Even Pirates Write Their Mumsies

Dear Mother,

I'm doing well. I've been promoted to first CabinImp, and the new responsibility is fun. Don't worry, the treasure hoard is very safe. Yesterday, we netted a young sea serpent and persuaded it to give us rides in exchange for some lemons.

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In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, I painted an ink doodle of a pirate goblin I had lying around.

Ink: permanent (mostly) Staedler sketchpens. Paints: These are some German watercolors (Angora Deckfarben) my mother bought years ago for my littlest sister or herself, and recently gave to me in an unusual fit of cupboard-clearing. Paper: some sketch paper really not designed for water colors.

Now that I've done this, I've decided I want postcards of it. So I did that, too, over at Whimsical Dreams. It's also available as a print from here, if you prefer deviantArt's printing process.

Originally painted in 2004 or so. I'm still happy with the stripes.

goblins, ghouls and ghosts

In honor of Hallowe'en, the challenge this week on another illustration blog is "goblins, ghouls and ghosts".
There have been headline-making serial killers over the years. Names like Ted Bundy, Ed Gein, Alferd Packer and Albert Fish.... all men. Very few women have entered the ranks of serial killers. The majority of women serial killers used subdued methods for their crimes, the most favored being poison. Enriqueta Martí had no time for poisons. She was a self-proclaimed witch in Barcelona, Spain in the early 20th century. She sold charms and love potions to earn a living, but had other activities to occupy her free time. Based on clues pieced together after her arrest, Enriqueta abducted several local children and held them captive until she killed them and boiled their bodies, using the bones in her potions and the flesh to consume. She had already murdered at least six children, when her last abductee, a young girl named Angelita, was rescued alive from Enriqueta's lair. She described to police a tale of murder and cannibalism. According to the girl, she had been forced to partake of human flesh. Her "meal" had been the remains of another child, kidnapped by Enriqueta a short time earlier.
On the basis of Angelita's story, police raided Enriqueta's home. A search revealed bags of bloody children's clothes, blood-caked knives, jars and vials of bones and human fat and several scalps of blond hair.
Enriqueta was arrested and convicted in 1912. Enriqueta was attacked and lynched in prison by fellow inmates. Although it was a lurid, front-page account, Enriqueta's story was overshadowed by a bigger one... the sinking of the Titanic.
Happy Hallowe'en.... again.