Early Snow

5.5" x 8.5" Gouache painting used for a CGC boards Exclusive Postcard. I named it Early Snow, but it could just as easily be a late Jack O Lantern. Thanks to Michael for the enduring image of a Frozen Jack-O.

Santa and the Fairy Snow Queen

Coming from The Shiverbones group this Month, a set of 9 trading cards based on the terrifying Christmas short "Santa and the Fairy Snow Queen". Anyone who has not seen this incredible and disturbing short can see it here thanks to archive.org

I have been semi obsessed with this show for the last couple years, so I decided to do a small set of cards based on the film. These should be ready on December 10th.

Here is the first image in the set of 9 - Snoopy!

Breaking my autumnal vacation

I really needed a break, what an incredibly busy last few months! Now I feel refreshed, recharged & ready to start creating new imagery & forms.

First up, I am making a set of 6 "Candy & Toy" boxes based on the Phoenix boxes of the 50's & 60's. Each measures 3.75" x 2.5" x .75" and features some cheap candy & a mechanical paper toy. There is also a trading card to cut out on the back! The 6 Characters will be The Reaper, The Moon, The Black Cat, The Jack O Lantern, The Bat & The Witch. I hope to have a new one on ebay each week starting 11/21. 20 of each character will be made. When all six are done I will create a display box to house them.

Pictured is a prototype version of the Reaper (The one with the Pumpkins) and the regular version of the Reaper.

My six color sketches

Out of the sketch cards I drew for the Topps 2010 Wacky packages Halloween Postcards, these are the 6 color ones I did.



these are the 9 ghost sketches

2010 Halloween Wacky Packages Postcards

Holy smokes. 500 sets sold out in 45 minutes. Here is what I worked on in the set.

Mike & Yikes - I did the concept & painting for this one:




I did the concept for Stake 5, Joe Simko did the finished painting



I also did the Line art for the back of the postcards:



I am really excited to be part of this set, what could be better than Halloween & Wacky Packages? A big thanks to everyone involved for putting together a great postcard set.

New Wacky Packages Series!

I have written two gags, painted one image, drawn 72 sketch cards and drawn the art for the back of the postcards on the new limited edition Halloween Wacky Packages postcard set. These are to go on sale at the Topps Online store at around 11am est on Wednesday the 20th. These tend to sell out in a matter of hours, so if you are interested, get in there right away. This looks like a wonderful set with a lot of strong images, I will add a photo when I can tomorrow.

Spookshow Funnies series 2 Coming soon!

Series two will start numbering where series one left off, and will contain at least 18 cards. I have some fun ideas about packaging I hope will work out. At this point, it looks like they will be ready in late November.

Since no self respecting 2nd card series uses the same border color, here is what this series will look like.





More info to come.

2 Upcoming Halloween Shows

Fall has finally arrived, even down here in New Orleans! Hooray! I thought I had burnt out on the Autumnal feeling with all the work leading up to Halloween & Vine, but I am being renewed by chilly nights and ever shrinking daylight.

I have pieces in a couple upcoming group shows. First up is the Madman's Masquerade in Kingston, NY. On October 16th. This link has more info. I will have a couple die cuts as well as these 2 new pieces.




Next Up is MF Galleries 8th Annual Halloween art show being held in Genova, Italy, more info here

I will have these 2 pieces at that show




I just noticed Joe Simko will also have work in this show, which is an odd coincidence because he just painted one of my gags for the upcoming Wacky Packages Postcard series, and He did a WONDERFUL job! Thanks Joe!

Halloween & Vine

Here are a few pics of my table from the 2010 Halloween & Vine Show. I had a great time catching up with everyone and meeting the people who came up to the booth. I did have some medical issues going on so I was a bit out of it and didn't hang around as long as I usually would have, but it was still a lot of fun. I have a few of my left over pieces on ebay

10/31 Volume 4 is ready to go!

10/31 Volume 4 by Matthew Kirscht | Make Your Own Book

The Frightening Fence!

This is my newest paper decoration design - the frightful fence. Because it's so complicated to do I will probably make 5 or less. This can form a fence or a square centerpiece by attaching all 4 sides. I will have 2 or 3 of these at Halloween & Vine a week from today.

Halloween & Vine Sneak Peek #1

Here are 2 new Mini Die cuts I will have at Halloween & vine - each one is a unique color. 4 Demon Kittens & 10 Scarecrow cats will be made in total.



I hope to have some new preview pieces ready to show next week!

A few larger oils

I just got some work back that had been in galleries over the last year and made them available on my website here.

