2011... What a YEAR!!!

As we move into 2012 and start to build and create for a New Year, it's time to look back on the Amazing Year of 2011.

In 2011, I brought back Prof. Crookshank's Traveling Medicine Show and built a functional Showman's Caravan with Ward Wright... then I put on my First Festival, The Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders (and it was a HIT!)

As Summer turned into Fall, I created 'Cinema Obscura', an alternative Movie Theatre.

Cinema Obscura is a Movie Theatre that travels once a month to the town of Beachburg and Perth, This is NOT your normal movie theatre... there is NO Surround Sound, NO Digital formatted movie... Hell, there are NO *NEW* Blockbusters playing here.

BUT, it is a Movie Theatre that brings you some of the most intriguing and Classic Films from 1924 thru 1975. Horror, Sci-Fi, Comedy, Adventure and Fantasy can be seen through a Vintage 16mm Film Projector and hosted by me, Scott McClelland. As your host, I prepare the audience for the film with stories of Trivia and Sordid Gossip from Behind the Scenes. Creating an interactive atmosphere that carries on through the evening.

Part of my proceeds go towards a local charity each month.

Cinema Obscura opening night in Beachburg- 2011

Cinema Obscura is part Theatre, part Film and one HELL of a good time!

Creature Double Feature for October! The original Frankenstein and also, Young Frankenstein.

 I opened Cinema Obscura Sept. 16th 2011 at the Orange Hall in Beachburg, Ontario and it has been playing to enthusiastic crowds monthly ever since.

It has become so popular that I am opening a second version of it in the town of Perth at the Full Circle Theatre on Feb. 10th 2012.

Our poster for the upcoming Opening of Cinema Obscura in Perth, ON

This is becoming a Fave with cinephiles (lovers of reel cinema) and I am having so much fun putting the events on! This is a monthly deal that will be happening for a looong time, if I have it my way :)

The Fall brought many New ideas to the table, I also opened my First Haunt, 'The Carnival Diablo Chamber of Horrors... a little taster of what I would like to do on a larger scale in the future. The town of Carleton Place asked me to create a Haunt for the Halloween weekend, and I was happy to oblige. I built it in the 'Moore House' a historical building that was over 120 years old. It was very well received and it saw over 500 people through its gates on its opening night!

This was a year of Firsts having created a Showman's Caravan, created the Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders, opened Cinema Obscura, put on the Carnival Diablo Chamber of Horrors.... and got back to my Art. I created a New World called 'The Grimmtugglies'. This is an imaginary world of Imps and Monsters that live just beyond our realm of understanding. I made paintings of the towns they live in.

The Grimmtuggly Village

I also created sculptures of the creatures themselves and made many accessories that could be collected as part of the charm of owning a Grimmtuggly artifact.

Stanley the Faery of Depression

Grimmtuggly Secret Books

Set up at on of the many Christmas Artisan Fairs

As I booked my Art into different Fairs across the county... I decided to put on my own Christmas Artisan Fair in Beachburg, called The Beachburg Artisan Fair. It was well received by the townsfolk that came (including the Mayor) and will become an Annual Artisan Fair in Beachburg yearly.

Proud owner of a Grimmtuggly collectable at the Beachburg Artisan Fair

As the Christmas Season wore on, I once again threw my Diablo Victorian X-Mass Soiree at the Diablo Manor. It was attended by some of the finest minds in Eastern Canada... and a good time was had by all!

Some of my esteemed guests

I ended 2011 by visiting my Family and Friends in Calgary, Alta. And spent many hours talking and reminiscing about the past and the exciting year ahead. The end of the year was a look back on my life and friendships that have spanned over 30 years in the Entertainment industry. And I am so thankful for all of the support I have had from everyone that has come into my life, past and present.

2011 was a record year, one I will not forget.

And I would not have been able to have accomplished all that I did without the Love, Help and Support of my girl, Jess. 

Me and my girl, Jess.

But now I have a very Special Year ahead of me as I prepare to celebrate Carnival Diablo's 20th Year Anniversary... and what a year I have planned!

Stay tuned!

The Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders - Part 1

 What an Amazing Summer!

We worked our asses off to create the Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders, attempting to create something unique that No-One has experienced before... and I think that we accomplished our mission.

