“Alanzo and the Cactus Witch”

By Mark Rogers

The Cactus Witch lived in a little desert cottage just south of Dead Chapel in a land called the Southwestern Bellows. She wasn’t the most famous Witch or Wizard in the Southwestern Bellows--for there were many--but she was known for her cactus-based potions, poisons, and mystical drugs. It was said that the Cactus Witch had the feet of a bird. It was also said that she was on good terms with the Aliens.

Greetings Earthlings, at the time of writing this, I have been sober for over 6.5 years. Yay! The reason I wanted to share was that when I was thinking about quitting alcohol, I remember scouring the internet for articles about “being sober as an artist”, “sober painters”, or “how to be sober and still be an artist”. I wanted to know if other artists like me out there who quit drinking and how that affected their lives. So, I am writing this quick blog for my past self, and for any fellow artists out there considering sobriety.  

Greetings Earthlings, here is the first post in a series of posts dedicated to world-building the imaginary land where all of my paintings take place. All of the content about my imaginary world is either scribbled in my sketchbooks or typed out in scattered computer files, so this series of blog posts is an attempt to formalize the material. Eventually, I plan to compile all the posts into a single Wiki page on my website called “Stories”. In addition to the Southwestern Bellows World Compendium, it will also include the narratives from my past series of paintings and juicy details about recurring characters and….aliens.