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"Phantom of Bayou des Mortes"

    In the winter of 1987, my wife and I were driving west from our then home in New England. To avoid icy weather, and because we had always wanted to see New Orleans, we chose a southern route, through the Carolinas, Mississippi and Louisiana. One afternoon, we decided to get off the interstate to see a little of the local countryside. Among the narrow roads lined with mossy trees and ramshackle villages we passed through, this old shack stood out for its forlorn, melancholy, haunted look. I liked the resulting photo, sure that it would someday result in a painting, but only recently did I pull it out with the intention of painting not just the scene, but the creepy way it made me feel.  I called forth memories of the strange feeling that prompted me to photograph it, combining look with emotion to express, in paint, its strangely haunted aura.
 
As the painting neared completion, something really weird happened...
 
While I was rinsing a brush, perhaps a bit too vigorously, a drop splashed from my water pot and landed on the blackness of the cabin's open doorway. Fearing that it would dissolve the pigment, I quickly blotted it.  But as I lifted the tissue away, I was startled at what was suddenly staring back at me from the blackness of the doorway! 

In the gloom of that sad old shack, I could see a ghostly pale face with tousled hair and furious expression! Was it my imagination?  You can barely see it in the above image. At any rate, I didn't dare remove or try to improve it. I merely lifted out the slightest suggestion of body and arms beneath that scary head, and left it (him?) there.
 
The "apparition" is clearly visible on the Large Format print, but is hardly visible on the Medium Format version.
 
What's happening in this painting? I invite you to decide for yourself. I did receive many interesting story suggestions in my recent "Name The Painting" contest, but it's always best to let you, the viewer. arrive at your own interpretation. Just be sure to note all the little clues I've included, including the shovel, the ghostly lights, the upstairs window.... And the title. Don't forget the title, which translates as "Bayou of the dead."
 
The Phantom of Bayou des Mortes has been meticulously scanned from my original watercolor and digitally printed with fade-resistant inks on specially treated heavyweight watercolor paper. I personally inspect your print, sign it, slip it into its protective clear plastic envelope, and include with it a page of helpful framing hints from The Haunted Studio.

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