Fine Line

25. Does your mind play this game too?

Billie

"I'm an art teacher and I still don't understand some of the things artists put on the canvas." I say as Dakota and I stop at this one painting on the wall. It's just a medium sized canvas with red, black, white, yellow, green, and orange splattered all over the canvas.

"Maybe they wanna be like Jackson Pollock." Dakota says with a shrug of her shoulders, making me laugh slightly. I stare at the painting longer as get to thinking. What if a painter just loses their spark and has jumbled thoughts about what to paint? Maybe they are just expressing what they are thinking in that moment, clusters.

"Does your mind play this game too?" I ask without taking my eyes off of the painting.

"Hmm?" She asks and I motion to the painting.

"Does your mind just become a jumble of thoughts and you lose inspiration for something to paint?" I ask and she sighs, shoving her hands into the pockets of her slacks.

"Sometimes. But I always think of something to put on the canvas. Nothing is off limits when it comes to art." She says and I look up at her as she looks over the painting. I nod my head and she looks down at me, smiling slightly.

"Wanna keep going?" She asks and I nod. We continue to walk through the gallary, stopping at various paintings to admire their beauty, but one inparticualr catches my eye. It's of a thunderstorm. The clouds are dark grey, surrounding the wheat field where a person is standing. By the silhouette, you can't tell if it's a man or woman. There is very little light in the gloomy sky since a bright purple and white lighting bolt shoots from the clouds and ripples through the sky.

"Wow." I say, taking in the art work.

"You like it?" I hear Dakota ask from beside me and I look up at her. She is also admiring the painting.

"Yes, it's gorgeous." I say, looking back at the painting. I might be so captivated by it because the grey, gloomy skies kind of remind of Dakotas' eyes. Her eyes are dark blue, mixed with grey that mix into a beautiful color like this painting shows. I look down at the plaque with the name of the painting on it.

Beautiful Chaos

Perfect name. I smile slightly and slightly nudge Dakota for us to keep going. We almost make it to the end but then the runners of the exhibition call for people to start bidding. Everyone takes out their numbers for the bidding and we all stand around the stage. They start with the first piece of the night and start bidding.

About an hour later, they bring up Beautiful Chaos and lean it against the painting frame. I'm kind of sad that it's going to be sold, that's how much I loved it.

"Next up is Beautiful Chaos by Richard Devermond. We'll start the bidding at $20,000." He says and in the blink of an eye, Dakota holds up her number.

"We got 20 do I hear 25?" The man asks and someone else raises their number.

"25, 30?" He asks and Dakota raises her number again. I look over at her and nudge her arm.

"Dakota what are you doing?" I ask and she looks down at me.

"I'm buying the painting." She says nonchalantly.

"How about 40?" The man asks and Dakota raises her number in the air. Her and the other person go back and forth for a while until the man bidding get's to $250,000.

"Do I hear 255? Going once, going twice, sold to number 185!" He says and Dakota nods, turning to me.

"You ready to go?" She asks and my brows furrow.