The art is old, but I needed something coloured, and this presented the best possibilities. I was asked to provide the cover for a convention in Toronto. This meant a free membership, but that wasn't the reason for doing it -- the work involved was easily worth a thousand dollars (as far as I'm concerted), and a membership in most costs in under a hundred bucks. But it was a peer thing... or flattery, if you prefer to put it that way. Anyway, I rat sort of time, and after a week it became obvious that I wouldn't meet my deadline. I did a quick-and-dirty, anything goes job of the rest, but it turned out pretty good despite it. I may go back to the layered PDFs sometime, and finish it properly eventually. But, I wonder if it's worth the effort... the difference would be slight. An "escritoire" is a fancy French name for a writing desk, by the way. I did the original black and white artwork in 1996.