The striped one is making good progress. I find it amazing how different kinds of light make this particular piece look so different. The first picture available earlier was under artificial light on a cloudy day. The second picture was in bright sunlight. This picture today is under the Ott light and had to be lightened, though the flash did not feel impelled to go off.

It's now about 13 inches wide and moving along smartly. The Ott light separates the colors and make the different ones look very stark, fading out the intervening blending shades. The previous picture is much more true to what I see in person. I'll try again on a sunny day.

The Wizard of London by Mercedes Lackey was a decent book and one I will buy eventually, but not as good as some others in this series. Possibly my disappointment in it stems from the fact that I read the short stories that were incorporated in it some years ago and skimmed through those parts rather hastily. That meant that my reading was somewhat jerky, which might be why I felt the book moved in fits and starts. It might not have been the book, just me. The best book in this series by Lackey is still The Serpent's Shadow or The Fire Rose, which latter book is set in the same fantasy world although not formally grouped with the more recent books. She's done a good job of retelling fairy tales within a particular world-view context and since I love fairy tales...