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It's been almost two years since the last instalment of The Happy Undertaker was published to his blog, but I still wanted to draw your attention to these illustrations by Drazen Kojan.

The layout is reminiscent of Sunday paper comic strip cartoons; each issue an episode, each episode with it's own plot surrounding the same whistling Undertaker.

For me, the Happy Undertaker is a bit of a surrealistic melting pot of anything that might pop into my head and onto the page and does not necessarily need to be explained. I try to keep this sense of adventure, surprise and a good (if mysterious) story, with the best drawings I can muster in all my work from children's book illustration to single image illustration and paintings. It's always wonderful to watch an idea grow.

Drazen, originally from Croatia, has called Canada his home for many years. In 2005 he began illustrating children's books and continues to do so. You can see his recent work on his active blog Hypnotik Eye.

But first, do yourself a favour and spend some time going through the Happy Undertaker issues.

When you have some time and want to fill up on some ghoulish goodies, check out the Monsterdecay blog. You'll find a mix of artistic mediums by the same artist.

Highlights include this circus punk (pictured right). I'd wanted to create something similar last year for the Halloween game room, but just didn't have the time or resources. I'd love to have this in my office.

Monsterdecay, like many of the other artists highlighted in my blog, has a background in graffiti art and tattooing:

I'm a self-taught artist. I think being a self-taught artist may be harder to learn certain things but in the end you can say you really didn't have any help or brainwashing. I've met many people that have 'fine art' backgrounds and it seems that many of them have been taught that you have to do things for certain reasons, which I think is stupid. If you wanna do something do it because you want to not because a teacher told you to.

Just wanted to share the second crop of mini pumpkins I've been working on.

Their backdrop - the mossy field nestled into a weathered crate - is part of the table display I'm working on for the Festival of Fear Horror expo in August.

It's been a lot of fun experimenting with the different facial expressions and shapes of the pumpkins. Now that this second batch is finished, I have a better sense of what eyes and noses work the best (to my taste, at least) and I'm getting the multi-layered painting technique for this item more perfected (again, to my taste).

It's interesting. Even though I use the same basic approach to painting with each prop, they always end up with their own rhythm and tweaks. It's like experimenting with a recipe: you've figured out what works, but you change up the basic ingredients and cooking methods to get something different.

Lately I've gotten a number of requests for a polymer clay pumpkin how-to. I haven't had the time to write one, but I can offer you a distraction in the meantime.

Thanks to Haura Laura, I can point you in the direction of a simple skull tutorial on www.polymerclaycentral.com.

The most important information to glean from this tutorial is that you don't need special tools to shape and carve. While certain tools can help (and certainly make life easier), you'll note the artist uses a pin for the detailing.

Household items will work just fine. Instead of using the tool shown in the tutorial for the eyes, look around for similarly shaped objects (like a pen lid, for instance).

Am I grounded? I've missed three days of blogging and feel a bit out of sorts (and guilty). Perhaps if I entertain you with stories of what kept me away, you'll forgive me.

Like many other people, I took advantage of the warm weather this past weekend and decided it was time to attack my garden.

I don't find gardening relaxing despite what people say. Sure, the end product helps me to feel calm, and perhaps the cold cider I'm drinking takes the edge off while I take a break from accidentally butchering the flowers and plants in my garden.

I do a lot of shrugging in those moments, completely baffled by the task at hand.

But a real head-scratcher was when I was standing in my driveway, looking toward the large elm tree in the backyard. High up in the branches was a dark, mossy form. Does my tree have a fungus? Oh no...is it a wasps nest?