Los Angeles native Mike Stilkey has always been attracted to painting and drawing not only on vintage paper, record covers and book pages, but on the books themselves. Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey depicts a melancholic and at times a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. A lingering sense of loss and longing hints at emotional depth and draws the viewer into their introspective thrall with a mixture of capricious poetry, wit, and mystery. (Photo by Mike Stilkey)

A tomtit bird flies past a squirrel running on a fence after a snowfall in a park in Almaty, Kazakhstan, January 12, 2016. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

A sledding dog is covered in ice after spending the night in the open air with his musher at the polar base of Val-Cenis, as they ready for the next stage of the 12th edition of “La Grande Odyssee” sledding race across the Alps on January 17, 2016 in Val Cenis Lanslevillard. (Photo by Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AFP Photo)

People look at huge waves crashing on the San Esteban de Pravia seafront, northern Spanish region of Asturias February 8, 2016. (Photo by Eloy Alonso/Reuters)

British actress and model Elizabeth Hurley (L) and English actress Pear Chiravara in “Strictly Confidential”, 2024, directed by Liz Hurley's son Damian Hurley. (Photo by Backgrid USA)

Ukrainian soldiers from the assault brigade inflict fire damage with a 120 mm mortar while supporting the assault operations of the infantry on April 19, 2024 in Ukraine. The country's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has warned its allies that if more military aid for Ukraine is not approved soon, such as the long-stalled aid package from the United States, it could usher in a “Third World War”. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)

Kindergarten children show off handmade floral headdress made of ginkgo leaves on December 17, 2024 in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. The floral headdress is also known as Zanhua or Zanhuawei. Zanhuawei is a traditional Chinese hairstyle favored among ladies from Xunpu Village of Quanzhou in China's Fujian Province. (Photo by Tan Yunfeng/VCG via Getty Images)

A drone view shows the Folkestone White Horse with a red nose that has been placed to make the landmark overlooking the town look like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ahead of Christmas, in Folkestone, Britain, on December 19, 2024. (Photo by Chris J. Ratcliffe/Reuters)