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night

2023/08/25

August 25, 2023
A cliff, and then a ravine. It's that part of the evening where it's mostly night: not quite black, but a deep blue. Parked on top of the cliff, at the left, is a car with its lights on. To the right, the cliff drops into a sharp, rocky ravine, filled with weeds and small trees. Down in the depths of the ravine is a person hunting for something with a flashlight. In the background is a blurry suggestion of woods. There's no moon or stars in the sky. The sky is empty.

2023/08/21

August 21, 2023
A large person with a shaved head and a suit and tie, apparently walking down a city street at night. Behind them is a streetlight; further behind are the suggestions of skyscrapers. The whole scene is rendered in rough textures and bright red, green, and blue, suggesting a neon woodcut.

2023/08/19

August 19, 2023
A hillside, gleaming in the moonlight, possibly covered with snow. In the sky sits a blazing full moon. The whole scene is blue. Cast sharply in the moonlight, moving up the side of the hill, is a shapeless lump of a figure: a troll-like creature with large paws, a heavy brow, a long nose, and white, staring eyes. It appears to be transfixed by the full moon. This, for anyone who is familiar with Tove Jansson's Moominland series, is the Groke: out and about on a night when no one but the Groke would be stirring.

2023/07/19

July 19, 2023
A scene through a tall, grimy window with venetian blinds at the top. The window looks out onto two tenement buildings, either next door or across the street. It's night, but not a dark night so much as a dull, cloudy, light-polluted night. The buildings are mostly dark, with no street lights or external illumination visible. There is no moon or stars. A few of the windows in the buildings are dimly lit, suggesting television screens or reading lamps inside. No figures can be seen behind the windows.

2023/07/16

July 16, 2023
An overcast night, with no stars and only a hazy moon in the sky. Below is a house; more specifically, the cross-section of a small house. By "small", it appears that the house has only three rooms: a cramped little attic, a living room area, and below, a basement. The interiors of all three rooms are visible, like an open dollhouse. The attic is very dark and mostly empty, except for some boxes, dimly illuminated by the light coming in from a skylight. The living room is empty, except for a glowing television and a person standing in front of it, slightly hunched, hypnotized by the light from the screen. There is no light in the living room other than that which comes from the television screen. There is one indiscernible picture hung on the wall, and no other furnishings. But it's the basement that's most startling. The basement is totally empty, except for an enormous red blob with tufted fur, horns, and no facial features to speak of. The blob has one outstretched, clawed hand, reaching through a hole it has evidently punched in the basement wall. It appears to be digging a tunnel under the small porch of the house. If one is going to harbor monsters, one needs to bury them deep and remain alert.

2023/07/11

July 11, 2023
A mailbox post rises up from a ground covered by thick fog. Placed on the arm of the post where the mailbox would be is a small house-shaped box that does indeed resemble a mailbox. The door on the front is closed. There are suggestions that it is no ordinary mailbox, however, like the glowing, circular window on the side, and the large bell hanging over the door of the mailbox. Below the mailbox, nearly engulfed by the fog, stands a small figure. The size of the figure compared to the mailbox post suggesting that this post is as tall as a multi-story building. The figure is reaching up and grasping a string that dangles from the bell, as though ringing the bell to alert whoever's living inside the mailbox that they have a visitor.

2023/07/10

July 10, 2023
A scene in a dark room. A tall, thin person stands by a grimy window, looking out at the tenement building next door. It's night, one of those dull gray city nights that's never really that dark. The windows in the building next door are illuminated with the blue glow of television screens. The light from outside illuminates the inner frame of the window, and the Venetian blinds at the top of the window. The person by the window is seen in profile. The person is smoking a cigarette and has short, crew-cut hair and a leather jacket.

2023/07/09

July 9, 2023
A smartphone rises up from a layer of dense fog. The base of the phone and the ground can't be seen; just an amorphous carpet of clouds. The screen of the phone is very blurry, as though obscured by a layer of vapor. The screen shows glowing colored squares, arranged haphazardly, not in the usual grid of app icons. Silhouettes are visible in the squares, like people looking out of windows. Above the phone, a blurry moon is in the sky. The moonlight reflects off the top of the phone.

