code: public static BufferedImage createErrorImage (int width, int height)
      {
          BufferedImage img = new BufferedImage(width, height, BufferedImage.TYPE_BYTE_INDEXED);
          Graphics2D g = (Graphics2D)img.getGraphics();
          g.setColor(Color.red);
          Label l = new Label("Error");
          l.layout(g);
          Dimension d = l.getSize();
          // fill that sucker with errors
          for (int yy = 0; yy < height; yy += d.height) {
              for (int xx = 0; xx < width; xx += (d.width+5)) {
                  l.render(g, xx, yy);
              }
          }
          g.dispose();
          return img;
      }
docs: Creates an image with the word "Error" written in it.