Love and Happiness and Good Health and Peace on Earth for 2021...

 

We all gain so much from just a little bit of kindness toward one another!

In spite of our differences, we're all ultimately sharing one thing in common - we are HUMAN, having a human experience on earth. You have freedom of choice: you can choose to make it bad, horrible, and hurtful to others, filling your life with venomous hatred, or you can choose to not be that way and live a life with kindness and peace. It's up to you.

I am forever and wholly grateful to all the experiences - good and bad - which are the total sum of me. Many good things occurred in 2020 that gave me much cheer and, I dare to think, to others, as well (among other things, I published two magazines! It felt incredible to share some beauty to others!).

Yet, sadly, 2020 was not in any way what most of us would consider having been a 'good year' by far. However, the dark cannot exist without the light; in each are lessons that we must pay attention to and grow from.

To quote Mary Oliver (one of my favorite poets) :

"Someone I loved once gave me a box of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too was a gift."

May your coming new year be filled with good things. Take care, and spread your positivity -it shines like a star.

With love and much gratitude,

Ellen Gee

 

 

We proudly present to you! - - -

Our Winter Special issue!

Please click the link below to access your own FREE copy of this full-color, 69 page flipbook with active links to take you directly to your favorite Halloween and Christmas artists

Including:  Mandy Palumbo, Audrey Swarz, Susie Krichbaum, Ethan Black, Karen Steinkraus, Nicole Johnson and more -

 Plus...

- Interesting Yuletide legends and lore from around the world (including - yes indeed! - Krampus)

- Kristen Stafford's amazing experience at the unique Icelandic Elf School

 - A History of Wassail by John Davis

 - Some strange (actually, truly bizarre) old Victorian Christmas cards, and so much more! 

 https://online.flipbuilder.com/pour/nwji/mobile/index.html

 

 

Arriving to Publish: Winter Solstice, 2020 -

"We Wish You A Scary Christmas"

December 21, 2020 - Winter Solstice

 

 

I know... we're all missing Halloween right about now, aren't we?But there's no need to fret, help is on the way!

Our special Holiday issue will hit the Internet just in time for the longest, darkest day of the year - the Winter Solstice. In these pages you'll find plenty to illuminate those dark corners, with all the most exquisite, hand-crafted artistry from so many of your favorite holiday artists, including:

 

Ethan Black

Audrey Swarz

Nicole Johnson

Susie Krichbaum

Karen Steinkraus

Jacqueline Patrick

 

 and many more.

Check back here, or on our Facebook page, to access the link to your FREE copy of the magazine!

And while we're at it, we'd like to wish you all a very happy Krampus Night!

(aka Fröhliche Krampusnacht in the Germanic countries)

 

 

Cover of our magazine: KRAMPUS, as created by our featured artist, Ethan Black.

https://ethanblackarts.wixsite.com/ethanblack

 

We're featured on the Halloween Art & Travel Podcast!

Kristen J. Stafford's fabulous podcast is all about Halloween. 

If you collect art of this sort, if you like to travel and visit Halloween-inspired places and events, if you even remotely like this wondrous holiday, you will LOVE Kristen's thought-provoking and very fun podcast!

I was fortunate to have met this lovely lady at the 2019 Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween show in Marshall, Michigan. I'd heard a few episodes of Kristen's fascinating show in the past and found it very insightful into the lives and livelihoods of the many Halloween artists across the country. I am completely floored, honored and thrilled, to have been featured in it on October 30, 2020. 

Grab a cup of hot cider or pumpkin spice latte, settle into your comfy chair, and click the link below to have a listen.  

https://halloweenartandtravel.libsyn.com/ellen-gee-producer-and-publisher-of-the-macabre

CALLING ALL ARTISTS: How about a Very Scary Christmas?

Halloween does not have to end on November 1!

Most folks don't realize it, but there once was a very defined tradition of telling ghost stories during Christmas, where people would gather 'round the table or by the warmth of the hearth fire during the dark Yule nights and share these tales with one another. 

One very well-known example would be Charles Dickens's 'A Christmas Carole,' where the tight-fisted, curmudgeonly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited on Christmas Eve by several ghosts (one from the past, one from the future, and one from the present) who show him the error of his miserly ways.

There are cultures across the globe whose Yuletide season is not all pure sweetness and jollity. Witness the Bavarian legend of Krampus, a rather devilish fellow who is the darker counterpart to kindly old Saint Nicholas. Whereas St. Nick gives good children their gifts, for those who have been naughty, a more heinous fate awaits as it's Krampus they must deal with (he first whips them with a switch and then puts them in a woven basket to cart them away to await further punishment).

Sadly, most of these off-color traditions seem to have largely faded away... but we want to bring it back!

Do you like to create Christmas in a spooky Halloween way? We are looking for your best sculptures, paintings, stitchings, jewelry that reflect the holiday. 

Ghosties, Day of the Dead (Dia de Los Muertos) grinning skulls, restless spirits of all kinds, leftover Jack O'lanterns decaying in the field, haunts and haints, snowmen that are not so jolly, even rabid reindeer! ... these are all but a few of the things that come to mind when we think of a scary Christmas.

If you would like to participate and be included in "A Very Scary Christmas," our upcoming Yuletide holiday issue of Autumn Brilliance, let us know by sending samples (good quality photos) of your creepy Christmas-styled artistic creations to our email address (AB_magazine@yahoo.com) no later than October 30th, 2020. 

If chosen, we will contact you and send you a mini-interview to complete to be included in your layout.

Looking forward to seeing what you can conjure up for the ghoulish Yuletide season! Ho-ho-HORROR!!!

Art by Ethan Black 

Happy Autumn Equinox to all!

 For us autumn and Halloween enthusiasts, the entire month of September is 'Halloween Eve!'

Thank you to all!

 Our digital launch was successful!

We waved our wands and cast a spell of continuous Halloween for all!

Hope you logged on to our Facebook page yesterday to access the link for the premiere issue.

If not, don't fret! - you can access it here. And it's free!

https://online.flipbuilder.com/pour/iijy/