near Historic Downtown Snohomish -- (not too far off from Seattle, Washington).

I have yet to find anything near the new digs that quite makes that perfect match of having a real pumpkin patch farm right next to a rustic olde town brimming with large antique malls and great places to eat like our favorite, for their deserts, the Snohomish Pie Company.

Anyhow, if you are in the area, enjoying what I believe to be the best (and maybe only) time to visit the Northwest, here is a sneak peek of Craven Farm from their website:

I have such fond memories of this place, and since it was part of the Halloween tradition (that was part of my writing of The Pumpkin Dream), I felt it  only fitting to dedicate the book to the farm, it's good-humored staff, and the town, and I'm so happy to have copies of the book available at their store of goodies that include jams, decorations, and folk arts.

And of special note for us is the artist Cindy Mangutz who has created two different scenes of Craven Farm at Halloween. (Here's a link to the fantasy-atmosphere of original while the second is perhaps more realistic to the farm grounds). We felt really fortunate, our last year there, to meet the artist and get a large signed print from her (to replace the small greeting card we had bought many years previous).

Here's to Craven Farm and Cindy Mangutz --- and Happy Halloween 2011 to all my friends in the Northwest and across the world!

Sketchy Beginnings...

By way of brief introduction, (jumping past the last few years), some time ago I was searching for a subject that would give my fine art ventures a lighter side, and perhaps stoke my wan business sense toward an area that more strongly interested me... which, to make a long story short... turned my wandering eye toward one of my all-time favorite realms --- holiday arts, (especially Halloween).

To cut forward to today, my most recent goal (among a few others) is to now publish an illustrated Halloween poem. The artwork is done, and the editor is combing over the text... and I'm guessing my main subject matter here will now be the adventure of production, and beyond...  with news on some type of publishing result.

As for now, I just wanted to get this initial post pushed forward, and to post a couple of rough sketches from the project's early days of conception:

The first is a pencil drawing scanned from the sketchbooks, and the second is a vector version using Illustrator CS5. While I really enjoyed these (and wanted the vector version to be seen), the look of the art took a different stylistic turn. And, since I want to venture occasionally into various processes, I thought these made an appropriate start for future subjects that may concern the development of the book and my holiday art in general...

Thank you for stopping by, and I'm welcoming of any thoughts concerning DIY publishing, experimental book formats, and/or 3rd party publishers.

Aaron