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 thirsty timber wolf, Lithuania, 2018. (Photo by Erikas Plucas/Alamy Stock Photo)

A fox stands along a street in the Central London, Wednesday, March. 1, 2023. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

A drone view of fishermen unloading fish caught in a net during the sardine run in Scottburgh, South Africa, on June 12, 2024. (Photo by Rogan Ward/Reuters)