Mount Etna has had a lot of activity this year, some of which is visible in YouTube videos. Etna erupts spectacularly and its blasts are harmless, as long as you aren't right at the crater. For thousands of years, Etna has been a tourist destination, and the villages around it are now resorts for winter skiers and summer vacationers.
Etna's eruptions remind me of one of my Great Unfinished Projects, my graphic novel THE FLAMING RAMPARTS. Set in my imaginary Noantri world, which closely resembles the Mediterranean and Sicily especially, it's the story of an alternate Etna monitored and ultimately challenged by a "volcano wizard" who wields modern scientific psi-magic. I have 43 pages but have not done anything on it for a long while, due to time constraints. Maybe I'll be able to do something with it after my Big Painting is finished.
Here is a single panel from RAMPARTS. "Akri" is a small resort town up on the slopes of Mount Aitna, the alternate Etna. This scene shows a restaurant family bringing in extra supplies in anticipation of a tourist and guest rush for the Winter Solstice Festival as well as another showy but non-destructive eruption at Aitna's summit. They've got kegs of wine as well as a box of multi-colored peppers (seen at lower right). As you can imagine, something unforeseen will happen. You may notice a dark, cone-shaped hill in the background behind the buildings...
Scene of Akri is ink and watercolor on Fabriano board, about 6" x 5", circa 2003.
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