Remember this gal? She's the unidentified disrupter who, about this time two years ago, interrupted the launch of the Commedia series. So, with a tip of the witch's hat, she's been appointed as the mascot for delayed starts and illogical titles. (Can you actually kick-start in neutral gear? Maybe – in old technology).
As I finished Summer Camp, at last dehydrated from looking at old sketchbooks, lessons, experimental techniques, I was taken with a formalized colour study I did years ago.
The objective was to place trade-name paints (my preferred Liquitex brand) in their proper places around the spectrum colour wheel, for which we can thank Newton. For me, colour is the all of painting – so now what to do with it, here in the midst of ripe autumn which offers both the brilliant and the subdued.
I wanted to start a series that would take me back to figures and faces – perhaps a little more expressive than those I was seeing around me.
Then, reorganizing some computer files, I came across my list of "Series and Singulars" – titles to remind me of ideas I wanted to pursue. There I'd noted "Spectral Creatures" -- YES! Not eerie, not creepy, like Henry Fuseli's – but a series of interesting figures/faces in which a single colour predominates.
Now it happened that my friend Y, a skilled photographic artist settled in recent years in Budapest, had been sending me both colour-drenched and colour-drained photos from her daily excursions. She was even among the half-dozen or more people I've talked with recently about "conkers" – ripened chestnut seeds. (It seems there are two types of people -- either conker-lovers or conker-haters).
These elements all came together to suggest the first in my series: Y with her characteristic light tan coat, flowing light hair, her camera – and the conkers! But what are the optics of starting my Spectral Creatures with neutral colours? Never mind. I enlisted an in-house model to hold the pose and got started.
(Yes, she is holding the camera cord in her mouth to keep it out of the way -- all in the interests of art!)
Picking up abandoned techniques from times past, I did some simple preliminary plans.
Then, on the prepared canvas board, I outlined the figure.
It didn't take many tube colours at all – and none are on the colour wheel. So…not exactly as originally planned, here's the final version: "Consider the Optics" (copyright 2025 , Spectral Series).
As I continue into a new painting year, I'm actively considering whether to reclaim or discard practices I once followed – like signing my work. Watch this spot for what's to come next – At the Sign of the Octopus, where no two are alike.
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