He manipulates space, the atmosphere filling
from corner to corner with cool gesso light
blank, without line or shape
but what was in his thoughts
was already there just waiting
for the application
of pencil and ink and paint.
He knew it was only a fine moment
between his imagination
and the sketch of basic forms
in precise alignment
of sight lines and perspective
of expression and how his whole body
moved with his arm and hand
and fingers drawing in sweeps
and familiar shapes filled
with petal soft grays and thin black lines.
It could be a portrait of the child he loves
or some fierce monster
that child sees in his dreams,
or a stark landscape with ruined buildings
or a sleek spaceship moving silently
past spinning constellations,
or robots pieced together
in some scrappy punk fashion
or some shiny chromium automatron
or a house or a tree or a flower
or maybe a red headed Hyrkanian in chainmail
or a super heroine at the moment her power explodes
from her raised fist in a fiery burst of flame.
Perhaps his heart beats a little faster as he finishes
not because he’s proud, but because he knows
it’s not as complete as he’d wished,
but there had to be a point past work in progress
that ended this process of design
when the tether that connected him
to his painting was snapped
it was no longer about what it cost him
he had to let it go for some arbitrary price
his tender creation had to be sold
into the slavery of someone else’s wall.

Judith A. Sears
©09/11/2019

Inspired by the art I am so fond of, for Dan and Joe and Dave and Jeff but mostly for Lex, who has a heart for my imagination. jas

Lex Cassar – @GDNaturedVLLN Twitter
Good Natured Villain (GNV) also gdnaturedvlln on Twitch

The following artists are co-hosts of the Original Drink and Draw Social Club
that meets most Thursday Nights on YouTube.

Dan Panosian – @urbanbarbarian Twitter
Joe Quesada – @JoeQuesada Twitter
Dave Johnson – @Devilpig666 Twitter
Jeff Johnson – @Johnsonverse Twitter