One of my favorite artists is Max Ernst. I particularly like the effects he achieved using decalcomania and frottage, and the way he would tranform random patterns into alien landscapes and creatures that were a part of their environment. He also did a series called "Microbes" which were tiny paintings using these techniques. For this painting I used decalcomania to create my own alien landscape-monster hybrid. This painting was not influenced by any one of Max's works in particular, but I am including two of his paintings below that illustrate what I'm talking about here: "They Have Slept Too Long in the Forest" and "Three Well-Tempered Cypresses."