I love Fall — my favorite Season of the year.  For me, and most, Halloween marks the beginning of Fall.  I love the color changes, the coolness — almost like a Winter-Spring.  It gets darker — and of course by the end of October, all the goblin-like trick-or-treaters come out for their drug of choice — SUGAR.  

So, when I can I like to paint, denoting my thoughts and feelings of this Season.  And in this case, it’s been too long (2020) since my last Halloween painting.  Here where I live, the air is cooler and the colors are changing already giving me some artistic energy to paint what I call my official 2023 Annual Halloween painting.

I painted this in mostly digital acrylic using Procreate.  I wanted something that would be both warm and scary-feeling.  To me, from my memories as a kid, nothing creepier than approaching that old house — you know, that “I double-dog dare ‘ya to go in there” type of house (thank you Vanessa).  And of course — the Jack-O-Lanterns ablaze throughout the walk towards that old dirt road, especially after a nice rain — and there’s ‘Mr. Jim’s’ old truck that he left long ago, equal to that of a lifetime.  If the darkened sky doesn’t get you, the infamous ‘black cat’ stares through you as you pass by (thank you Rosie!).  And don’t forget, every scary Halloween scene has to have some bats flapping around, exposed by the light of that giant ‘Harvest Moon’ — well, except for the one that landed on one of our Jack-O-Lantern’s evil smile — ‘he’ thinks he’s Batman too! (See if you can find it)

With all that — I bid you a safe and Happy Halloween for 2023 and all others to follow.  Have fun with the kiddos on all those scary candy-seeking journeys.  And lastly, yes, the “secret signature” IS there — well hidden.  Drop me a line if you can’t find it, or let me know what you think of this year’s Halloween art.  I’m at [email protected].  

Happy Halloween!

Terry Kuder Jr.

’Tmagik’