Monster Factory

At last, the package had arrived! Ella the monsterette signed for it in a rushed left-handed scrawl and trundled off to her studio. Being a shopaholic, she had been powerless to stop herself purchasing a set of oil paints from a new, mysterious manufacturer, especially when the advertisement said these paints held a valuable secret that made them indispensable to any artist. That explained the price.

Camelot Verdent, Kraken Ink Black, Alicorn Pearl, Leprechaun Gold, Atlantean Blue and Griffin Hide Umber. Such lovely colours, judging from the sample chart, all with slightly offbeat names. Ella's hand gravitated towards Dragon Fire Red, red being her favourite colour. As she unscrewed the paint tube, a curl of smoke licked out. Or did it? No, it had to be her imagination. She shrugged, upended the tube and squeezed a dollop of paint onto her palette. Or, at least, she _would_ have squeezed a dollop of paint onto her palette if a tiny red dragon hadn't popped out instead. At that moment, Ella very much wished it had been a dollop of paint. She didn't know how she would dip her paintbrush into a dollop of dragon.

"Hi! You must be..." the dragon looked at the address on the packaging, "Ella?"
"Yes... that's me. I didn't know Wizard Paints were also a pet shop. I think they muddled my order up. You're supposed to be a blob of red."
"This is special paint? Get it? Didn't the names of the colours tip you off?" The dragon was obviously slightly annoyed at having been mistaken for a pet.
"You mean?"
As the dragon nodded knowingly, a trembling Ella squeezed the tube of Camelot Verdent. Rather than the emerald green she'd hoped for, a rippling field of grass and flowers spread out over her palette. The thing was, they didn't just look like flowers, they smelt like flowers, and the grass wavered in a make-believe breeze.
"What is this? Where's my oil paint?"
"This is a new type of paint that makes painting so much easier and more realistic. You should see the automotive and architecture ranges. They're pretty special. Just squeeze the tube over your canvas, and voila! Instant art." The dragon plodded over to Ella's prepared canvas. "So, where do you want me? This corner here would look nice with a dragon."
"But isn't that," Ella looked about, her voice barely a whisper, "...cheating?"
The dragon dismissed her question with a wave of its hand. "Naaaah mate, it's just making things easier for ya. Trust me, everyone will love your work."
"Except me." Ella packed the tubes away into their box.
"What are you doing?" The dragon looked mortified. Ella grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and after a brief struggle, closed the lid after it.

Well, it wasn't quite a cure for shopaholic-ism, but Ella did refrain from retail therapy for a short while after her episode with the paints. She was quite disturbed by the whole thing, and a couple of days later thought some new shoes would make her feel better.

Acrylic on illustration board, 23 x 25 cm.