2023/07/06

July 6, 2023
It is very late evening or very early morning. Standing in a grassy meadow is a giant round sign, maybe 10 feet in diameter: a smiley-face that appears to be constructed from metal and plastic, like a sign for a gas station or roadside attraction. The sign is falling apart: panels are missing or broken, revealing the metal framework underneath, and plants dangle from the frame. In the background is the suggestion of a foggy tree line. Standing to the right of the sign is a person, shining a flashlight up at it. The darkness and the beam from the flashlight throw the seams and contours of the sign into sharp relief, making the smile empty and menacing. As Lon Chaney once said, "There's nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight."

2023/07/02

July 2, 2023
A dark, starless night. A small, barren island in the middle of a large body of water, which is perhaps the ocean, since no other land is visible. Rising straight up from the island is a tall, craggy tower of rock. The bulk of the tower is rough and misshapen, and, while bizarre, still looks naturally formed; the top is an actual, cylindrical turret that appears to be crumbling. There is a dark window on one side of the turret, and a limp flag at the very top. About halfway up the tower, standing on one of the more prominent crags, is a dark figure holding out a blazing white lantern. Far out on the water is another white light from a ship. The figure and the ship seem to be signaling each other. Something is afoot.

2023/06/28

June 28, 2023
A house stands on a rocky hill at night. Behind the house, the sky is filled with billowing phosphorescent green clouds: could be fog or maybe even the aurora. Fog appears to be hanging low to the ground as well. On the second floor of the house, two windows are lit.

2023/06/03

June 3, 2023
A tall, very narrow, white building of approximately two or three stories that looks a little like a church. There's a regular door at the base of the building—more like a closet door than what you'd expect the doorway of a church to be—and a fancy arched window at the top. It's a clear, starry night. The building has a crosslike ornament at the pinnacle of the roof, and three abstract figures carved into the front of it. The door has the same crosslike symbol. Fastened to the right side of the building, in the most haphazard way possible, is an extremely crudely-constructed shack: an irregular concoction of boards and scraps with a rope ladder dangling from it. A television aerial sticks out of the roof of the shack. The window is illuminated, suggesting that someone is home, but no one is seen.

2023/06/02

June 2, 2023
A small, grassy hill, far out in the middle of a forest. It's early evening on a damp, foggy night. The sky is a deep blue, not black. There is a full moon wrapped in fog, with a blurry tree line in the background. On top of the hill stands a pink, glowing vending machine (the soda kind, not the food kind). On top of the vending machine sits a cat.

2023/05/30

May 30, 2023
On the left of the drawing, a stark, perfectly vertical cliff wall, interrupted only by a doorway set in the wall, a small deck with a railing jutting out from it. It's night; stars on a slate gray sky. Above the doorway is a glowing spherical lamp, similar to a streetlamp. Next to the doorway is a red train signal. Pulled up to the deck is what looks like a subway car, except it is floating in space and doesn't have wheels.

2023/05/26

May 26, 2023
An old-style telephone booth stands on a small hillock at night, overlooking the ocean. The full moon is high in the sky. The sky is clear, filled with stars. No one is in the booth. Perhaps no one has been for quite some time.

2023/05/22

May 22, 2023
An imposing figure sits in a high chair on trusses, similar to a lifeguard's chair. The figure is wearing a suit and has a long-necked desk lamp for a head. Below the figure sits a person in a normal-sized chair, reading a book. The scene is at night; the desk lamp person casts a light over the person sitting in a chair reading a book.

2023/05/16

May 16, 2023
An evening scene out in the woods. A giant telescope is mounted on a conical cement base planted on a small grassy promontory. The telescope seems to be in a clearing, with shadowy trees in the background. Above the telescope is a blazing, four-pointed star. However, the telescope is not pointed towards the star, but towards the ground behind it, and light streams from the end of the telescope, as though it's a spotlight. A person is caught in the spotlight beam.

2023/05/15

May 15, 2023
A huge object of rock and soil floating in oblivion, as though someone ripped an asteroid-sized chunk from the earth. On top of the object, which has a flat surface, sits a gas station. A truck is in one of the bays; a figure walks casually from the store to the truck. Above is a full moon in a cloudy sky.

2023/05/10

May 10, 2023
A person stands on a barren hilltop on a gray, cloudy night. Next to the figure is a phosphor-green bonfire, pouring smoke; the smoke forms an enormous figure looming overhead, wearing a formal hat. The person is holding a phone and seems to be looking up in surprise at the figure. This is not what DoorDash deliveries typically look like.