This is The Candy Banhsee, a 16" x 20" oil, one of the recent additions. Swirling menacing candy appears to keen the death of someone's innocence. :-)

10/31 Volume 4

It's the deep of August, yet the Halloween is spilling all around me. Someone grab an empty cup! I am putting the finishing touches on the newest volume in my series of Halloween art books "10/31". Like the previous three books, this is a 7" square Hardcover with dust jacket. The limited edition versions are now available for pre order on my website here.

I may monkey about with the front cover a bit more, but as it stands I think it will look like this.

Old Sculptures

A big thanks to Bobbie Lasky who forwarded me some photos of my sculptures she has taken over the years. I believe most of these are in her collection. It's really great to see these again, I always forget so many of the designs I have done. Thanks Bobbie!!!

PS - the Bat in photo #2 is by Michael Bonfiglio.

Gearing Up For Halloween & Vine

It's hard to believe the Halloween & Vine art show in Petaluma, CA is less than 2 months away! I have started working harder at having new designs ready for the show. I hope to have several items exclusive to that event.

First up, these are the 2 prototype "Hell Fire Lanterns" The final piece will have a variation of the insert to have more impact. This measures about 7" x 9". One side is fully illustrated, the other has cut away features to act as a lantern. I am only making 10 of these, not counting these 2 prototypes.



I have been wanting to do a jointed cat piece for sometime, and finally just finished this design. It measures about 12" x 17" when fully extended. I will make 20 of this design.



Finally, it's about time to release the 4th volume of my book, "10/31". This is the rough sketch for the front cover painting, more info to come in late August.

Engaged!

After 5 and a half years of togetherness & 1 year of home ownership, Kathy & I are engaged. Hooray! Thanks for saying yes.... :-)

Here we are dressed as Beef & Broccoli for this last Mardi Gras



I have been really backed up with getting things done these last couple weeks with all that has been going on, but I did just get a Halloween postcard sized painting done & listed on ebay called "Halitosis"

New Wacky Packages!

I have two pieces in the Just released series 6 of Topps Wacky Packages postcards. Lice is painted from a gag by Paul Harris and is a postcard. H8 is from a gag by Mike Dantzer & Mark Parisi and is a bonus card. Both pieces are available in the set Topps is selling for $6.95. The limited edition sets which featured a hand drawn sketch card, artist Bio Cards, & a bonus card other than H8 sold out in less than 2 hours. Here are scans of the 2 original paintings.

A big thanks to everyone at Topps involved in hiring me to paint these, it's an honor & I appreciate it!

2 Recent Acrylic Paintings

These two pieces were done this week. The first is a 7" x 10" that I used for a CGC Exclusive postcard of 20 copies, the 2nd is a 4" x 6" Painting on postcard paper that I have up on ebay now. It has been really fun using acrylic again, even though it was a real challenge on the Arches Watercolor paper for the "Paranoia"

"Sometimes The Candy Isn't Worth It"




"Paranoia"

I drink your milk shake

This commission was started before the oil spill, and I had to finish it after the oil spill. This isn'rt technically a spill, but it was still a little tough to finish. Acrylic on Board, 5.5" x 8.5"

Mini Die Cut #5

The 5th Mini Die Cut is Done & Will be ready this weekend. After drawing this it kept reminding me of "I want to take a bath in a casket" from the Electric Company, which can be seen here.

Halloween Postcard Commission

This is a recently finished commission for a friend of mine. It was Based off of a very detailed sketch concept that I really loved, so finishing it off was a joy. Here is "Pumpkin Soup"

A few New Sketch Cards

Three more recently done, and up on ebay. It's going to be awhile before I do anymore as I am facing doing 60 sketch cards for the Next Wacky Packages Postcard series! The 1st two are from the continuing Spookshow Funnies series, the third is a fairytale world retelling of the "Bloody Mary" legend titled "Bloody Beary". Good old terrifying Bloody Mary. I have to go find out the origins of that one. I can't think of any other urban legend ghost story that has completely terrified so many people, even into their adult life.

One Of A kind Die Cut

This Sunday on ebay I will make available my first unique die cut. I decided to begin making one of a kind pieces of more complex or bizarre images. This one measures about 17" across from left to right. I have some really kooky ideas up my sleeve I can't wait to get to!

Candy Box!

I just completed my first candy box, I hope to have 4 designs done in time for Halloween & Vine this Fall. This measures just under 4.5" x 2" x 3". I am making 20 of these.

Tiny Portraits & Scrambles in the Night!

It's full fledged summer here in New Orleans, makes it hard to grab the Halloween feeling, but I have been trying my best!

This weekend I completed the 2nd set of Tiny Portraits die Cuts. Each measures about 5.5" tall and goes perfectly with series one. There are only 50 sets of these being made, each one is signed on the back.






This week also saw the completion of the Midnight Scramble board game. This is limited to 25 copies.