We started working diligently on the Festival in early July, building, promoting... and amassing a great team of people.

One of the most important things was location, we wanted a little slice of paradise for people to enjoy during their stay at the Festival, and we found that at Hayshore Resort in Carleton Place.

One of the key ingredients was to create a 19th Century Carnival atmosphere.

Carnival Game joints being created from scratch

My girl Jess and her family pitched in to work on getting things done.

I was very lucky in securing a select few people that had ALL of the necessary skills needed to get the Festival done for opening.

Darryl, our primary carpenter.
Working on making more Game Joints, he has been so helpful getting the Festival details built! 

 I spent many days painting Victorian games...

painting Punks for the Monster Rack

And of course I brought in all of my Major Attractions to set up for the Festival... including the Last Traveling Showman's Caravan in Canada.

unloading the Showman's Caravan  onto the Grounds

We set up the Freakshow next to the Showman's Caravan with a Single-O attraction in the middle. (a Single-O Attraction is one strange Freak or Act under one tent)

setting up the signage on the roof of the World of Wonders

The days were long and we all kept hydrated... because, BOY it was hot out!

Havin' a Soda Pop!

It took 2 weeks to build and set up the Festival of Wonders and we were very excited about opening to the public! And that was for 3 Reasons... 

The first, because we wanted to bring the public something completely NEW to do for the Summer Season.

Secondly, because we wanted to see if people would come out to such a strange event.

and finally Third, because this was an idea that has been in the makings for 20 years and HAD to be tried!

The World of Wonders, The THING and the Last Showman's Caravan in Canada. Once these attractions were in place we started feeling that this could really be a winner!

We had commercials that we put up on Youtube that kind of counted down the days before the opening. Here is one of the 7 commercials created...

 

We also had Full color Posters all over the place that looked like this...

FIRST Festival poster design!

The craziest thing about the Festival was the fact that we secured the site in mid June and built and created the Festival in under 2 months! It was astounding how fast it all came together. Games were built, commercials were made, artisans and vendors were brought in and shows were booked.... and it was not as hard as I thought it would be. The idea was so damned good, it kinda just built itself. And the people involved were the best in the industry, I was VERY Lucky!

Stay tuned for Part 2... The Opening of the Festival!!!

Carnival Diablo TV is HERE!!!

That's right folks! Carnival Diablo has started its own TV station... and we are creating NEW shows and commercials every week for the station that deal in our sordid world.

Come and check out Carnival Diablo TV, it will make your time on the internet even more worthwhile! ;)

http://youtu.be/vlUWsZxh_lU

I am working on creating many little documentaries about the things I do, so that you can watch them on my station... so, STAY TUNED!

The Exodus...

Today I am packing and organizing for the Big Move at the end of this month.

Actually we move this weekend.(but the packing now begins)

some of my paintings ready to go...

After a full year in the cabin in the woods, we have decided upon moving to a small blip of a town that has a beautiful 2 story house waiting for us. This will become the NEW Diablo Manor. For a city boy like me, moving into a cabin was a bit of an adjustment. But, now that I have had a taste of country life, I am jonesing on the idea of moving into a micro community. The town is filled with artists and I will have ALOT of room to work and create, hell, I will even have a shop in my backyard.

As I write this, I am also preparing a large load of equipment to be shipped to Hay Shore Resort for the Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders. This will be the first of many loads going out to Hay Shore. When I am not moving to the new Diablo Manor, I will be at Hay Shore building and creating props and large installations for the Festival. This includes a new set of banners and many great 19th Century Carnival sets.

I will be doing a photo doc of the making of the Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders which I will post here as time goes on.

Plus I will be unveiling a NEW TV Station on Youtube that will host many of the characters from the World of Carnival Diablo Productions.

Yup, I got my work cut out for me.... Heeeere we gooooo!

Prof. Crookshank's Traveling Medicine Show commercial... #1

Well, this past weekend we unveiled the Last Showman's Caravan in Canada at the Expo 150 in Petawawa Ontario. Over 30,000 people showed up during the 4 day event and we had a TREMENDOUS time! We were set up in a Pioneer Village with around 28 pioneer re-enactors. They were part of a group called The Pioneer Gathering and some of the most colorful and interesting people I had met in a long time :)

Old Charlie, Roy Brausewetter, Me, Jessica Huether and Ward Wright

 Ward Wright, the man that built the Caravan was at the Pioneer Gathering doing what he does best, being a strong, almost mysterious character that could throw knives and tomahawks with great precision and crack a whip like you would see in the movies, with panache and flair.

