have you met: Cuddly Rigor Mortis?

After heading to a link that @alphaprep posted on Twitter, I went over to Eat Me Daily. I think it might have been a blog about cakes.

There, off to the side, in a corner was a link. I clicked it. And there it was. It was like a whole world of delight: scary, funny, deadly, delicious...food art. I immediately emailed her that there was one character, Boffo, that I really wanted on a t-shirt.

Then I emailed her to ask if she'd let me do an interview... Kristin is amazingly talented and very cool. Please go check out her site and enjoy her work!

*You started making plushies. What inspired that?


I was bored one summer. Felt like making something and thought, 'Why not a stuffed animal?' I had never sewn anything else in my life, but thought it might be fun. A week later I bought a sewing machine and the rest is history, as they say.

*I absolutely love your motto: "Cuddly Rigor Mortis is bits of brutality smothered in a rich, creamy marshmallow sauce painted by me, Kristin Tercek." Dare I ask where that came from?

Well, thank you so much! I'm pretty sure that there was a review of my work somewhere, (although now I can't locate it so it's entirely possible that I made it up) that used the word 'brutality' in it. Then, just like that, the above motto popped in my head. Love it when I don't have to actually think of things for them to turn out well!

*Do your creations pop up in your mind, or as you are putting paint to canvas?

...and speaking of things popping into my mind, lol, if I'm lucky they just pop up. More likely I'll see something that triggers something else that makes me sketch a little character in some situation. Even more likely I'll wander into my husband's studio and show him something and which will trigger something in his head. It's nice having your significant other be an even better artist than you, because he helps me out all the time.

Marshy, chillin' in a mug of hot cocoa

 

*Why food based dark art?

I love food. I've always taken comfort and great joy in food. Be it the best restaurant in Tokyo or a new flavor of Doritos. I'm an equal opportunity foodie and my waistline shows it ;-) As for the dark part of the equation, I've always been a very dark person. I look perfectly normal on the outside but there are some seriously screwed up things going on in my head. When I began to paint I just worked on things that excited me or attracted me and that turned out to be tortuous food.

*Do you find it disturbing that people may relate to your work?

On the one hand I find it very comforting because I'm finding I'm not alone in my thoughts. Then again, there are times when I get very uncomfortable with people liking certain images. I just have to remind myself that I'm that one that painted it in the first place.

*Have you thought about writing a short story or two that would accompany the paintings?

All the time. In fact I have a few people who have written some things for my characters. I hope that one day it'll click and I can rise to the occassion of actually illustrating a story.


*Will there be more plushies?

I just can't say no, but it's looking more and more likely that it will be a long time before I actually sew again. I'm having way too much fun letting my imagination run wild and then painting it up. Sewing was a struggle for me and I just hated pricking my fingers on an hourly basis.


*What's next for Cuddly Rigor Mortis?

I'm getting very excited by working with other indie artists in other mediums, like Catherine Ivins of Polarity who graciously has included me in her list of artists that she uses in her jewelry designs http://www.etsy.com/shop/polarity. I'm also very lucky that Bridget Franckowiak, the partner to Mr X Stitch http://www.mrxstitch.com/ found me and we're working on getting my characters ready for embroidery patterns. New things pop up every day so I'm trying to stay fluid and just go with the flow :D

Want more?!! http://www.cafepress.com/cuddlyrigormort
http://www.etsy.com/shop/cuddlyrigormortis