Two quick digital chops featuring Nancers and Annajon, two members at photoshopcontest.com (PSC) who each submitted a photo of themselves for the PSC community to digitally alter (chop). For Nancers I decided the photo she submitted was perfect, but it needed some turkey, gravy, and a picture of John Wayne Bobbitt. For Annajon I focused on asking a single question: "What's she thinking about?" She seemed to be focused on a distant galaxy was the answer that came back.

"Comrade Micose" was inspired by Russian propaganda posters of Lenin. Micose, as he is known at photoshopcontest.com (PSC), is both a traditional and digital artist. The image below features Micose before I turned him into a poster using the colors and parts of the PSC logo (the "O" in comrade). The cross-shaped symbol was made from two Photoshop custom brushes and then further enhanced through additional shapes.

"My Little Pony Boy" began with the image of the young man seen below. I immediately went with some wild colors. However, I wasn't happy with the guy's hair so I began painting over it. This led to my recalling Hasbro's funky-colored My Little Pony toy series, some of which had wings, but I opted to give the guy a set of butterfly wings from a stock collection instead. HIs head was enlarged and the stars were added through a Photoshop brush. I made a rainbow as a foreground element to create depth and for its gayness.

She's Leaving Me for A Ship of Fools

A simple and quick manipulation of the cruise ship seen below. Additional painting in Photoshop.

"Chocolate Chip Scat Bar" was inspired by the image below, "Monkey Business." Originally I was going to make the packaging shape more like a candy bar but I ran out of time, opting for the organic shape instead. The monkey is a Photoshop custom shape, however, I drew the face on top of it.

Near the floor, in a quiet, rain-free corner of the upstairs bathroom, Itsy Bitsy Spider (a.k.a Eensy Weensy Spider) ekes out a living. She pays the rent in husks of household pests; especially with those blood-thirsty, winged children of the night —which drive you insane with their howlingly loud demands for warm blood— those teensy-weensy vampires that make you itch. And twitch. And scratch, scratch, scratch!

My eight-legged roommate doesn't settle for pint-size morsels when a big, delicious creepy-crawly will do. She's an avid big game hunter —a silent opportunist who knows how to capitalize on a hapless, dumb schmuck, like the six-legged guy pictured above and below.

After biting this wayward crawler on his large right-leg, Itsy Bitsy Spider quickly entangled the leg in the tiniest of gossamer cuffs. She then retreated to her baseboard lair and waited for the poison to do its trick.

Every couple of minutes Itsy Bitsy Spider traveled back down a near-invisible tightrope, which was connected to the victim's leg, to make an inspection. At times Itsy Bitsy Spider appeared to be feeding on the leg, but perhaps the recipe called for more poison. She'd also check his silky cuffs, add a few more, then crawl back up to her home.

Eventually, her dinner was no longer dazed, confused and stumbling about: it was dead, or, at the very least, severely paralyzed. And, later that night, Itsy Bitsy Spider came down the spout to suck him dry.

Tomorrow I collect November's rent.

Notes: 100mm Macro lens used with flash. Each image is approximately three times actual size.

This year my daughter hit the streets on Halloween night in a swamp monster costume designed by her and her mother. My contribution was to suggest using a boot to store the candy in. When the boot became too full she had her friends empty it into a concealed backpack.

Area Zinc (area-zinc.com) contacted me awhile back to ask for submissions for an upcoming online art gallery featuring artists from around the world. I'm happy to report that one of my entries, "All That Is Left," was selected for inclusion in the "Fiction" gallery.

To see all the wonderful artwork visit "FICTION." (You may need to wait a minute while the gallery loads all images.)

After moving into our home (two years ago) I discovered this unlucky frog stuck to the side of the garage door, which met his fate long before we arrived. He is still there — a reminder to us all of the perils in clinging to uncertainty when a door is opened.

The inspiration for "Walking Evy" comes from an ugly wet floor sign (see image below). The tufts of grass, dog legs and dog head, fence, wire towers, distant shapes, and robot wings were all made from the wet floor sign. I added two additional custom shapes from Photoshop: a robot and a dog bone.

Oct 13, 2008: I updated the image by adding a butterfly and by rotating it horizontally.