I want to thank everyone for hanging in here with this blog page for 20 years but this will be my last blog entry.

I am now using Substack for my blog and if you arn’t already following me there you may by following this link:

https://steveneill.substack.com/

This site is now my website portfolio. I will be adding to this site my continued work but to read about it please follow me on Substack.

Thank you.

The Visit

Where do I begin? Many of you do know about my past and to be honest my present. Since I can first remember, in most cases my life has not been like many. I have had a relationship with something non human, strange, scary, beautiful, and even amazing at times that I lived in secret with for much of my early life.

I later learned from my estranged mother and my grandfather that this ran in the family and was the great secret no one talked about. All this happened long before the now famous book by Whitley Stieber Communion would be released to the world to cause a shit storm of response from other people around the globe that had this same secret. Shared this same experience.

Little did I know I would one day meet Whitley and we have been lifelong friends ever since. Yes I have these experiences. I don’t pretend to know exactly what they are in any way. I don’t buy into the folklore or conspiracies about this subject. I only know, not believe, that something is there, it’s intelligent and for the most part unknown.

I have made 5 films to date on the subject. Some mildly Science fiction but always based on my own experiences and knowledge about the subject. I am about to release another film related to this subject named, “A Conversation with my Father”. It is finished but I’m waiting to cut in at the beginning an introduction by Whitley as he has done for 3 of the films in what I call the, “But Something is There” films. The first film and also my book on Amazon are entitled, “But something is There”.

Going back 25 years I was at the height of my visibility on this subject. It was the 90’s and the interest by the media in this subject was at its peak. With shows like “Sightings”, “The Paranormal Borderline”, “The Otherside”, movies, TV specials and more my work and my face were splattered all over other media. Many times alongside Whitley Strieber, Jacques Vallée, Yvonne smith and many other notable people in this field of study.

Many of these shows I was involved in making the practical effects alien puppets for and puppeteering.

I created artwork for many of the shows too. Book covers for writers on the subject, magazine covers, comic books and more. I was the one doing many of the CGI effects for the History Channels, “The UFO Files”. I even made art for the X-files.

That’s the short story. And if you want to know more read my book, “But Something is there” or watch the film. The book does go into a lot more detail. You can read it for free on Kindle.

What all this brings me to is a film I wrote and directed. I worked with my long time friend William Hooper who was one of the most talented filmmakers I have ever known. He was looking at some storyboards I made back in the late 90s and suggested that we make a film together. I had been working on the Fox show “Sightings” and I owned the Grey alien puppets I made for the show. Tony was just getting into Lightwave 3D at the time and we had Adobe Premiere. Tony had a lot of equipment and cameras. I wrote the script. Story boarded the film and we started production.

Once the film was made it was never released publicly. And over the years I lost track of Tony. I rarely hear from him anymore. I wanted to show the film publicly alongside the other films I have made. But I couldn’t get a copy. I did find a DVD he gave me years ago and I did my best to rip a copy from the DVD I’m releasing today.

Tony’s work on this film from editing to his early CGI effects are exemplary. The man is a genius with film and could take footage and make it work in ways few other filmmakers (including myself) could ever do.

Although this was shot in Super 8 video on a high end camera that at the time was about 720 p. And by the time it was encoded for DVD and then ripped to MP4 it had suffered. However in this artist’s opinion the film still works. It is a testament to the tumultuous times of the 90s regarding the UFO phenomenon.

I could go on at great length about all this but I’ll stop here. I’m sure many as they have in the past will laugh at me and any one else that claims their experiences with these things. Go ahead and laugh, it’s OK I’m used to it.

However it should be noted that people in our history who dared to reveal themselves, and their experiences, have brought some of the greatest luminescence to human knowledge, technology, and life than many could have ever imagined.

From Wright Brothers to the scientist that claimed he saw a man ape in the Congo (later known as the Gorilla) they have laughed. May we praise the freaks that dared to be freaks or we’d still be in the caves.

Enjoy the film.

