"Where I hang my phoenix coat when I'm not wearing it, what I feed my spotted rat, and other mysteries" This is not actually new work--I did this ages ago, but it looked so shabby next to the Martin Johnson Heade painting I was using for reference I decided it was a failure and put it away. I got it out again today and decided it wasn't so bad. Anyway, this is a picture of this ugly tailless rat I used to have. The rat's name was Shakespeare. It's supposed to be in the style of the Hudson River School, but I didn't nail it. That mysterious lighting effect still eludes me.