Blank Canvas

Chapter 4 - 50/50

Chapter 4 - 50/50

About half an hour later, Julie excavated me from under the crowd of other kids to show me to my room.

"You seem popular already!" She commented with a smile, when she finally managed to get some of the younger kids to let me go. Honestly, I felt pretty overwhelmed by the whole situation, even though the kids were lovely - it was almost just still a bit too much.

Julie led me down another maze of corridors, before opening another of the identical doors. This door led into a big room, which was empty except for a pile of cardboard boxes, packed full of my things, piled in one corner. A set of double doors on the opposite side of the room led to a roomy wardrobe, and 3 shelves were attached to another wall. However, the thing that really caught my eye about the room was the bay window with a bench seat that framed a picturesque view of a huge chestnut tree in the garden. Apart from that, the room was almost clinically bare, with a sky blue colour adding a small splash of life to the room.

The artist in me sprang to life at the sight of all the blank walls, and I could almost smell the potential in the room. Art was the other passion that had kept me going in the hard times. In my flat that I had shared with my sister, there was barely a wall that I hadn't painted, theming each room to try and bring life into the place, therefore override the empty feeling in both me and my sister.

"Ok," said Julie, cutting through my thoughts. I had almost forgotten she was there. "This is your room, and if you need help with anything, do come and ask. I'll head down to the office now to give you some time to unpack and settle, but you know where to find me." With that, she turned, and pulled the door open again.

"There is one thing," I said quietly.

She span around again, her eyes lighting up with the possibility of being some use to me.

"And what is that?" She said softly.

"Is it alright if I paint the walls?" I guess that was a pretty odd question in hindsight, but it would be the perfect diversion for me today.

Her face lit up at my request. "Oh, do, go ahead, feel free!" She replied, giving me a beaming smile. "This room needs brightening up!" And with that, she left.

*****

The first thing I turned my attention to when Julie left was searching through the boxes to find my paints. Having located them in the very last box I looked in (typical...) I began to quickly sketch a rough plan on the walls, while quietly trying to remember the names of the children. Subconsciously, I started to murmur them under my breath along with their age. I often murmured while I did art, an odd habit of mine.

"Chloe, 6, Dylan, 10, Becca, 9, Robert, 14, Jess, 7, Jake, 7, Louis, 15, Poppy, 10, Peter, 12, Harriet, 17...." It was almost like a lucky mantra to conjure up art!

Finishing my sketch, I stepped back to look at it. I had decided to go with a nature theme, and I had sketched out a summer flower meadow mural, just like the meadow over the fence of my old back garden that me and my sister had played in when we were younger. I had used the already existing blue as a sky background, helpfully saving me some work, and had added the meadow  itself, with some detailed flowers close in the foreground, moving right back to tiny little flowers drawn as if they were far away on the horizon. The scene comforted me, and I knew it would make a great art project, providing distraction for a few hours.

Just as I was starting to think about colours, pulling paints out of the box and arranging them on the floor, I realised how much I actually needed the loo. I'm not kidding when I say I get lost in art and become blind to everything, including bodily needs...