Sculpting in Digital Clay

I have been sculpting large figures, masks, and more for movies for 50 years. Many of you have probably seen my work but didn’t know you had. I have done this since the early 70’s when I first came to Hollywood from the bay area to work in the studios.

In all this time up until recently I have continued this work. It requires working with large amounts of heavy clay and once the sculpture is finished you have to make a heavy plaster mold of the sculpture. The molds are heavy and you have to be strong to lift and manage these molds.

The clay pieces have to be removed from the sculpture and disposed of, also very heavy. Once the molds are cleaned of the clay they can be cast in rubber, foam rubber and even silicon’s. With rubber you fill a mold to the top with 3-4 gallons of rubber and after they sit for an hour or more to thicken you have to pour them out. And they very heavy to lift and turn upside down.

What all this brings me to is as we age this type of work becomes harder and harder to do. I’m finding this now. It’s also more expensive than ever to make masks as the cost of the materials continually goes up. This drove my cost to sell mask up so high I sell very few masks anymore.

Even though I have been a 3D artist for years using Lightwave and other 3D programs also for film and TV it has always been difficult to make 3D organic models and sculptures until more recently.

With programs like Z-Brush and Blender I didn’t find them so easy to work with either. I wanted a program where you could just get in there and sculpt digital clay with digital sculpting tools. Now you can.

I downloaded Blender, it took a few tutorials and in less than a month I started sculpting. This is only the tip of the iceberg but the short story is I can sculpt what ever I want, 3D print it with a resin printer and it will exactly reproduce my sculpture and bring my creation into the real world. This is nothing short of magic to me.

The pictures in this post show the first two sculptures. When we sculpt a creature for a film character we usually work with a life cast of the actor. So first I created a standard human head bust to sculpt on .

From there I decided first to recreate a mask I had made and sold for years. “The Galaxy Being” from the first episode of the great science fiction TV series, “The Outer Limits”. Clearly this is to this day one of the best shows ever on television. If you haven’t seen it or don’t remember this episode please do yourself a favor and watch it. It is still relevant today if not more so than ever. Great philosophy and a message we all need to hear.

TheGalaxy being wasn’t a monster but rather an enlightened extraterrestrial. He kind , intelligent and wise. This being had a lasting effect on me when I was a kid. I first watched it in the troubled times of 1963.

The Galaxy Being was shot using a highly glossy rubber mask that was over lighted and printed in negative to give the effect of the being appearing as a radio light being. I actually made up one of my masks painted the same way. The original mask was painted a darl color and gloosy substance was applied to it. Here’s a short video clip of my own mask being used the same way.

And here are some pictures showing my first sculptures. The human bust and the Galaxy being. For fun I did a painted version as I have learned in Blender you can airbrush the digital sculpture the same way I paint actual rubber masks.

This is the raw unpainted digital clay sculpt.

I could not be more pleased with the advances in this tech because it was literally working with digital clay. I plan to print and paint this Galaxy being next week. I can even have it printed full size like the mask if need be.

This has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for me. What’s next? Anything from Frankenstein’s monster to The Curse of the Demon. it’s unlimited.

I highly encourage you to watch the episode “The Galaxy Being”. You’ll find it very intelligent and moving in a positive way. This show stayed with me all my life and sent me on a career that still continues to this day.

The Outer Limits always ended with a message of hope. Too bad today’s TV shows often lack this depth and hope. Watch it. You’ll be glad you did.

Two weeks since the surgery and over two months since the time I found out I may have cancer. Honestly I expected worse from myself but it didn’t happen. Was it age and experience e that prepared me for the possibility of expiration or this inner calm of knowing? I suspect the latter.

My life long experience with the unknown or what many might call the paranormal had afforded me a perspective, a reality that differs greatly most people. A knowledge that physical death is not the end. I wish I could share with you all the personal truth I have that denies science their shallow claim that death is final non-existence. But this proof happened to me and you weren’t there to experience it with me. Like UFO’s ghosts and other so called paranormal events one remains skeptical without personally experiencing these things and I do respect that.

