Timothy's Letter to His Muse, December Apparition

Timothy’s letter to his muse, an apparition, dated December 12, 1907, is found in his easel drawer. The following is the transcript of that letter.

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Lucy? You are the muse I’ve been searching to find. Do you remember me through the fog of forgetting? I was three years old the first time I saw you dancing in the Crooked Mile graveyard. It was 1885, only a few days after you passed. My neighbors told me you couldn’t be seen through death's veil. To provide them proof of your prescence, I took a pinhole photo with my *camera obscura. Then inked in your shape to a thin piece of vellum. Naysayers argued you never materialized, and they rambled on about my artistic talent and imagination. A precocious child who falls in love too young. "You were a muse who cursed me to remember forever that night," they said.
For years I avoided this graveyard. Even the deaths of my parents and two siblings did not lure me here. During the Six Years War when my fellow soldiers pulled out of their battle fatigues a lover’s picture, I pulled out my photo. The rendition of you pirouetting across through the tombstones was the beginning of my study of art. The figure in motion.
Today my less stuffy collectors call you an apparition. You remind them of a famous can-can dancer, Lucille, who performed nightly at the Drury Row Theater. The queen of burlesque, they assure me. So tonight I laid aside my dread and visited my parent's crypt. You arrived while I set down my flowers at their feet. Likely thinking the flowers are meant for your feat of appearing.
Have you been stuck in this dark and gloomy world all these years? A child I am no longer. I am 22. A grownup with responsibilities I never meant to bind me. I’m too busy to wait on an unpredictable you. A muse travels wherever an artists resides. An inspiration does not not plead with painters to save them. And yet you do.
Can you follow me? Harness my shadow while there is still moonlight. The theater is not where you once held court. It is a bit tawdry these days. But the audience is the sort who welcomes ghosts and other malcontents. I consider myself the latter most nights. I sneak into the balconies through the side doors, without buying a ticket and without being seen. If your bones are too rickety, I promise to carry up the shabby stairs. You can hide in the 3rd floor balcony curtains until the master of ceremonies calls out your act. By that time, late into the gloaming, no one will realize you are dead.

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Timothy's Lignon's Inspired Through a Pinhole Masterpiece 12/12/1907

Timothy's Lignon's Masterpiece by ROD w/Midjourney

Denouement

Timothy's only assurance Lucy followed him was a change in the temperature. A bone chilling shiver. That Saturday evening at midnight Timothy Lignon took his usual route to the Drury Row Theater. He snuck into a fifth floor balcony, took out his hand made camera obscura and watched his beloved through the pinhole's beam. No more beautiful had she ever been as she lfited her slips up over head and toe danced until the clock struck dawn.
What the struggling audience, smelling of cigars and rum, saw is the shaking of raggedy red velvet curtains. What they heard was the faint sound of Orpheus in the Underworld. They tried with difficulty to stand upright and listen. The clapping of their hands, an unintentional response, filled with theater with a beat that shook every sorrowful building on Row Street.

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Or if the dancer version is desired hail a cab and go here. Burlesque Show Dancer Version

Lucille Graves pirouetting across through the tombstones.

Lucille Graves seen through a Pinhole on the Drury Row Stage, Saturday at Midnight.

Lucille Graves Seen through a Pinhole by ROD w/Midjourney

Pinpointing Apparations and Other Uses for the *Camera Obscura

• Viewing Sun Eclipses.
• Studing the eye's anatomy.
• Confrim drawing and painting perspective.
• Experimenting with Photographing methods.
• Assuring your muse, ghost, human or otherwise, will follow you. Kept in a pocket for a rainy day

DIY Camera Obscura for Snapping Muses and Ghosts

Supplies: 10-12 inch wide box with top (that can be closed), scissors, black ichor pen, and black duct tape.

1. Open the box top.
2. Line and tape one inside wall side of the box with the white paper.
3. Directly across from the screen (other inside wall) punch/bore 2 pin size holes; one viewing hole larger than the other - large enough to see through.
4. Be sure you punch the holes far enough apart so that your head won't block the pinhole.
5. Be sure you punch the holes far enough apart so that your head won't block the pinhole.
6. Test your viewing. If the holes are not set correctly, tape the incorrect hole(s) and try again.
7. Cover the box with its lid and tape it shut with the duct tape. Be sure your box does not leak light through the edges or corners. Use more tape when necessary.
8. To use point the hole toward a bright subject in a dark room. The projection will be seen upside down on the screen (the white paper)
9. For best projection cover your camera and your head with a black cloth. Leave the pinhole uncovered. You will see a sharper image.

Lignon's Camera Obscura by ROD w/Midjourney