A large pastel/pencil composition of exceptional formal richness — one of the most complex single works in terms of the variety of systems operating simultaneously. The composition is organized around four major elements distributed across the picture field, each one a different approach to the enclosed or bounded form.
At left, a large squared form with rounded corners, its interior traced with many parallel contour lines that follow the outer shape inward — a concentric square that gradually transforms into an oval as it approaches the center. This is the geode/portal vocabulary applied to a rectangular form rather than an organic one — the same patience and the same inward movement.
At center-right, a large black-outlined irregular form contains a teal spiral in its lower half — a direct reference to the Eye of Everything vocabulary, the spiral embedded within a containing shape. At lower right, a smaller form shows concentric outlines in pink and blue. At lower left, an independent circle with concentric rings floats apart from the main composition.
Cross-cutting the composition, thin colored lines in red, green, blue, orange radiate from an approximate center — the same line-system that appeared in the Labyrinth (577) crossing through the organic forms.
The signature "S. Cothran" appears written in green at upper left — reversed, as if reflected, or simply written from the underside of the paper during composition.
This is a notebook of formal investigations: many of Sidney's central preoccupations — concentric forms, spirals, radiating lines, geode interiors — gathered on one sheet.