Digital Pentimento

The illlusion created by a "slow" dial up became a delight this morning. I returned to the site of Chinese art and opened the painting by Wudaozi. It unveiled itself by stages. First as a dim image of needlelike threads, then a sepia background of faces, all female. As the digital bits filled, dark lines demarcated detail; the scene emerged as if from an electric bath. By progression of time, the pentimento was revealed from the inside out rather than its opposite. Ancient brush strokes darkened, took form, the original wash appeared and a painting was recreated before my eyes: a musical, tempetuous, swirling parade.