Sure, it's still 70 degrees out. No, there aren't many windblown leaves scattering down the sidewalks and sorry, dude, but L.A. doesn't boast many misty, fog-shrouded ravines to help you get your creepy mojo on.

What's a goth-inclined Angeleno to do? Let Camille Rose Garcia be your guide. Growing up punk obsessed in the sun-bleached suburbs of Orange County, this chick knows how to rock the dark stuff in the glare of yearlong summer.

Her new solo show, "Escape to Darlingtonia," opens at Merry Karnowsky Gallery on Saturday, Oct. 20, just in time for you to get in the spirit of the season. Her work is filled with hues from a dusky palette: deep blues and purples, foreboding shadows and cartoonish figures stretched and warped like highly disturbed taffy people. If taffy people existed, and were really disturbed. If we were people made of taffy, we might be disturbed about it, too. Okay, sorry.

We're particularly fond of the natural elements in her work: a blueberry-hued elk hosts a marshmallow-roasting party in its belly while teardrops hang in the foreground. The piece "You will Be OK" (left) features a tweaked-out bunny with neon-orange drops spraying elegantly from its eyes; creepy, but we like it. With a few books out, and a line of vinyl toys— hey, all the kids are doing it—the Otis-educated Garcia remains an L.A.-bred artist worth watching. Despite the fact that she's moved up to Northern California, where they have trees. Either way—it's a good show, people.

Get your ghoulie on at the opening soiree from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. at the Merry Karnowsky Gallery on Saturday, Oct. 20, or stop by before it closes and  the sun comes out again on Nov. 17.

Alie Ward is events editor for Metromix Los Angeles, and a recovering goth.