Halloween is a splendid time of year: the perfect excuse to eat your bodyweight in chocolate and wear your superhero costume in public. But any truly sinister creature knows that Halloween isn’t the best time to venture forth, precisely because the streets are full of chocolate-buzzed nutjobs dressed as superheroes. No, these chaps prefer a time that’s quieter and darker than Halloween: the night when the clocks go backward; the 13-hour night that ushers in Winter and heralds the dying of the light. Things are about to get very dark, and (as it’s me) that also means Victorian! (Apparently modern culture has monsters as well, but really, phoo, who cares?) These precious little monsters are all sketch-card sized paintings (2.5 x 3.5 inches) adorned with gory little treasures for a 3-dimensional touch.  The sale of each of these contributed a little something to an array of apt charities; for example Dracula helped an organisation in Africa get clean blood, Sweeney Todd’s donation went to Locks of Love; you get the idea. So swoon gracefully into the nearest velvet chaise, and enjoy!

Dracula (with applied brass crucifix)

Dracula detail

Phantom of the Opera with brass mask

Dorian Gray, and his portrait. (The miniature painting is actually sewn onto the art with wire).

Dorian detail of the face

Dr Jekyll (and Mr Hyde); with test tubes made from plastic straws and a potion bottle made from beads and wire.

Jekyll’s face

Frankenstein’s Creature (with a ‘clockwork’ heart of brass and silver filigree, with steel wheels and wire.)

Frankenstein’s Creature, face

Frankenstein’s Creature, heart

Sweeney Todd, with itty bitty handmade cutthroat razor.

Cthulhu! The name only geeks can spell and only the mandibly-unhinged can pronounce.

Cthulhu, ship detail