Surrounded!

This painting is the beginning of a new series of Hand Painted one of a kind Postcards. For the first time I am making these vintage sized instead of 4" x 6". The backs are now custom designed to match the limited edition postcards I do. This is a gouache on Paper and is titled "Surrounded".

I just listed this painting on ebay.

They All Laugh at you

June's Limited edition postcard has just been uploaded to my bigcartel store.

I have been wanting to do another card with some text and design elements, and this painting from a recent commission fit the bill perfectly.

This card measures 3.5" x 5.5" and is limited to 35 flat copies, and 25 embossed and gilded versions.

All cards are signed and numbered on heavy weight cotton paper with archival inks.

Flat cards begin shipping on Friday, Embossed will begin shipping on Monday.

I am also adding to the shop a few of the black and white line illustrations That were used in Mark Ledenbach's book "Vintage Halloween Collectibles" volume 3.

Updates in Halloweenland

The Monthly postcard for May is going to be a couple weeks out yet and will count as May & June. I am still catching up on a few past postcard orders and I don't want to rush things or cause any further delays.

A longtime friend of mine has listed a few of my out of print pieces from his collection on ebay. These end tomorrow, the 20th of May. The Two stand outs for me are the living Bogie, of which only 15 were made, and Postcard #4 from 2001 which had 100 copies printed and almost never comes up for sale. You can see his listings here sigmasix

Now for the big news....

Mark B Ledenbach has released the third Edition of his essential Vintage Halloween Collectibles, which was laid out by, and contains illustrations by yours truly. We worked very closely for three months on updating every page so the information flows better than the 2nd edition, as well as added hundreds of new images adding 50 pages to the previous edition. This culminated in a weekend of all-nighters when he flew out to my house and we went over the layout together. I am proud to be involved in such a massive reworking of the book, and I am really thrilled with the results.

Besides interior illustrations, I also created a postcard exclusive for the book which is limited to the Hardcover copies. 100 numbered Copies of the hardcover were printed and signed by Mark, and each will have a matched number limited edition signed postcard.

This is the image for the card, Which shows the two of us working during one of our marathon days of editing and arranging. The Wording is only on this image, not the postcard itself.

Copies of the book can be ordered through Mark's Website found here.

The Summoning Update

Copies of The Summoning have been mailing out all week, and all but the more complicated orders have been sent out.

I am pleased to announce I have finally found a proper paper replacement for the postcards. Starting with next month's card they will be printed on an extremely stiff and heavy 100% cotton paper. Thank you for accepting the lighter weight paper as I searched for the proper weight.

Speaking of next month's card, I will be using this image I recently painted as a commission for a long time collector.

"The Kettle"

Here are some images of my 1st Hold To Light Halloween postcard, "The Kettle" This was made as an exclusive edition of 30 for postcard dealer David Torretta. I had a hard time getting a decent shot of it with light shining through, but it gets the visual across.

In other news I added some Wacky Packages original art and a few older postcards to my big Cartel shop.

I am finishing up the painting for April's limited card and am really excited about it. The painting is a tribute to Samuel Schmucker, which is something I have been wanting to do for some time now.

Emergence Postcard Shipping Update

Just a note to let everyone who ordered a copy of emergence know, they began shipping today, and all copies will have been mailed by Tuesday morning.

I also uploaded some more fun Vintage Halloween paper items to my flickr account.

Have a great weekend! - Matthew

Shiverbones updates

I have just completed a secret project that I can't talk about yet, but in a few months I will be able to share the news. This was a massive undertaking and while I am very proud of the end result, it did occupy almost all of my time these last 3 months. In an effort to reorganize and better communicate with everyone, I will be updating this blog weekly again. The recent surge in demand for my postcards has led to longer wait times as I get all the sketching, embossing, packing & mailing done. I will keep this  blog updated with status orders so you can have a better idea when to expect your postcards.

The last 3 postcards I have released have all been experiments. The paper I used to make them in the past was discontinued, and that left me in a bind. I am still working on getting the "perfect" paper stock back in use, but i have resolved all of the issues with recent off centering and uneven edge cuts.

Starting with my March offering below, you can expect to see an improvement in the cards. Also beginning with March's card, the backs will state if the card was sketched or embossed to help clear up any future questions about the original state I mailed the card in.

March's card is "Emergence", and features some grizzled bats leaving their cave for Halloween night. I always thought bats were under used on Halloween postcards and am happy to release this one.

This is offered in 2 varieties: Regular and Embossed & gilded. I am taking a break from sketching on this round as I continue to catch up on the last few months of orders. Visit my big cartel site to place an order.

Thanks for looking & enjoy the slowly warming weather.