Happy (belated) Halloween.

Edit 3/4/07: A decent picture of it-- finally.

Edit 12/4/06: Tried to work on the pumpkin (it didn't work; the thing died weeks ago & that pumpkin color is the hardest color to mix in the world), Lily's hair (it looks flat now), & James' face (it still looks yellow). This is still not a good picture at all; the light has apparently been changed to a more yellow light, & also, there's a glare no matter where I try to take the picture. And it's uneven, but it was either that or cut off a chunk of James' head. It's really frustrating; anyone have any tips for taking pictures of paintings?

Independent painting (homework assignment). It started as this, then became this, & now it's this. And there are still a lot of problems with it, besides the fact the picture isn't great. For one, their proportions. For another, James' face is still too yellow & it doesn't relate to the skin on his neck at all; that & compared to Lily's head, his head is far too big. The window is pretty unfinished, & the facial expressions didn't turn out the way I wanted them to. Need to take a better picture of it.

Based on the Shoebox Project:

"...Right," the Ravenclaw agrees, very slowly. James notices, for the first time, that the gazes of the assembled Prefects have turned from stifled amusement to glassy horror. Thunder rumbles ominously. "So, then...what's the blood for?"

James turns. From the handle of his suddenly extremely shiny carving knife, apparently flowing from the bruise-orange skin of the pumpkin itself, has dripped a huge puddle of something red and thick. It is on James' trousers. It smells disconcertingly of meat. As James stares at it, not comprehending, another roll of thunder rattles the windowpanes and the lights go out.

The sketched-on face of the jack-o'-lantern, frozen blue in the flash of lightning, looks suddenly absolutely terrifying. There is a sound like a gasp -- and he can feel Lily, in the midst of delicately shaking a string of pulp out of one ear, freeze behind him in the thick, silent darkness.

"Oh," James says, carefully, into the sudden silence. "That. Kids! You know. Bloody-minded. They love this. Er--"

The candles slowly flicker back to life. James looks around. The blood has pooled around his shoes now, and tipped the edge of Lily's skirt, and what's worse--

The three prefects are gone. He and Lily are alone in the room full of disemboweled pumpkins, which suddenly seems very large and very dark in the corners.

"What's happened?" Lily whispers.

"This is not right," James says, with great conviction. "Not right at all."

"What is inside that pumpkin?" Lily asks, edging closer to James in the gloom. Surprisingly, James is not excited that they are close; he is too busy wondering when his bladder will give out on him.

"A cow, apparently," James manages. "Er. All right. We shouldn't panic."

"I'm not panicking," Lily says. She grabs his hand. They stare at each other. "I am simply seeking comfort of a physical kind," Lily mutters. "It does not mean anything. We should not share this intimate moment as anything passionate, revelatory or even interesting. The pumpkin is gushing blood and I am holding your hand. All right?"

"All right," James agrees. He has no idea what she's trying to tell him. "But we shouldn't panic."

"Well," Lily says. "What should we do?"

"Whatever's happening," James says, "we are not unarmed!" He grasps the handle of the pumpkin seed scoop and waves it above his head triumphantly.

"James Potter," Lily says, "you are indeed qualified to de-seed evil."
--Part Sixteen: Halloween, 1976

October 30-31; November 2; December 4, 2006. About 13 hours & 5 minutes. 24 x 36" canvas. Oil.