The Painter

Twenty 24

Blessed are the weird people- poets, misfits, writers, mystics, painters, troubadours- for they teach us to see the world through different eyes. ~ Jacob Nordby

~O~

It was easy for Edward to sit back and watch Bella as she painted and get lost in her and her art. She was beautiful in her element. She positively glowed with happiness and it radiating off of her as she carefully dipped the brush into the paint. Edward watched as Bella seemed to take little care of what she was doing. Little dabs of color were randomly applied to the canvas at her will without rhyme or reason.

But shapes turned into objects highlighted and shadowed.

"Paint, Edward." Bella reprimanded, teasingly after several minutes of being watched. "We don't have all night here." She gave him a side eye, secretly loving his attentions.

"We could if you wanted to." Edward chuckled, enjoying the shocked blush coloring her face. "I am teasing, of course." He finally dipped into the paint before he dabbed the canvas.

"Of course."

"There I painted." He chuckled as she twisted to see and then glared at the small blob of brown paint. Bella turned to look and frowned. It was a smudge.

He accomplished a smudge.

"I can see that." She smirked. "Looks just like me, a dollop of brown."

"I didn't know I was supposed to paint you," his voice teasing. "But you're right. I managed to capture the back of your head perfectly."

Bella giggled as she shook her head, painting a lot of random green paints over the avocado skin shade.

"Give me a lesson?" He asked with a smile and loved to see her blush as she nodded.

"Okay, I can try but I've never given a lesson before." Bella sighed as Edward pulled his chair closer to her.

"I'm a good student, teacher." He teased and she smiled.

"Well, everyone paints differently. Some like to plot it all out in a grid which is good for scenes and for portraits, I like to do what I want. Today, since we're plein air painting, painting outside, we're going to wing it. To start, think of what you want to capture in your painting. Is it a plant, the sky, the boiling sea… or that flower over there? We can use that flower as an example. See what colors the flower has first."

"It's white and pink." Edward grinned.

"Well, not many things are actually fully white. What are the shadow colors in the white? Greys, purples, blues, greens… there is a large array of colors. You have to think in layers- the last layer is the focal point- that is the part it's the lightest- the bright titanium white. You need to see the shape of the flower- the petals are ovals, yes. But there are some that curve and are triangular or even square. Some people draw things out a bit so they know or visualize what goes w here. That's gesture painting, like in drawing. I like do wing it." She giggled.

"Wing it- got it." He grinned and she beamed back at him before turned back to the lesson.

"Well, I tend to rebel from myself when I overly plan the paintings. I tend to get frustrated or annoyed when I try to fight the painting, so flow is good."

"Wing it, go with the flow."

"Edward," she laughed again but then continued. "Alright, look forward and start with the first color you see. It's usually the darkest. Let's start with these leaves since they are the background to everything around us. See these leaves? They aren't just green. They are avocado skin, but then as the light hits it and its verdant, then jade, lime and sea foam- where the light is the brightest is almost baby blue. But going back, that darkest color is the first layer and it's entirely avocado- almost a black olive in spots. Then you will do the next layer of the leaf- verdant, where you see the color. You paint the leaf's layers until you get to the lightest highlight of cream or even white. You can blend the colors and if it isn't right, you can decide if you like it as it is or you can change it. "

Edward looked at the leaves, seeing all the variations of color in just one leaf. He never even thought to notice it.

How many times did he run through the forest and never notice the thousands of shades of greens and blues and browns, reds, golds, etc. Everything was a mirage of colors no one cared to really see.

"So you have your leaves all pretty, but look underneath and see that there's darkness there- something eerie and magical. A mystery to be solved. You paint that, too. With everything- there is darkness and a light, it just depends on how we want to see it. Well, or so I think." Bella shrugged as if her words didn't matter. Like she didn't matter but in that moment she was the only thing that mattered because she saw the world differently than anyone he's ever met in his entire existence.