It’s no wonder that the world is filled with greed and hate with such a bleak out look for the many millions of human beings slowly destroying our planet in the name of those things. Your going to die, so you might as well get yours while you still can. You are wrong.

There is something more. I promise you. And this helps calm the soul. It gives you the strength to accomplish and experience amazing things in life such as love, creating art and expressing yourself in ways that can improve and help save worlds. We were meant to create and bring love into the darkness of space.

We have been deliberately told by the very wealthy and so called powerful people for a millennia now to be hopeless and to listen to only them the people that took charge of our world to control and harvest us to their own benefit. They crave power. Not love.

The bottom line here is your soul will never be free if you don’t allow it to be free. You hold the keys. Turn it off. Don’t listen to them anymore. Listen to the sound of the ocean, the birds, the wind and let the great spirit of the universe be your only guide. You can feel it deep inside where it has been pushed down inside. Let it spread it’s wings and set you and everyone on this planet free to fly the universe.

That’s true power and you have it. Rich or poor great or small you have great true power inside you.

There’s still great hope. Don’t give up.

So here it is 12 days since the surgery. As is to be expected based on my knowledge of consciousness and ones own soul I am different. My reality has drastically changed or been altered by the whole experience.

Much of this is related to the long drawn out unknowing about my longevity. Will I stay here for awhile? Or do I have a limited time? I’m not someone that excepts science’s blind assumption that when your body and brain cease to function we cease to exist. I have great personal proof of my own to the contrary. I plan to share this personal truth with you in a story soon.

As much as I am grateful for the benefits of science and follow it closely, they have no proof that when we die we are gone forever. They never have.

Never the less all this unknowing and waiting coupled with pain that challenges ones mind to move beyond it was more tiring and reality changing than I could have been prepared for. I don’t suppose we ever are or could be.

That’s the beauty of the “Unknown”. It teaches us about ourselves in ways we could never even imagine. I found I was stronger than I could have known. All the mediation I have been practicing or the years made this possible. That is to say, move my mind beyond the pain after surgery.

This Monday when I was told it was cancer they had removed and it was only stage one wasn’t what I could have expected. I had no expectations. But I was told I was past the worse and I had nothing further to do but future checkups to make sure it doesn’t come back.

In my mind I imagined if this had happened I’d be jumping up and down with joy and wanting to have a party of self indulgence in my art and work like never before. But instead I just hugged Mary and felt her great love. I hugged my dogs and felt their love. I felt the great love from my friends who cared so much and the love of every artist and thinker around me.

The trees looked the same and the wind blowing through them looked and felt the same. The difference is now I can hear the voices of the trees and nature all around me more clearly than ever before. The big problem as I see it with humanity is that not enough people do this. Connect.

And the stars at night. I connect with them too more deeply than ever. Being near separated from ones own body(the very vehicle that drives us around in the reality) connects you more deeply to what really matters in life or death.

Death is not the end it’s a continuation. We are metamorphic beings. We keep evolving. Bottom line is I feel more deeply a connection to the universe than ever before. If we all did this more often instead of war and hate we might not have either. I’m sure we wouldn’t.

With all these thoughts and feelings flowing through me with the still lingering pain and discomfort sleeping well has been a challenge. Dreams have been epic. And getting back into my routine before all this difficult.

I still have my passions. I still want to build and make things. I still plan to make another film and so on. I just want to make art. But it will be a slow easing into this new reality. None of this is a bad thing. It’s all good. Change is always good.

Cherish Nature, our Earth, be kind to yourself and the great spirits all around us and pay it all forward with love.

This is a free flight model airplane. You build these yourself. They are intricate and meditative to build. And in the end you wind up its rubber motor and it flies silently in free in the sky. And there’s a part of you up there in the sky with it flying free.

Feeling a bit better today but I’m finding in no way will this be fast. Day by day, bit by bit. I’m fine, I can walk, sleep and get around but my body just feels trashed. 

I know the path is to put one foot in front of the other and march on carefully. The best thing for me is to get involved in my making. 