2023/05/02

May 2, 2023
A large, conical hill made of soil. The hill is topped by an orange road cone and surrounded by orange tape, as though it's a construction zone; an orange warning sign indicating a bump is affixed to the hill. Under other circumstances, this might look like a particularly egregious construction project, but the perceptive observer will notice a door and chimney stuck in the hill, indicating a resident. It is evening. A full moon illuminates the scene. Drive carefully.

2023/04/24

April 24, 2023
A fellow wearing a top hat rides in an odd conveyance with only one truck wheel on either side. It's a dismal night: no stars, no moon. The only light comes from the phosphor-green lantern held by the rider, whose face is eerily lit. There is also a red taillight. There's a suggestion of clouds overhead, but the general environment is barren and featureless.

2023/04/20

April 20, 2023
A grassy hillside in the moonlight. On the hillside are two boulders, one stacked on top of the other. The lower one looks vaguely like a body; the upper one definitely has a face carved into it, looking at the viewer. One side of the figure is eerily lit by the full moon. The boulders are balanced precariously, propped up with rickety supports. A forest tree line is visible in the background.

2023/04/16

April 16, 2023
An eerie figure that seems to be carved from stone stands in the light of a moon that looks like the Facebook "haha" reaction. The figure has no ears, a strange smile, and wears a suit and fedora. One side of the figure's face is hidden in shadow; on the side that isn't, there's a smiley face instead of an eye.

2023/04/14

April 14, 2023
A house with a clock cupola stands on two legs. The feet of the legs are wearing yellow Chuck Taylor All-Stars. The setting appears to be evening; there is moonlight, but no moon. The house has three windows: two small, on either side of it, and one large. One small window is lit, one is dark. The largest window, in the center, is brightly lit. The silhouette of a human figure with antlers stands looking out.

2023/04/09

April 9, 2023
A woods at night. The sky is the clear blue of a summer evening; the full moon is high in the sky. A wall of dark trees rises in the background. In the foreground, in a small clearing illuminated by moonlight, stands a tall, mushroom-shaped structure: it looks like a birdhouse made from a tall, slender mushroom. A circular opening is carved into the side of it, revealing a warm, yellow interior light. Right outside the structure, as if it's just exited the opening, is a glowing white ball that's giving of sparks. Up in the sky is another creature; a white winged thing that could be a fairy with birdlike wings and, yes, antlers. You might have imagined forest spirits as looking like pagan nymphs, but we can't all be pagan nymphs I'm afraid.

2023/04/08

April 8, 2023
Two people sit before a campfire at night, facing each other. The person on the left has an arm raised, as though they're telling a story. Looming behind them like a huge shadow is a great black cloud with the radioactive trefoil on it, warped and distorted, like the face of a monster formed by smoke. Part of the cloud rises up from the head of the person on the right, as though it's a speech balloon; something they're describing. There are dark things out there on the desert—and under it.

2023/04/04

April 4, 2023
A phosphorescent-green cat sits on a rocky promontory under a clear starry night, face turned towards the sky. The object the cat is sitting on has a metal plate with a symbol indicating a radioactive hazard, and an arrow pointing down.

2023/03/23

March 23, 2023
A well-lit room with a window, showing a dark night outside with a full moon and stars. But it looks like the night is leaking through the window into the room; dripping down the wall in a thick, rolling stream like paint.

2023/03/19

March 19, 2023
A sinister figure in a trench coat and hat stands alone on a dark night, the suggestion of an aurora in the sky behind it. On the figure's coat is a set of glowing buttons and dials. Where the figure's face would be is an arched lit window, eerie green, with a cat sitting in it.

2023/03/15

March 15, 2023
A night scene, with a starry sky. A van, seen from the front, sits in an open area, not moving, lights out. On top of the van is a giant satellite dish, pointed skyward towards a full moon. No one is visible in the van, but there is a lit window at the rear of the van, suggesting someone is home and maybe controlling the dish.

2023/03/13

March 13, 2023
A lone figure walks on a moonlit night, pulling a small tenement building seemingly placed in a two-wheeled cart. Most of the windows in the building are lit. A cat is visible in one; a plant is in the other.

2023/03/05

March 5, 2023
An old-style, monochrome television—you know, the kind with knobs and a cathode ray tube—stands on furry, spindly legs. It is standing on a grassy hill at night: behind it is the suggestion of a city seen from a great height, the streets defined by lights. There's a moon partially hidden behind fog. It is, altogether, a distinctly eerie scene; one made all the more unsettling by the fact that the television screen is on and glowing, displaying a monstrous staring face.

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    All work © Chris Silverman