On frigid autumn nights around a bonfire of fallen leaves, when the moon is rising in the East as a frost wind howls from the North-West and sparks rush upward from the flames to eddie and swirl before being swept away starward, when it seems that all is changing and dying around us and our thoughts turn to what we have lost even as we tally our harvests, when All Hallows Eve draws near but a few impatient lost souls have already slipped across the misty River Styx to stalk and lurk and mischief in the realm of the living, it is easy for our imaginations to percieve shapes in the twirling and dancing flames that our rational minds claim cannot exist. Many a macabre vision has paraded before me in the roaring inferno on such nights, but my favorites are what I see later in the waning wisps, when the coals and embers seem to outshine the fire, when it seems the gate to the other realm is below the glowing coals and I can watch the phantasms struggle to break through. I sit mesmorized by the play of color and light and spy a strange horse struggle to make the leap and charge for freedom. He must have been a fine courser in his living day, perhaps a Spanish stallion bred by the Carthusian monks of Iberia to venture across the Atlantic and carry a proud conquistador into a world glimmering with the promise of gold hoards. He is still burning with brio as he springs from the char. My heart skips, and for a moment I wonder if what I see is real or another trick of the fire; I quell my doubts in favor of magic, choosing to believe in the impossible if only until the last ember turns cold and black. It is the season for such things. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This was a fun experiment. I have never done anything even remotely like this before. If you look closely, you will see that it is indeed a single horse composed of interweaving lines and shapes. I superimposed two strides on top of eachother to enhance the sense of frenetic freedom. It is an amusing abstraction, a novelty departure from my typical forrays into equine art, and stretched both sides of the brain; the logical left that governs lines and rigidity was forced to bend to the fancy and fluidity of the right. This was clearly inspired by the unique works of Manuel Bennett, but the style is entirely my own. The line art was done entirely by hand with mechanical pencil on Bristol board. The image was digitally enhanced to add color and texture during the scan. Oct. 2, 2004