I’m studying new software that will allow me to create sculptures virtually on a PC.  I’m still the artist, not the machine. It doesn’t make decisions for me. It’s a tool and to sculpt a human face or anything else you need to be a skilled artist. 

I’m sure one can cheat with AI software but it’s not my way. These AI users may call themselves an artist, but actual artists will never recognize them as one. 

In the end I can sculpt and produce a product without heavy tiring work to sculpt in clay and make heavy plaster molds that later have to be filled with more heavy materials and poured out. As much as I work out and take care of myself it’s getting harder to do these things. I have been doing this since the early 70’s for film and TV. 

My printers are large enough to print pretty large pieces. No molds, no pouring, lifting and mess. There will be little clean up with the resin printer of the piece. I can quickly start the painting process to a finished mounted piece. Combined with the laser cutter I can make a plaque, base or anything else to give any piece of work a nice finish.

I’m also learning an autocad program to assistallow me in making just about anything I can dream up and print it on the PLA printer.

So all this keeps me sitting while I heal. They don’t want me on my feet all day as I usually am.

Also sitting down I’m back to my beloved hobbies. Currently I’m finishing off the construction of this Guillows F4U Corsair. I have both outer wing panels dry fit before I glue them and attach them to the center wing panel.

Building these old pre-laser cut kits is a real challenge but such a joy to do. Because in the end all your hard work gets put to the test when it leaves the deck of the runway and flies in the sky. It’s a beautiful moment that few people today will ever experience. 

Most planes today are pre-made and ready to fly. Although they are amazing too it’s just not the same experience being the making-builder of the masterpiece of engineering and artistry. Everything has to be just right. And when it is, it’s one hell of a good feeling as your wheels touch to the runway and you roll to a stop.

What’s next, Ridley? If you don’t know the expression, do a Google search. I once spent time with the man that said that. And that was amazing too. Very amazing.

Starting back about 3 months ago I knew something wasn’t right. About 7 weeks ago I became more and more symptomatic. I had some blood tests done. The results didn’t reveal anything wrong. Still I knew we were missing something. I could just sense it. If we listen, our bodies talk to us. And mine was. 

I know that I’m more than just a body, I am consciousness traveling in this vehicle we call the human body. Like our cars that get us around they sometimes need repair and just like the human body, if you catch the problem early you can prevent  breaking down.

So I went to several doctors and after many weeks of concern and suspense a CT scan revealed I had a 3cm tumor in my bladder. So after a painful procedure (cystoscopy) where the doctor could actually see the tumor on camera he scheduled me a week later for surgery to remove it.

That surgery happened last week July 18th. I came through the surgery fine and was sent home the same day. Although on paper it sounds simple enough I can tell you it was not.

Years ago they would have never made this an in-out procedure. But ever since Covid things have changed. Being so understaffed for doctors and nurses for one is a big part of this change. The other is the greedy insurance companies that pay for less and less of things you really need and just keep accumulating “gross” wealth.

I was sent home with a catheter for 7 days. I had never had one before and it was the worst part of the whole process. Imagine waking up from surgery and having to go but you can’t. Despite the catheter doing its job you constantly feel like you’re on a long drive and can’t pull over. That’s how I felt for 7 long days.

Thankfully I have the ability to meditate. I have practiced meditation and Yoga for years. I could have never slept at night without it. Because I could put my mind outside of my body away from the pain and into the dreamtime.

Everyday that went by was another that brought me to the end of all this. Without Mary and her love and care taking I would have slowly lost my mind with the pain. Rosie and Nova helped too. Dogs are a huge comfort.

During all this time healing Mary and I never once knew the results of the pathology. On the 24th of July, yesterday I saw the doctor and he removed the catheter. The results were, it’s cancer and stage one.

The good news is that during the surgery he removed it all. And because we caught it early there was nothing further that needed to be done. 

I do have to go back every 3 months to have the camera put up inside to make sure it doesn’t grow back. A most painful 30 seconds but well worth the pain for continued life. After a while it will go every 6 months and then yearly. Check ups to make sure it stays away.

