Featured Artist Interview March 2017: Twilight Faerie

To find where Twilight Faerie sells her wares visit her on her artist page on HAB. 

Interview with Angelique Duncan of Twilight Faerie:

Which pieces of your artwork are you most proud of, currently for sale or sold? Share an image of it if you have one.

I am most proud of “The Great Pumpkin of Sincerity”. It is a 16×20 acrylic painting on Bristol board. This was the first piece I painted with the intent to put out in the public sphere to sell. I have been painting my entire life, however as a lot of artist do, had trepidation about selling my own paintings. I entered the piece in the Faces of the Great Pumpkin Art Contest 2013 held by Cult of the Great Pumpkin, figuring the best way to get over my hesitations to put my paintings up for public scrutiny was to put one in a contest judged by the public. It didn’t win, but I am grateful I entered the piece and still very proud of it. Since painting the Great Pumpkin of Sincerity I have continued to paint and have several paintings and prints for sale along side my vintage Halloween and floral work. I am never happier than when I am painting.

Name an artist(s) whose work you admire and what influence have they had on your art?

The influences on my art come from old storybook illustrations and the (now) vintage greeting cards I used to receive as a child. I love the imagery of animals and Halloween creatures living a parallel world to ours. The artists whose work I admire the most are Arthur Rackham and Beatrix Potter. In my opinion, they are the masters of children’s art, color and mood. I could only hope to be able to capture a tiny sliver of the imagery they have created.

The greatest influence on my work is the illustrators of Halloween greeting cards from the 1970’s. Unfortunately, given the temporary nature of art used for greeting cards as mere ephemera, many of these artists never received notoriety in the art world and their names are obscure. The imagery of those cards has always stayed with me; jovial scarecrows, prissy sweet faced black cats, wide-eyed ghost and grinning Jack o Lanterns. It was an era of Halloween imagery that was friendly, whimsical yet still had a tinge of spooky and I try to emulate that style in my Halloween art.

In the realm of modern Halloween art, I am tremendously grateful to Heather Gleason of My Eclectic Mind for having discovered Twilight Faerie way back in the day and encouraging me to sell online and to challenge myself to always strive to do greater things. Her work is magnificent and inspiring.

What would you consider the highest honor or greatest goal you would like to achieve with your art?

The greatest goal for my art is for some one I have never met to be so compelled to want to hang or sit my work in their home. If a person looks upon one of my pieces and feels as fondly and attached about my art as I do the art and decorations in my own collection, then I have contributed to some ones happiness and to me that is the highest honor one can achieve with art.

What Halloween costume that you got to wear in childhood was your favorite and has the fondest memory for you?

The fondest memories from childhood of a Halloween costume are of a witch’s hat I had when I was about five years old. To me it was the most beautiful magic hat there ever could have been. It came from TG&Y, a discount store that has long since closed its doors. The hat was made from a glossy black-coated cardstock with a ruffle on the edge that was made from black crepe paper with a silver foil trim. The hat had a large moon with a cat arching it’s back surrounded by stars painted on with shiny silver glitter. I loved that hat. I wore it proudly several Halloween nights years in a row, until one Halloween it was drizzly and damp and miserable for trick or treating. I wore my hat, not realizing paper and rain were not a good mix. The hat was destroyed.

Years later, when I was in my early 30’s, I found the exact same hat in a lot of vintage Halloween items at five and dime store in the Village in West University Place in Houston. (another cool store that has closed forever). At the time the original hat I had as a child was maybe $3.00 at most, I paid $25.00 for the new one but it was money well spent to have that hat again. It is now a part of my Halloween decorations that are displayed each year…and yes I have been known to wear the hat around the house gleefully as I decorate!

What is your favorite Halloween icon? Why do you identify with its imagery?

My favorite Halloween icon is the Jack o lantern. The Jack o lantern is the quintessential ambassador and embodiment of all things Halloween. I like to believe that every time a pumpkin is carved into a Jack o lantern and a lit candle is place inside its cavern, that pumpkin has fulfilled its Halloween destiny. Each grimacing, grinning silly or scared faced pumpkin lit by candlelight is keeping the spirit of Halloween alive through the ages.

If money and wherewithal were not an issue, what would be your dream way to spend Halloween?

I have had some very happy Halloweens in my lifetime. I have loved them all whether it was trick or treating as a child or throwing a huge Halloween bash in adulthood or just handing out candy to kids.

If money were no object my dream of the perfect Halloween would be to throw a huge Halloween extravaganza of a party surrounded by folks who share the same enthusiasm and reverence for the holiday. Everyone would have extravagant costumes and every corner would be decorated in orange and black and Halloween bric-a- brac. There would be a decadent Autumn feast with overflowing bowls of baked sweets and candy for desert and never ending pumpkin ales and honey mead. We would have a carved pumpkin contest, silly parlor games and fortune telling. While this party was happening there would be a constant stream of raucous kids Trick or Treating at the door. Outside there would be a fire pit where folks could sit around and tell ghost stories under full moonlight. In the woods would be a decorated haunted trail for folks to meander through with lanterns. To finish the celebration there would be a costumed Halloween parade through the street with all the neighborhood children. That would be a Halloween night for the ages!

