Inachevé

Fifteen - Scapegoat

Peter Graham, the artist.

Benny Yellowood, the leader. 

Finn Hoyt, the listener.

Cherie Monaghan, the angel.

People question and wonder if they’ll be important or contribute something great to the world, not knowing that every day they influence someone. Whether they blessed them or cursed them; everyone has an impact on someone, regardless if they knew them forever or for only a moment. The names listed above are living examples of people who’ve changed lives. Indeed, they’re fictional, but as readers, we’ve met someone like Peter, Benny, Finn, or Cherie. And just like us, they were ordinary people who did extraordinary things.

For twenty-five year old Peter Graham, he inspired people through his artwork. With every brush stroke and every curve of a pencil’s tip, he brought life from the pages. His artwork had been successfully commissioned all over the world, including Australia, Norway, all over in Europe, and Canada. Peter had been an artist all his life, aspiring and creating every night after school or work since he was five years of age. He was an old soul in a boyish body. He never liked accolade or attention; he just liked knowing people enjoyed the artwork, not him.

Peter traveled to Europe at age fourteen to be the announcer at an art show as well as display his earliest work. One of his finest prints was a white horse in the snow. It was a stunning portrait and frighteningly realistic. It was so lifelike that after the show, a controversy broke out that the painting was really a photograph painted over, or, Peter never really painted it at all. In his defense, Peter gathered witnesses and had them watch him repaint the masterpiece over six straight months. And when he had finished, it looked exactly the same, but with one exception:  the eye. As the finishing touch, Peter purposely tweaked the horse’s eye to have a cheeky glint, challenging the viewers to doubt him a second time.  And of course, no one questioned his talent again.

Young Peter never took advantage of his fame. He would always thank his parents for taking good care of him and supporting him even when he was financially at risk, and he thanked his best friends, Benny and Finn, each who had advertised and supported his work since the beginning. Benny Yellowood was the same age as Peter and knew him since grammar school. He was high-spirited, structurally good-looking, laughed a lot, and enjoyed managing and organizing. He was the creator behind every art presentation and advertisements, whether they were casual or elaborate. And the thing that baffled Peter the most (as he was the opposite with time management) was that Benny loved doing it.

Finn, on the other hand, was more like Peter: reserved, fiercely intelligent, and sensitive. He was like Peter’s first mate, always being there to juggle ideas, exchange inspiring stories, or suggest changes for future paintings. Finn had a way of looking at a piece of artwork and explaining the meaning of it from various points of views until he had told the story the painter wanted to tell. Because of such a unique gift, Peter asked for his opinion and what he thought of a project in process, or a completed project. In a way, though Finn was three years younger than Peter, Peter looked to him as a mentor, relying on his maturity and artistic mind to improve his artwork. And each time, Finn would say one word that would change the entire painting, making it a gorgeous muse.

As Peter grew into a quiet, respectable, and humble gentleman, so did his artwork. He became a renowned artist in the Philippines, as well as England, the land of his birth.  People doted on his work, repeatedly telling him he was prodigy with a skill to take anyone’s mind and make them think. Peter could make a handful of pencil strokes and create an entire new world. Or, he could spend countless hours with one color in different shades and, with light areas there, dark areas here he would design a mind-turning maze. And then, he could mix mediums and splash them together to make a bizarre piece of abstract work. Indeed, Peter could take nothing and turn it into something.