One day last October, I walked my regular route up and down the hills in my neighborhood enjoying the fall colors and the crisp, cool air.  Many homes were decorated for Halloween so there were lots of pumpkins on porches and cobwebs stretched across doorways.

As I passed one home, the lawn decorations caught my eye…..crawling out of the ground was this happy-go-lucky gentleman, his fingers clawing at  the grass as he laughed at me.  I smiled back and asked him to pose for a picture. I explained that I wanted to paint his portrait.  He didn’t object.  In fact, he even held his pose as I walked around him to get a good shot and even as I finally disappeared down the street and around the corner.

For some reason his happy demeanor begged for bright colors.  Once I got started, he was mesmerizing.  His bone structure, his pearly whites, that glint in his eye kept my brush moving around his head.  I thought dark hollows would be more appropriate but no…..he was on fire.

I have found that skulls are like chocolates.  I can’t paint just one. By the time, I got mid-way through Phosphorescence, I already had another drawing finished.  It’s so much fun to have a subject become so interesting that the ideas just keep coming.

It’s infectious.  One by one, these skulls have materialized.  I know their thoughts, amusements and intentions.  I’m excited about their futures.

I have one final skull in the works.  David Bowie just died in January.  I’ve enjoyed watching tributes to him by Lady Gaga, Madonna, Elton John and Jimmy Fallon.  And, so, my offering will be a paean to David Jones, Bowie and Ziggy Stardust.