-Ink drawings of fantasy and imagination decorate The House, 263 E. Lincoln Highway, this month.

These art pieces are the work of Paul Garza, a self-taught artist who resides in DeKalb. About 10 pieces have been displayed since Feb. 9 until March 28. This is Garza’s first show.

Garza, dressed in a long, velvet coat and wearing a broach and pendent, described his art as Victorian surrealism. He said he often incorporates images from his dreams.

He said he is inspired by Aubrey Beardsley, a 19th-century artist who worked with pen and ink and illustrated a lot of Oscar Wilde stories, as well as dollar bills.

“I like how the bills are detailed,” Garza said.

Much of his art contains dark and fanciful landscapes with stone buildings, trees, Japanese fighting fish and recurring characters, such as a lady with long, dark hair. Often he adds hidden images, like giving a group of plants the appearance of a face.

Garza sometimes integrates colored pencil, watercolors or white ink over black.

The self-trained artist started developing his Victorian surrealist style in 1999.

“My style started just with the romancing of a girl, and I realized that if I took that emotion and put it into something with a lot more effort, the emotion would be channeled more productively and effectively,” Garza said.

Garza said he usually works 60 to 80 hours a week on his art.

“I do it from waking to sleep,” Garza said. “I’m lucky that I can do it where I work. Actually, sometimes I stay up for three days straight working on my art — and not with drugs or caffeine either.”

Garza works as a third-shift security guard at the University Plaza.

In the future, Garza hopes to expand what he does but keep working in his current style. He would like to turn his pieces into stained glass, illustrate stories or create his own books.

“You can do a lot of different things with just one concept in your head,” Garza said.