BODY PAINT, SCARY CLOWNS AND HORROR MOVIES....

Is it just me or do we all sometimes feel like getting the body paint out and making ourselves look ridiculous?
There can be something cathartic about the whole process and it brings out the inner kid and messy artist in me!
It also brings out my love of horror...

This is me with my scary clown face on!

I've always thought clowns were pretty scary. I definitely didn't trust Ronald McDonald or the cute Clown doll in Poltergeist and lets not talk about John Wayne Gacy! The clown can be a trickster that hides behind a mask. Lurking round corners with colourful balloons waiting to lure you away. Hiding under beds in horror movies, waiting to jump into your nightmares.

I've been a horror fan for as long as I can remember. I loved skull & crossbones and skeletons as a kid, apparently scaring my older brother occasionally by sneaking into his room at night and placing said objects by his bedside.
I remember hiding behind the settee when the Daleks in Dr Who came on, late night Hammer House of Horror and Twilight Zone episodes that both terrified and intrigued me at the same time. The first slasher I watched was the original version of 'The Texas Chainsaw massacre'..I was young and not prepared!

The trick with horror movies is that they play with your darkest fears, adding atmospheric music, lighting or blood and gore to send a chill down your spine. Making you jump from your seat or recoil behind it.

'Psycho' and 'The Bird's are classic Hithcock, working on our inner obsessions,fears and phobias. Kubricks 'The Shining' with it's remote setting and descent into madness and terror. ' The Blair Witch project' that set the ball rolling for many annoying POV movies! 'The Hitcher' warning you of strangers. 'I Spit On Your Grave' playing on women's fears and cautioning those that do harm to others, vengeance could be their worst nightmare.
My favorite scary clown is Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombies 'House of a 1000 corpses' with his dysfunctional family of crazies.

(from google images)

Horror sometimes finds it's way into my art work but suprisingly I hate the sight of real blood and I've watched enough Mckamey Manor videos to know I 'REALLY don't want to do that' !...

(photo's of myself taken on mobile and played with in editing tools)