What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

I finished a book I was reading on healing magic (for a story I am writing). I was really pleased to see that the author suggested often that people should go see real doctors and mental health professionals and that they should not believe every bozo who suggests that they have been cursed and just need to pay a small fee to have the curse removed. It was interesting to see how different magic traditions handle protection. I thought that a lot of the spells (aka recipes) for protection washes for your house were interesting, but it seemed like the ones with sugar in them would make the floors sticky. I thought the baths seemed pretty interesting. Of course, they mostly used common household herbs and other normal ingredients, although I was really surprised to find magic spell ingredients (mostly certain roots) on Amazon. It is a weird world. Now, though, I know why a witch would go out to gather herbs at night.

Now, I'm reading a book on writing. Of course, the guy promises you the moon in the introduction. So far, his ideas seem okay. I still totally prefer the method that I use. However, he does have useful ideas, as I've already improved one of my stories using something that I read in the book.

I've been working on my sphinxes. Today, I painted the first two layers of the background/everything that isn't a sphinx. I should work on the sky next, although I really want to work on the nearer objects. Still, I think that it is probably better to work on the farthest objects first. So, sky. It isn't exceptionally difficult, so maybe I'll be able to finish it up and then do some work on the rocks. The distant dunes will only need a little bit of work, as they will have just a touch of shadow/highlights. Mostly, distant hills at night are dark. I also have a canvas that I need to prepare, so I can work on that too.