Waiting Room

 

Here's a pictorial homage to John Register.

Despite My Education...

 

"Despite My Education..." acrylic on canvas

A Sentence of Death!

 

Today I thought I'd share a tight little noirror tale I came across this morning, while reading a copy of the August 1939 issue of Strange Stories pulp mag. I use the word noirror to describe stories that have both noir and horror elements to them. 

A Sentence Of Death is a short little shocker with a nasty comeuppance for a hired knife-man. 

Frankenstein's Animated Monster

 

Graphite on paper

Shark Cautery

 

"Shark Cautery" acrylic on paper

 

Here's most of a recent painting. My scanner trims a little off the edges. Also, my Canon PIXMA scanner has a weird tic where it refuses to identify bright, brilliant colors, so will wash them out. The sort of salmon-y color in fire coming from the shark's mouth is actually a neon red color, but most everything else looks real-to-life (color-wise that is). 

I've always loved those sea monster illustrations in the margins of old nautical maps. This is partially a nod to those.

The Green Hornet and Kato

 

Dry Heat

 

Well, spring has sprung in Minnesota. We've transitioned from a blizzard that took down a bunch of our trees a week and a half ago, to four days of 80-some degree weather. 🥵

Paczki

 

I tried some paczki last weekend. Paczki is a traditional Polish donut, round in shape and usually filled with something, be it custard, jam or fruit. There's a bakery 20-some minutes from my house that makes these things, and I don't know how close to the authentic traditional recipe these things are, but they were tasty. It might not be something I drive nearly an hour round-trip to purchase, especially with at least two dedicated donut shops within five minutes of the house, but it was fun to try.

To read the name as it's written, it looks like it's pronounced "packs-key", but it's actual pronunciation is "pahnch-key". The flavors, as pictured in the top photo, were (L to R): top - raspberry, triple berry, Black Forest; bottom - Black Forest, lemon and caramel apple.

Having never been to the bakery before, I have no idea what the typical Saturday's customer concentration is. I made the mistake of going the day before Easter, where I found a line out the door and tempers (staff and clientele alike) twitchy. 

If you happen to be in the Woodbury, MN area, maybe peek in at the Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe sometime and see what's bakin'. 

Screwballs Don't Bounce

 

From Strange Stories, Aug. 1939; vol. II, no. 1.

Story by the great Robert Bloch, illustration by the great Frank R. Paul.