Welcoming in 2026!
Greetings, everyone! Grab a cuppa your favorite brew, settle into a comfie chair, and peruse what lies before you here on the website. It's a bit long but, hopefully, worth the read. Got lots to tell you about!
Hooo-yeah! We are looking forward to creating lots of monstrously delightful things for this year's issue, which will be our sixth year of publishing Autumn Brilliance!
(In numerology, the number 6 generally symbolizes harmony, balance, responsibility and nurturing... excellent elements to put to use in the magazine)
An eclectic assortment of ingredients will make for a spectacular issue, come this Fall 2026 - we're adding a few more edgy elements to the mix so you know it's going to be incredible. As you know, the magazine tends to stick to mostly a traditional Halloween vibe... so be prepared, we plan on shaking things up a bit (in a really good way of course). Adding a couple more spicy peppers to the stew will only enhance things, make it all the more delicious to the palate, so get ready to chomp into something exotic and tasty.
But first, we want to know, how was your year? Did you step outside of your box and explore? And, if so, what did you discover along the way? You can always write to us here - scroll down on the left side of this page, where you'll find our email link - we love hearing from you!
Each year during the autumn, the Hubby and I do a little traveling, and now that both of us are retired, in 2025, we did a lot of traveling - as you can guess, mostly Halloween-related stuff, not only because we simply love doing that, but because it gives us so much for magazine content. Plus, we get to meet so many fun new people and fabulously talented artists all along the way.
Thrilled to have attended the awesome Mask Fest/Horror Hound weekend event in Cincinnati (if you've not seen it yet, what are you waiting for!? Go!).
If you love monsters, masks, scream queens, horror, Halloween, celebrities and everything in between, this convention is for you. It's nothing less than astonishing. We hurt our necks swiveling back and forth, left and right, trying to absorb all the fabulous artistry that was on display from one booth to the next, such as Brian Blair, the prodigiously-talented creator behind Pumpkin Pulp - just, wow! Crazy talented stuff is to be found there.
How wonderful to have had the opportunity to meet a ton of artists, especially some who we have admired for years - the mastermind of Halloween haunt prop art, none other than Ed Edmunds, the creator of Distortions Unlimited. Distortions is one of the biggest and most (in)famous prop & special effects houses of the land.
Meeting the incredible Ed Edmunds (and about to explode with excitement, can you tell!?) - Distortions Unlimited - Mask Fest, 2025
And, just across the aisle from Ed and Co. was another giant legend of Halloween design and masks, Jordu Schell! Jordu's world-renown work has been seen on so many movies, it's nearly impossible to list them all (Hell Boy, Men in Black, War of the Worlds, Planet of the Apes, Avatar, Scary Movie 3, Dawn of the Dead... his list of accomplishments is insane!) Jordu was wonderful to meet, and I bought a signed copy of his amazing book, "Beauties and Beasts," a joint venture with pin-up artist Olivia De Berardinis.
We even saw our fellow Bewitching Peddlers friend, the artist, "Sculptor of the Bizarre" Tom Kuebler. He and his lovely wife Kara brought some gorgeously sick full-sized creations to their booth, including the uber-creepy, six-foot-plus sized "Blood Baron." Standing in front (underneath, actually) of this creation, looking up into its eyes... you feel your heart pounding with a bit of fear as you expect the Baron to open wide his fanged jaws and take a bite out of you. The incredible realism of Tom's work is just astounding and unnerving in the most delightful way. How does he do it!
Next, we traveled north for the always-magical Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween show in Michigan, a show and a road trip we look forward to all year long and miss it terribly after it's over. It's like attending the best Halloween party ever, with all your most beloved friends and family there for the festivities.
During our time there, we also were a part of the special BPoH art exhibit at the marvelous Eastend Art Gallery in Marshall, Michigan. Most of you know that before I began doing this magazine, I was a sculptural artist and painter. For the time being, the majority of my art days are on a temporary back burner as I work on the mag, but I did manage to create something to be featured in the show's exhibit.