Mary and I were grateful and relieved to say the very least. So much chatter goes through our minds when we don’t know what the outcome may be in any situation.

After something like this happens to you your reality changes. And the changes are good. Because you have greater insight into what really matters in life.

Wealth, power over other humans and fame are not a life value.

But as I walked with Mary with our two dogs on our daily studio walk, nature, sky and the breath of the Earth was deeper inside me than ever before. So was love. 

As I walked with Mary I saw something I rarely see. A butterfly caught my eye. It was a beautiful large Swallowtail. It was feeding on the flowers. It allowed me to get very close with my camera. It could see me but knew my intentions. 

It’s at moments like these that you feel truly connected to the universe and all spirit. This is real wealth. This is real power. This is love. The most powerful force in all of nature and the universe.

It’s been awhile since I worked on an airplane build. This Corsair was given to me by my friend Dave at Smith Brothers Hobby center. It was partially built. Whoever had it never finished it.  

I have been slowly working on it but haven’t touched it in months. Much of the fuselage was built but poorly stored and as a result it had a lot of damage. Because the plans had the actual parts outlineed on them I could cut new replacement parts and repair the fuse and the wing center section.

Yesterday to kill time while I waited for my surgery I’ll have this morning I started the outer wing panels. As usual with a Guillows model kit there was a bit of head scratching and with my nerves on edge I doubted I could focus on it at all. But I did and it took my mind off the surgery today. I enjoyed it a great deal and it got me here where I am right now. 3 hours to go.

This is one of the many reasons these hobbies are so important. People that don’t understand a person’s passion for a hobby look at it all from a different reality. They often don’t understand the necessity and the contributions (in the long run) it has made to all our lives. They may think it’s silly to see a grown person play with what they think is a toy. There’s nothing wrong with playing with toys!

Everyone from the Wright Brothers to Neil Armstrong began their quest for flight with models. We benefit today from all this passion for the model airplane everytime we book a flight on a 737 to see the world or visit family in another state.

Never discount your child’s interest and passion for such a positive interest. Or your spouse as he or she spends long hours building a creation of their dreams.

It’s these dreams that gave us flight and the innovations that still come from this hobby.

I built this beautiful glider and got to fly it last weekend. You hand launch it and using radio control to fly it you hunt for thermals and turn into them rising up into the sky for long flights. Silent and peaceful these are to fly.

We had another great launch yesterday. Many attended and launched a lot of rockets. Rich Redhead and I both had radio controlled boost gliders to fly.

Prepping at the studio the day before.

His X-15 which is one of my kits converted to RC and a Frank Burke Dynasoar Rocketry Aurora Clipper space plane. Both flew very well.

After a great flight.

Getting reading to launch on the pad.

Rich loading the X-15 on to the launch rail.

Preparing the day before I realized how much we have grown in the last year. It takes awhile to prepare and load all the equipment we now have. Two launch pads and all the electronics and control stations, tables, tent shades and more. 

Then there’s the rockets themselves and prepping them. Making sure you have all the motors, ignitors, wadding and a bunch of other things takes a while. 

Then you get up at 5 am and drive out to the site. Unload, setup, and then we launch. Then comes the breakdown and load up again before heading back to our studio to unloaded all the gear from the day’s launch.

Once home I download all the video and pictures to the computers and edit a show of the day’s launch and upload it to YouTube.

It made the day go quickly and kept my mind so occupied it was hard to think at all about surgery I have to go through this Tuesday.

I have never been one to sit around and wait for something. Never, you just keep moving forward. The same goes for afterwards. As soon as I can I’ll be up and at the studio. Sure I’ll take it easier than usual but the work, the making, and dreaming of new creations is life. The development, planning, and the excitement keeps one’s mind hopeful, inspired and alive!

What a great day it was at the launch. I am so grateful for this great time and joy.

BTW I ended the launch flying RC Gliders at the launch site with my friend Rich Redhead. Our beautiful silent gliders flew like birds on the lift and thermals.

Here’s some pictures in a gallery of the day and the video that shows the flights.