Painting "Villain's Cove"
I’m pleased to share my latest commissioned painting, “Villain’s Cove”…
Villain’s Cove was a popular attraction at Pendragon’s Adventure Park, located near the back entrance of Stabbyland. It drew crowds despite featuring some of the more despicable characters from our favorite childhood cartoons. After the park’s closure, the murals adorning the ride became a favorite destination for local graffiti writers and taggers, each hoping to leave their mark—and their own villains—on the already vibrant walls. It became a badge of honor for anyone who could: first, get past the boarded-up exterior of the park; second, navigate the demolished grounds of Pendragon’s; and third, cross the giant sinkhole that had opened during the park’s destruction—before funding ran out and the place was fully abandoned.
To make it there was one thing. To put your name on the walls—forever proving you had—was another entirely. And who wouldn’t want Skeletor, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, and Snidely Whiplash appearing alongside their tag? Over the years, the sinkhole widened, swallowing parts of the building and walls into what was later described as an underwater lake—a lake leading to who knows where. Few dared to explore it after strange reports surfaced: a group of workers had gone in and completely vanished. There were talks of sending in other teams to investigate, but with so many other strange occurrences happening at the same time, the sinkhole—and the lake—were nearly forgotten.
Ralf didn’t forget. He knew the place well and carried a sinking suspicion that the hole might be another passage back to “The Outside”—and his only chance to find his little brother, Crumbs. The nightmare unleashed from the pearl had grown quickly—a bad dream pulled from a young boy’s troubled sleep and stolen by the Pearl Thief. That pearl, along with several others, had fallen into the lake as the Thief escaped in his ship back to the Outside. Now, the Pale Bat Snake haunted the waters beneath Villain’s Cove, waiting for any would-be hero brave—or foolish—enough to enter. Ralf knew the stories. On the other side, where the lake opened into that wild place called the Outside, the creature had already earned its legend. If he was going to face it, he would need to be armed. More importantly, he would need to swallow the fear that always seemed to follow him. There was no time to hesitate. He had to act—and act quickly—if he was going to save Crumbs. Excerpt from “A Scared Scout’s Guide to the Outside”