The theme for this assignment was 'sandcastle.' While I was trying to think of something interesting to do with it, my mind hitched on the quote "Like sands through an hourglass, so are the days of our lives" ... which is what Socrates says in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. I've never watched Days of Our Lives.

 

Anyway, I like hourglasses. Hourglasses are cool.

The technical part of the assignment was to simulate drybrush and scumbling using brush textures in Photoshop.  It had a nice effect, I think.