Getting Perspective

 

August 28, 2017

Dylan is watching me do an oil painting as I sit at an easel and struggle with a landscape   I’m attempting from the rear garden at Mr. Hill and Mrs. Hill’s house.  Not only are the Hills the owners of the Muir Grove Sun Academy, but Mr. and Mrs. Hills live at the club full time in a beautiful stone house with amazing gardens that look down over the lake.

The Hills allowed me to do the landscape painting on their terrace, and they also allowed Dylan to accompany me, even though he was wearing clothes.  Mr. Hills was very pleased that I had been spending time with Dylan and told me I was a very thoughtful and caring person.  I pushed the paint around on the canvas, my arms oily from the paints and linseed oil.

“The cloud over to the left looks a little funny”  Dylan quips.

“You try painting with this stuff.”  I complain.  “It’s like pushing mud around.”

“Don’t get so defensive Val,” he pats me on the shoulder, “you’re still killing it with that landscape.  For someone who has barely ever touched oil paints, you really know how to lay it on.”

“How come you didn’t want to grab a canvass and try?”  I asked him.

“I don’t know” he shrugs. “I guess I’m not like you, I can’t just dive in and immerse myself like you do.  I guess I need to be a spectator for a much longer time before I try something new.”