And an absolutely huge surprise occurred that about knocked us off our feet: Jennie Hepler-Takens, the creator of BPoH, bestowed specialized trophy awards to a few of the show's participants in recognition of their overall promotions of helping to preserve Halloween art. One award went to newcomer, "Mimi's Ole Nickel" creator, Maren Owens (Maren's incredible art was featured in the Fall 2024 issue of Autumn Brilliance).
The other trophy was awarded... to us. To Autumn Brilliance magazine. To say we were absolutely floored, gobsmacked and stunned is an understatement! Barely recall walking up to Jennie to receive this incredible honor (and, yes, tears of happiness flowed abundantly!).
For this honor, we thank Jennie profusely, from the very bottoms of our hearts. We will continue to do our very best to remain worthy of our award!
Barely a week later, we traveled west to the Land of Enchantment: New Mexico, where we stayed in a cabin high up (nearly 8000 feet in altitude) in the beautiful Sandia Mountains. Venturing down into the great city of Albuquerque, our next stop was the magnificent Rio Grande Arts Festival (our first time attending this amazing show - we highly recommend you see it for yourselves) where we got to personally meet a brilliant artist who was featured in the Fall 2021 issue of Autumn Brilliance: Lisa J. Ammerman, aka "A Piece of Lisa." Lisa has a knack for conjuring up the most stylized, sweet, sensational witches, Day of the Dead figures, and whatnot. I had been a fan of hers for years, so it was quite enjoyable finally getting to meet her and give her a big hug. (And yes, of course, I bought up a ton of her art!)
Another segment of our New Mexico autumn road trip included a drive to the wonderfully eccentric artist's enclave in the desert midway between ABQ and Santa Fe, called Madrid. This Old West town's reputation lives up to the hype: it's funky, fun, rustic, odd, delightfully decrepit in just the right places, and just plain amazing. Yes, believe it or not, we happened upon a fabulous Halloween-style store called "Always Oktober" that had much cool original art there as well. Didn't have to twist my arm to go check it out!
While in Santa Fe (another beautiful town that supports artists) we took a sojourn to a place we'd heard so much about, and highly anticipated seeing in person:
Meow Wolf.
Seriously, folks... go there. Just find a way to get there, and experience this other-worldly live interactive art exhibit for yourself. There is nothing like it. It's like taking a trip on LSD, only, without actually taking LSD. Walk in through the door and you find yourself in another dimension. The Santa Fe version (which is the original - there are Meow Wolf exhibits in Texas, Nevada, New York and soon, Los Angeles), dubbed "The House of Eternal Return" is nothing short of jaw-dropping surreal intensity. Colors, sounds, touches, feelings, thoughts, emotions, on a supersonic cosmic level. This needs to be put on the top of your Bucket List - just go there - you will not regret it. I can almost feel the ghosts of Timothy Leary and Terrance McKenna smiling, nodding their heads in glee about this place.
---> Click this link for more info and photos of Meow Wolf.
https://meowwolf.com/visit/santa-fe
One final stop on our wild west jaunt included a visit to Tinker Town, a museum nestled in the pine trees, high up on the crest of the Sandia Mountains, and is a delight of the highest caliber! It began as a project back in 1962 by local artist, Ross Ward, and over the span of some 40-plus years grew into the stupendous creation it is today.
---> Click the link below to learn about this extraordinary place. And, please, be sure to include this on your Bucket List as well!
So as we plan 2026's fall road trip, we're simultaneously ramping up magazine production at the start of a brand new year, reflecting on all the wonderful things we were gifted over the course of 2025. Things that have made us rich in our hearts and souls are the friends, new and old. The travels, near and far. And all the wondrous possibilities that lie ahead, ready to be snatched up and shared with everybody. That, truly, is the best part.
Thank you for being a part of this!
Marshall, Michigan - Sept 2025
*** What do you have planned for this year? What do you want to manifest in 2026? ***
