<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>--<^>-<^>

                    ETERNAL MIDNIGHT 

                       8/19, No.1

       While this snippet of ivory cardstock is humble

       in its dimensions, roughly the length and width of 

       a human woman's hand, the work painted thereupon 

       triumphs with magnificent detail despite the small 

       scale. As wispy brush strokes of impressionism

       collide with a penchant for pointillism, the 

       portrait of a pearly, sapient skull comes into cohesion, 

       as it sits on a grassy meadow plane just before a sunlit 

       horizon. Regardless of the apparent daytime hour, 

       the empty eye sockets of the skull, along with that 

       inverted heart of a nose and the slivers of negative

       space between the teeth, are filled with inky,

       swirling darkness. The minutest freckles of purple, 

       black and jade pigments coalesce within those hollows, 

       whirling together to create the illusion of 

       depthless voids. The bony cranium, then, seems to 

       function as a kind of scope into eternal midnight, or 

       an alternate plane of everlasting darkness. The prayer 

       card is afforded borders of glossy, obsidian hued 

       brocade as finishing touches, and a tiny 'M' printed 

       in the left bottom corner.

  <^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>--<^>-<^>

<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>--<^>-<^>

                  WHERE OTHERS HAVE FLED 

                       10/1, No.2

       Only the most meticulous attention and the 

      tiniest of hands could manage this miniature 

       work of art. Painted on a little, rectangular 

       slip of parchment, no more than five inches tall 

      and three inches wide, this prayer card is 

       painstakingly detailed, indeed, depicting an

       a teensy autumnal scene. 

       A wash of vivid blue creates the chill of an

       October sky across the upper half of the card,

       while the bottom is made of stippled sienna,

       ochre and umber colored strokes to create a

       tilled field, ripe with pumpkins. Although a 

       straw-stuffed scarecrow stands in the

       right corner of the frame, dutifully warding off 

       murders of crows, it has not been successful

       in keeping away a group of ravens. Too 

       shrewd and brave to be spooked by a farmer's 

       tricks, the ravens feast where others have fled.

      The prayer card is afforded borders of glossy,        obsidian hued brocade as finishing touches,        and a tiny 'M' printed in the left bottom corner.

 <^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>--<^>-<^>