Something tangential to this site's public purpose (but within the bounds of its ultimate purpose) is this artifact from my childhood, from a time when I lived on the east coast and is one of the things that have made me always love Halloween.

This book followed us throught my childhood, in our travels it was always just part of the Halloween decorations, but I always had a great fondness for it, and would often set it aside from the decorations being packed away so it could reside on a bookshelf, handy for perusal. Nobody in the family objected.

Art like this reminds me why I really love Erol Otus' work. It's iconic, graphic, and I've always loved the colorful and cartoonlike approach to his fantasy art.

Pure, quintessential of a lot of 1970s and early 1980s fantasy art. (Scanned from the “Days of the Dragon” calendar for 1982.)

I'm still working on a new entry for Game Restart, but I wanted to pass along something I've been learning about rolling up characters on an 8-bit home computer from the 80s.

A new #watercolor for a new year. Forests have been on my mind a lot this year. (I’m considering scenarios which hinge on the issue of a civilization which destroys forests is likely doomed—like in the real world.)

These photos of painted metal-cast toy knights have a story.

12 December 2010:

Recently*, I painted some solid-cast lead toy soldiers and knights for a friend to sell in a craft show. 
 I really miss working with enamels. And how cool is it to help make toys, especially in a December?

That would be Brianne. This moment in 2010 was a rare moment where I was able to paint a little.