"I don't think we're talking about painting anymore." Edward breathed, moving closer to Bella's soft, pink lips. "I think you are talking about me."

Her breath hitched. "What if I was talking about me?" She countered, watching his eyes dance between the both of hers.

She was too busy berating herself that she interrupted what was probably going to be a kiss that she didn't really hear his words.

"Maybe I was," he smirked, pulling away. "But I wasn't. There's nothing obscure about you, Bella. If anything, you are the light- the brightest focal point in my eyes."

"Oh." Bella's eyes grew wider but she didn't know what to say.

"So what else?" Edward sighed, running his hands through his hair, wishing he could read her mind. She seemed to be a little lost for a moment.

Regrouping, her thoughts a bit scattered, Bella looked at her painting, gesturing wildly with her hand. "Um, well, where were we? I guess you just paint what you feel, so if you're upset it'll come out in your painting. Colors become feelings-"

"Or people?" He asked, knowing he was right about that.

"Yes, sometimes." She blushed.

"I suspect that I am your green," Edward beamed.

"You do have both light and dark about you, so I would probably have to agree." She smirked as his grin faltered for a moment.

"I thought it was my eyes." He chuckled watching the light dance in her eyes.

"You never know," Bella whispered as her face heated up. He was so close and moving closer.

"Tell me more," He moved forward, stealing a kiss on her parted lips as one peck and then two, leading to more before he reluctantly pulled away. "I want to get inside your head." Another kiss. "Tell me how you see things…" Kiss deepened as he cupped her cheek, holding hers to his mouth as he whispered, "Let me in; tell me how you paint."

Edward pulled away, leaving Bella a bit stunned. But after several moments she smiled and started to explain the best she could. "You paint what you feel and it becomes a part of you so you have to be careful of your frame of mind since it changes what you would create or paint as you're feeling intensely. That's how so many get lost in their art. They don't want to stop. They want to stay in that euphoric moment, that sad moment, that intense moment, and the like.

"How do you do that?"

Bella tilted her head, considering his words. "For me? It's like a meditative state, with whatever I am feeling."

"Meditating anger or sadness?"

"Maybe channeling is a better word?" She frowned, eyebrows knit together in thought. "Can I try with you? To show you?"

"Edward nodded, sitting back in his seat.

"Okay," Bella released a long breath out. "Stop for a second and close your eyes." Bella watched as Edward closed his eyes, relaxing his hands on his lap, drawing her attention there, before she diverted her eyes. She was glad he couldn't see her or know she had taken a glance. Her emotions seemed to be everywhere and she needed to take several breaths in and out to calm and center herself before she continued. "What do you hear around you? You don't have to answer me, just concentrate on that noise and figure out its sounds."

She let several moments pass.

"What colors are those sounds? What feelings do you have as you listen? Put those colors and sounds on the canvas, Edward. Each color. Are you a raging river cutting your rainbow stone confines? Are you serine and lazy, lapping the blackened river rocks? Are you a glacier unyieldingly cutting over the Earth?"

Bella could see that Edward was completely relaxed but his eyes darted under his eyelids seemingly seeing unknown things.

"It's all up to you. You can be a tinkling water fountain or summer rain. You are right there in your painting, whatever it is."

Edward exhaled, eyes fluttering open as he righted himself.

"That is some kind of visualization enchantment?" he chuckled as he pulled his fingers through his hair.

Bella shrugged. "So, would you still say if a smudge makes a statement about you and what what would it be? How does it define you? Describe you? Become you?"

"A Waterfall." He whispered.

"Because that's how you are seen in the world in this moment." She whispered, "An unstoppable force of nature."

"You have no idea." He whispered and she smiled.

They both picked up their brushes and added paint. Both brought the paint to the canvas with a new set of understanding and purpose.

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A/N: Went on a surprise date with the husband and tinted my hair blue. Tonight we're going to the neighborhood wine night. So this will be the only update tonight. :D Have a great night!