Double, double, toil and trouble…

Double, double, toil and trouble has been my theme since the end of last year. I haven’t posted a blog since then because, you know…LIFE happens. And death. Unfortunately, in January, my hubby’s mom suddenly passed away and we’re just now coming to grips with it and re-emerging from our grief.

For months I was unable to do anything creative and whenever I did try, it was pathetic and made me feel even less motivated. Then Russia started the war in Ukraine and, of course that triggered my anxiety for my family overseas and only piled on. I barely made it out of the house to my part time job and just wanted to stay under my rock and hide. However, one good thing I learned from past bouts of depression is that nothing lasts forever, good or bad times! And, of course, it turned out to be true.

Slowly, I emerged from my self-imposed abyss, but man, it was ROUGH! I saw the first glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel at my birthday bonfire and was touched by so many friends coming to celebrate with me. You have no idea how much that meant to me! Then, first weekend in April I went to WonderCon in Anaheim and felt myself thriving and really coming out of my shell, finally! I met and re-connected with lots of creative people and found my motivation again! As a matter of fact, on my second day there, I decided to start my ‘daily doodles’ again! I had to force myself a few days in between, but it didn’t take long until that creative urge settled in again and made itself at home in my daily life. I can’t recommend it enough: Do something creative every day – paint, draw, write – even just for ten minutes! Make it a habit and watch what happens! I first did this about 8 years ago; and besides painting it also inspired me to write my first scripts and then it just snowballed into so much more! My mistake was letting it go when I thought I didn’t need it anymore because I was always involved in at least one type of project. Learned that lesson!

So, let’s get to the fun stuff – I have lots of updates!

• First off, I’ll return to the San Diego Comic-Con Art Show and this year it will be in person again, yayyy! SDCC runs from July 21st – 24th. Stay tuned for more details down the road!

• You can now watch all three of my short films: The Appointment, Things We Dig and The Test on YouTube! Go ‘like’ them and feel free to share on social media! It never hurts to get a few more eyes on them.

• Speaking of short films….Things We Dig won the Silver Award in the Horror Short Film section at the Munich Independent Star Film Fest late last year; and it finally arrived in the mail – thank you to my sis in Germany for safeguarding it!

Congratulations again to my rockstar cast and crew! Prost!

• You can now get licensed images from my Picfair store at piathrasherfotografie.picfair.com. Buy my photos as printed products or digital downloads for marketing including editorial purposes. Check them out and bookmark the page!

• I decided to start a fun newsletter giving my two cents on finding your own creative ‘dark side’ and whatever updates on current projects I’m working on – in part to hold myself accountable and keep a schedule. My plan is to publish one every two weeks. Can I keep it up? We shall see! Depends how much interest there is, too – maybe you wanna subscribe? If yes, please do it here. Otherwise, keep checking this blog (which you can also subscribe to, but fair warning: it’s not updated regularly). Come on…what’s a little more email spam? But seriously, if you DO subscribe…might wanna check your spam folder cause Gmail isn’t messing around and might relegate my stuff to the dustbin of history before it even gets a chance to shine!

• Oh, and one more thing – most urgent and time sensitive! I will display/sell art at Secret Morgue: Witches’ Night Edition on Saturday, April 30th – also known as Walpurgisnacht! Secret Morgue is such a cool annual event here in San Diego! It hasn’t been held since 2019, thanks to the pandemic, and the theme was aliens, as in sci-fi creatures. I had such a blast and can’t wait to see what the Film Geeks and Beth Accomando are conjuring up this time! This year it’s all about witches… and of course, when Beth asked me if I had any art relating to this theme I just couldn’t resist! There will be six films (which you won’t find out about the titles until you get there, but they’re all witch-related…hence “secret morgue”, get it?), two meals (Bombay Coast returns!), a talk about witches in history from SDSU professor Dr. Elizabeth Pollard, art show, and raffle prizes. You will also have a chance to purchase a ticket to the Comic-Con Museum for 50% off and there will be a raffle for witchy prizes too! Get your tickets here before they sell out …(they have every year so far)!