As soon as I saw today’s word, Diablerie, I knew the hard part would be choosing from all the possibilities that were whirling around in my head. My sketchbook started filling up with a ghosts, devils, witches, demons, & darkness. But as much as I’m drawn to spookiness (see Eldritch), in the end I conjured up a sillier sort of mischievous weirdness, inspired by my lifelong love of medieval marginalia like these.

A sort of palimpsest of earlier ideas remains in the background text, though, with faint traces of demonic sigils & other symbols of black magic mingling with the dictionary elements.

(Painting sold but prints are available in my Etsy Shop, Curious Art Lab.)