I spent many of my younger days watching the monsters of early Hollywood. They were a favorite activity on a late Saturday night. The music and scenery would set the mood for a scary hour or two and possible sleep troubles. It was thrilling watching villain and hero or heroine upon the tv screen. As I got older the films were silly, but endearing. It was just too much fun getting caught up in the story lines.

The Halloween season gives me an opportunity to give back some of that monster love. In a scene I titled Monster Piece, the elements of three of these monstrous characters are painted as dogs dressed for seasonal display. The charming canine monsters are true to their form with the exception of smiles where ghoulish frowns distorted frightening faces. These are happy monsters and creating them affected me in a fantastic way. I get one "masterpiece" a season and so far this is the one. I'll lovingly photograph it inch by inch and render it to canvas after painstaking pencil sketches are made of it. This a way to preserve the design in a permanent manner. Once the holiday is over, the scene is washed away forever.

The dogs are borrowed from the summer seasonal painting I delivered as an initial project. They will be included in future paintings and remain as the store's cartoon family. Tailoring appropriate individual scenes helps the inspiration spiral into unique and fun imagery.