Page 38 of Second Chances at the Farm on Muddypuddle
‘The rest of them involve standing next to your chair,’ she explained, ‘but I don’t think you’re up for that.’ A giggle escaped her. ‘There is one exercise you’ve already mastered though…’
‘What’s that?’ Walter winced as he rubbed his shoulder.
‘Standing on one leg,’ she laughed. ‘It’s calledthe stork, but you’re supposed to alternate which leg you stand on.’
‘Very funny.’ He didn’t appear amused.
‘We’ll have another go tomorrow,’ she promised. ‘Ten minutes every day and you’ll be a new man.’
‘I’m quite partial to the old one,’ he said.
Funnily enough, so was Beth…
Painting and drawing weren’t Walter’s forte. He hardly knew one end of a pencil from another, and the only time he had held a paintbrush was when he’d been nagged into redecorating. But here was Beth, insisting that they give an art class a go.
She said, ‘You enjoyed Half Board.’
They’d been twice now, and Walter did enjoy it, especially since Stanley hadn’t shown his face last time. ‘I didn’t like bingo,’ he argued.
‘But at least you tried it. And you won a powder puff and mirror set.’
‘You may have noticed that I didn’t bring it home with me.’
‘You could have regifted it.’
‘I think it had been regifted too many times already.’
‘You’re probably right.’
Walter glared at her suspiciously. He wasn’t often right, and he wondered whether she was being sarcastic.
Once again, they headed for the heart of the village and the community centre. Walter was quietly impressed at how much went on inside the unassuming red-brick building. It was nothing to look at on the outside, being shabby and unappealing, but inside was an Aladdin’s cave of clubs and activities, this morning’s being an art class.
Walter wasn’t surprised to see some familiar faces as many of the same people tended to frequent the same clubs and classes. It seemed that the village had an active troop of enthusiastic pensioners, and it looked like he was going to be one of them if Beth had her way.
Several easels had been placed in a circle, around something that Walter could only describe as a chaise longue. He eyed it doubtfully, hoping he wasn’t expected to draw it, because it wasn’t particularly inspiring. He had been expecting a bowl of fruit, if he was honest. It was a nice shade of red though, so maybe the class was doing the colour red this week…? He wasn’t sure how these things worked.
A plump woman wearing a multi-coloured kaftan and lots of chunky jewellery spotted him and Beth hovering in the doorway, and she hurried forward.
‘Hello, hello, come on in, we don’t bite – not unless we’re drawing teeth, ha, ha! Welcome to Art for Art’s Sake. I’m Melanie, your teacher. Have you done much drawing or painting? Never mind if you haven’t – everyone has to start somewhere, and we’re a non-judgemental lot. Would you like to sit next to each other? Of course you would. What’s your name?’
‘Walter,’ he mumbled, wondering when the woman was going to draw breath.
‘Walter, you can sit here, and—?’
‘Beth,’ Beth supplied.
‘You can sit here. Did you bring an overall or a pinny? No? Not a problem, I’ve always got spares.’ She pointed to a box in the corner. ‘We’ll be working with pencil or charcoal today, whichever you prefer. The paper is already on your easel and so are the pencils. Any questions?’
Walter had one. ‘Are they red?’
Melanie blinked. ‘Er, no, they’re HB pencils. We’re not using coloured pencils today. Enjoy the session and shout out if you need any help. I’ll be doing the rounds anyway, to see how you’re getting on.’
‘I thought they’d be red,’ he muttered as he hobbled to his chair, thankful that he wasn’t expected to stand. He’d had visions of people pacing around in front of their easels and using the ends of their brushes to check angles and whatnot.
Beth hung her handbag over the back of her chair. ‘Why red?’
‘That chaise longue thing is red.’ He pursed his lips and lowered his voice. ‘It’s not very interesting, is it? I don’t know anything about drawing, but even I can see that with a couple of lines and a squiggle, it’ll be done. How long did you say the class was?’
