A friendly ghost, drawn as a simple draped white sheet with two black oval eyes, curls up on an overstuffed couch with an open antique book. A thick cream chunky-knit blanket with long fringe spills across the couch and onto the floor, and a stack of worn hardcover books topped with a steaming mug sits beside the ghost.

On a dark wood side table, a lit pillar candle burns next to a cluster of small cream heirloom pumpkins. Candlelight is the only strong light in the dim room, pooling on the blanket and ghost against a near-black curtain, a faint framed picture and a shadowed bookshelf. Heavy impasto strokes and palette-knife texture, especially in the ropy knit, lend the gentle chiaroscuro a cozy, softly spooky autumn mood.