Fridays are a cursed day, a day of broken promises. At least twice now during the R.I.P. II Challenge I have promised intriguing contests with exciting prizes to be revealed on a Friday and have not kept my word. And, as if you hadn’t noticed, my Friday Favorites art posts have been absent for some time now. Fridays just aren’t good…or rather, Thursday night is not good. Awhile back I switched nights on my part-time job and I work late on Thursdays, thus cutting in to my usual work time for my Friday posts. Unfortunately I am feeling my age and staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning working on Friday Favorite posts just isn’t cutting it. Thus, despite the rain pouring down and the Bangles’ song Manic Monday roaring in my head, today is Friday. Ignore your calendars, I am right. Today is Friday. And since it is Friday, I have another exciting R.I.P. related contest to tempt you:

Something Sinister

Something Sinister is not a Stainless Steel Droppings contest, but it is an idea inspired by the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril II Challenge and it is the brainchild of Suzanne from Thus Says Suzanne. As such I have chosen to sponser it, make it part of the fun R.I.P. II activities, and offer a prize for the winner. So, dust off those cameras, put your sinister thinking caps on, and come with me.

(An example of a sinister photo by Suzanne. Click picture for larger version)

The contest is really quite simple:

Put together a photo of something sinister and email it to me at cvincent68@comcast.net

Other rules:

1. You may manipulate the photograph regarding color, size, cropping, etc. (any of the varied and sundry things one can do with Photoshop and other photomanipulation programs). However, you don’t have to. You can simply email me a copy of your photo as is.

2. You may not do any type of photo montage/collage entry. This has to be something that you set up and photograph, no taking 2 or more photographs and layering them together to create an image. Why? Well, this contest is about simplicity and creativity, not about one’s skills, or lack thereof, with computer photo editing equipment. This contest is more about composition and the spark of creativity than it is about skill with the camera and photo editing.

3. It has to be something sinister, which is open to a wide variety of interpretation. Take the idea and run with it. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

4. Photos must be submitted to me by email (or you may email me for my address if you wish to snail mail it) by midnight on October 31st: All Hallow’s Eve!

*Update* Rule 5: You may enter more than once. In fact, multiple entries are encouraged!!!

(An example of a sinister photo by Mosker. Click on the picture for a larger version)

The contest will be judged by Suzanne, our contest creator, and by her sister and fellow collaborator, Mosker with moderation/tie-break responsibilities falling to yours truly if need be.

Here it is folks, a chance to exercise that creepy creativity that the month of October generates. I do hope you will join in.

Oh, and did I say something about prizes? Okay. Grim, tell the nice people what they could win:

The Grand Prize Winner will receive the following Sinister prizes:

-a set of cards featuring the image used for the R.I.P. II banner, the image of Suzanne’s sinister shovel picture (featured above), and one featuring your winning image!!!

-a Little Pink Poppet, the creation of Lisa Snellings-Clark. This one is a bit different from the previous Little Pink offering in that, in the dark, it lets off a sinister glow!

-a 2008 wall calendar featuring the amazingly sinister photography of Simon Marsden. The great thing about these calendars is that they not only feature Marsden’s incredible photography, but they also include the true myths and legends about the haunted locales that he photographs. I have been given a Marsden calendar in the past and let me tell you, they are tres cool.

-A rare, limited edition R.I.P. II Challenge bookmark created by Lisa Snellings-Clark and her studio partner in crime, Ravyn. I received a handful of these over the weekend that will be finding their way into R.I.P. II related posts during the rest of this month and believe me, they are even neater than they look in the picture. And, when the lights go out, something sinister happens to the little disembodied hand that accompanies your bookmark…

Those alone are amazing prizes, but I have a feeling a few more sinister/picture-related items may find their way into this prize pack before all is said and done.

Don’t delay, get those sinister pictures coming my way!!!

Happy Monday…er Friday…everyone!