Haunted Forest Art Event 2016

Here you will find interpretations of the theme Haunted Forest from participating HAB members.

Haunted Forest Art presented by the following:

Jynxx Designs
Art By Sarada
Twilight Faerie

HAB online shopping catalog:

HAB on Etsy

HAB on Etsy:

HAB on Etsy

Featured Artist Interview June 2015 with Twilight Faerie

To find where Twilight Faerie sells her wares visit her artist page on HAB. 

Interview with Michelle Angelique Duncan of Twilight Faerie:

What inspired you to start the Halloween Artist Bazaar group?

There are those who are Halloween people. At some point they fell in love with that day that falls on October 31st. For them Halloween isn’t just a holiday that comes once a year and then it is done. For Halloween people it is part of who they are. They surround themselves with, and some have a passion to create, Halloween. Halloween Artist Bazaar was started to preserve the spirit of Halloween for those people who create and those who collect. What we do is a very special niche in the art world.

You are guiding this group into being much more than just an Etsy team, where do you see HAB headed?

Halloween Artist Bazaar was never intended to be Etsy-centric. When the group was formed it just happened that a lot of contemporary Halloween artist were selling on Etsy. Forming an Etsy team for the group made sense as a valuable tool. Halloween Artist Bazaar was always intended to be a cross-platform group with members who sell from all kinds of online venues and our own selling catalog. I hope that HAB will be able to establish itself as an online shopping catalog where Halloween collectors will find one of a kind handmade Halloween works that embody quality craftsmanship, unique character and sincerity.

What is your fondest Halloween memory?

I can not say there is only one fond Halloween memory, more of an amalgamation of Halloweens from childhood. Growing up in the 1970’s Halloween was a big deal in my neighborhood. Nearly the whole neighborhood participated. All the houses would be decorated with a least a lit Jack o Lantern or a sheet ghost. Kids and grown ups all dressed in elaborate costumes, most of them home made. At dusk the streets would fill up with the excitement of trick or treaters, screams and music could be heard from makeshift yard and garage haunted houses. It was as though the entire neighborhood magically transformed into something different and we were all celebrating on Halloween.

How do you celebrate Halloween?

I used to throw elaborate Victorian style costume parties complete with silly party games, costume contests and an Autumnal feast. My situation is different now, so gone are those days.

I still dress in costume, usually as a cat. The yard gets decorated and house get decorated. We carve pumpkins and I bake Autumn treats. A few friends will come by for the evening. We burn a fire in the fire pit, grill sausage wraps on the smoker and give out bottles of water to neighbors who stop by. There is a huge bucket I fill with candy and hand out to kids. My rule is to get the candy the kids have to yell TRICK OR TREAT as loud as they can, and they must have on a costume of some sort. We host a food drive on Halloween night where folks can drop off donations in big decorated boxes that I set out in the yard. The neighborhood I am in has a lot of kids and some years we have a huge turn out. Most of the houses are decorated and folks hand out candy.

When did you start creating in your medium and what training have you had?

My family was filled with artistic people, so I was always around art and art supplies. There isn’t a time I remember in which I wasn’t drawing, cutting paper or gluing glitter on to things. I received a lot of instruction from my family when I was very young. I took art classes through out junior high into college. My floral work comes from 15 years in the floral industry; the decoupage comes from a love of cutting and gluing. The joke I make is that the floral work supports my glittery Halloween habit. Even when I was very young I painted; however, it wasn’t until 2014 that I finally got brave enough to try and sell the paintings. I created Twilight Faerie and started selling the Halloween and floral pieces in 2003.

What was the inspiration to create what you create and when did you know you wanted to create Halloween?

The inclination to create Halloween came back when I was nine years old. Deciding the household did not have nearly enough decorations (and my parents didn’t see the necessity of buying more), I decided to create my own to hang about.

There were tissue paper ghost and construction paper bats that dangled from yarn and paper Jack o lanterns with cut out tissue eyes that hung in the windows. I had started constructing a scarecrow from scratch. He was drawn in pencil and colored with watercolor markers. He stood about 4 feet tall and his head arms and legs where cut out and attached to brads so that his joints would move. Making these decorations for the house became a huge project that lasted for three weeks building up to Halloween night.

The scarecrow was an undertaking. It took me a very long time to get him just right and time was running out. I worked feverishly as soon as I got home from school that Halloween to get him finished to hang on the door before the trick or treating started. Somehow I felt he had to fulfill his Halloween destiny and be displayed before dusk. It was that Halloween, when it got dark and I was hanging the scarecrow on the door that I knew some day I wanted to do something to contribute to the world of Halloween.

All my life I have loved Halloween and the imagery of folklore and fairy tales. I was inspired to create ornaments and decoupage pieces as a way to preserve the imagery that is so dear to me. I didn’t want those magical images to be lost to the world. It was as if the images from the past had to be put out in the world for another foray. Back when I started there were only a handful of Halloween artist and only a scarce few who where creating pieces from vintage images. The paintings I paint echo that love of Halloween and fairy tales; there is always a need to get the images that frolic around in my head to paper and out to the world. I suppose I am hoping that Halloween and whimsical imagery might mean as much to others as it does me, and might give those images and creations life that is passed down through generations to come.