Canvas Hearts (now published so sample only)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Easels sat around the room and I noticed a huge range in age of the people behind them. There was an elderly woman, several middle aged people, and a few only slightly older than me. Nearly every face had an eagerness, except for me and Serena, who seemed well out of her depth.

The teacher must have been in her early twenties. Her funky clothes worked well with her spiked pink hair. The cute little nose ring appealed to me and I wondered if my parents would let me have one. She looked so cool. She knew me straight away when she grinned and gave me a thumbs up. There was this open air around her that made her approachable and refreshing. Gawd, now I made her sound like a drink.

"Everyone take an easel." She called out to the ones who still stood in an awkward manner, and that included me.

I went straight to the back of the room. Just in case my art epically sucked, I didn't want anyone to see the results. It sure surprised me when Serena followed me. She took the easel next to me. Maybe she wanted to gossip about Gabe.

"My name is Pips and I'm not a teacher. All I'm here to do is to guide your creative side that we all have within us." Our cool teacher introduced herself.

All I could think was that Pips was such a cool name, only adding to the absolute coolness of this woman. She kept talking and I realised she was exactly who I wanted to be. I wanted that 'my art is whatever I want it to be' attitude. She really was that awesome.

"Today's task," Pip's pulled a sheet off a bowl of fruit with a flourish and I wanted to groan. Then she winked at us. "Don't draw the bowl of fruit."

"What does that mean?" Serena stared between the bowl of fruit, Pip's and her empty canvas in horror.

"She's trying to get you to think outside of the box." I whispered back.

"That makes no sense." Serena wailed.

"Let me give you an idea."

I opened my sketch book to a blank page and stared at the fruit. Grabbing my favourite pencil, I started drawing only the shadows that I could see. Soon enough, I had a picture of the fruit and it's bowl but only through the shadows that stood out to me.

"How did you do that?" Serena's gaze focused on mine in awe before she turned to my drawing.

"I drew the shadows. Or you could look at the spots on the fruit or the different colours or the textures you can see." I gave her a few ideas but she stared at me perplexed.

"Is everything alright back here?" Pips approached us with a welcoming grin.

"I was just explaining to Serena how not to draw the fruit bowl." I shrugged and looked away.

"It's never a good idea to put such a master in my class," she looked like that was a joke but I wasn't sure. "Mildred was right about you."

"Sorry, but what?"

"I used to be a student in Mrs P's class too. I choked and do you know what she did for me?" Pips smiled in encouragement.

"Uh, no."

"She sent me to an art class," Pips tapped my sketch book. "Give me something unexpected on there and it doesn't have to have anything to do with the fruit." She pointed to the canvas in front of me.

Something unexpected was what she wanted but I wasn't sure if I could achieve such a feat. My eyes drifted back to Serena and I'd picked up my paints before I'd even realised.

She had such beautiful skin tone with that lovely caramel colour. Even with the frustrated look on her face, she had the most stunning features. Her eyes were a light brown but her dark hair seemed to have a reddish sheen. I'd love to know if that was natural or if she dyed it that colour.