We lived out of the Showman's Caravan for the 4 days and found it quite comfortable. I had time to work on the interior a bit before we left and the living quarters was great. I am going to work on the interior more this summer.

We cooked, performed and spent time acting as if this was our way of life in reality.

I would actually have enjoyed spending a whole summer living out of the back of the Caravan, it was a nice contrast to modern living. No cell phones, computers or TV, we were without any source of power for the whole time we were there.

And it felt GOOD!

Prof. Crookshank's Traveling Medicine and Showman's Caravan was a hit!

Prof. Crookshank

I decided to make a video of the stay and I have turned it into a short little commercial that we can use for booking in the future.

Here it is... ENJOY!

This summer is getting more and more interesting everyday!

The Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders

For everyone that enjoys the Strange and Bizarre... I have decided to create a Festival to celebrate the Strangeness of being Human! We all have one thing in common... we dream and have great imaginations. YOU can now indulge in a Festival that encompasses the absurdness and imaginative side of life on this big blue marble.

Welcome to The Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders!

The FIRST poster to our NEW Festival!

This is a shout out to everyone that enjoys the Weird, Wacky and  Mysterious side of LIFE. Lovers of Sideshow, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy and the Supernatural can now come together and enjoy every facet of the truly Bizarre.

An invitation to EVERYONE across this great planet to come together for 3 days and indulge in a fully immersive cornucopia of all things Strange and Bizzare!

The Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders will be taking place July 29th thru the 31st 2011 at Hay Shore Resort in Carleton Place, Ontario. For more info and to see what we have in store please check out the NEW website
www.eisengrimms.com and mark those dates on your calendar! (its time for a Vacation!) And YES there is camping on the grounds.

I have some GREAT Surprises coming up.... and will reveal more over the next few weeks.

Stay tuned and tell your friends... Carnival Diablo is throwin' a Party!

Calliope CLOWN Head sculpt

One of the things that fascinates me about the 19th Century is the fact that the Clown's of that time period were actually rather scary. I had bought a Carnival Organ for my Show and wanted to top it off with a Olde' looking Clown Head.

We are so used to seeing Bozo the Clown or a Ronald Macdonald sort of Clown... but I wanted to make something a bit more disturbing. 

I have many vintage books on circuses and clowns, and started to look at the type of clown that was used on Carnivals and in circuses from 1870 to 1905. There were many different types, but most were Auguste or Pierott clowns...... and THEN I stumbled upon the 'Grotesque Clown'!

In Europe back in the 19th Century, this clown was actually quite frightening.

The Great George Fox

Sometimes the clown's could be rather serious and pompous, coming across as sinister instead of playful.

So, I wanted a clown head for my Carnival Organ that would reflect that time period.

The sculpt started with a styrofoam ball and some paper clay.

preparing the materials

I took chunks out of the styrofoam ball until I had a rudimentary face.

It don't look like much... yet.

I then began to apply the paper clay to the styrofoam ball and started to sculpt a face. It was pretty rough and simple at first.

He starts to look like a head

The next step was to add some expression to the head that would be the basis to the detail later. His nose was so large it kept falling off during the sculpt, but after around 3 tries it finally cooperated.

He smiles.

I decided that I was going to use glass eyes in his head instead of wooden eyes, because I wanted his eyes to look alive and wet.

Now he can see...

When it came to painting him, I started with a dark purple as a under coat, because I wanted it to come through the lighter colors of paint I was going to add later.

I also added a lower set of acrylic dentures into his mouth, to give him a surreal look, kinda between Alive and Sculpted.

He seems very happy with his color!

And finally, I painted the rest of him and added the details. He is now seen on top of my 120 year old Carnival Organ. I will be bringing the Carnival Organ with me when I set up my Showman's Caravan... so that we have sweet carnival music to listen to during our travels.

My clown is complete!

I have many more projects on the go to get ready for the FIRST summer out with my Showman's Caravan... stay tuned!