Page 105 of The Law of Attraction
“Yes. I do see that.”
“Good. Take this brush, and I want you to pick whichever of these colors feels right to you and put some paint on the brush. It doesn't take much, then start up here and sort of roll and flip your brush as you go.” He demonstrated the movement in the air. She echoed the motion.
“That’ll form soft color, but not in a line. It’s not about staying between the lines with a crayon. There will be white spaces between and that’s good. As we continue, you’ll see how the different colors will open up or deepen the sky. Going lighter as you get down to the bottom will give the image the illusion of distance.”
She sucked in a breath and tried it on the canvas, gently dabbing and rolling the wide brush like he’d shown her. “It doesn’t look like anything.”
“Keep going. Trust the process. Now, I’ll share a little insider tip. Sometimes, when I’m working on a sky like this, I’ll kind of squint as I do it.”
“Are you kidding me?” She flashed him some stink eye.
“No. I really do.” He took the brush, dabbed it into a more lavender blue, and then squinted and rolled the color up into the corner. “See?”
She mimicked his squint, giggling the whole time, then picked up a shade lighter and worked it into the board. “It’s actually kind of fun to do. Might not be good, but it’s fun. And you know, I thought you were kidding about the squinting, but itishelping. I guess it’s like when you do Christmas tree lights. I always have to squint to get the lights just right.”
“Exactly like that,” he said. “It allows the mind to see the open spaces.” He put two more brushes on the stand next to her. “You can use one of these for the lighter colors if that makes it easier to kind of get what you want.”
She worked for about ten minutes, moving the paint, adding some dark, changing to something a little lighter, squinting the whole time.
He refreshed her coffee and sipped from his travel mug while he watched. “You’re doing great.”
“I hate to admit this, but it’s really relaxing.” She stood back and adjusted the colors again, getting bold and dipping into the pinkish tone a little. It had seemed an odd shade to be used in a sky, but now she could see where it would open up the sky a bit.
“Nicely done,” he said.
“I’m getting the hang of it.”
“You are. Bravo.” He stepped in close behind her. “Here. Take this in your hand. It’s a dry brush, and we’re going to crisscross through everything you’ve done to blend it.”
She held the brush in her hand and made a broad stroke across the sky.
He placed his hand over hers, still standing behind her, and pulled in close to her body. Together they made small x’s across the canvas.
His shampoo, or maybe it was aftershave, wrapped around her. The closeness. The creativity. She didn’t want this moment to end.
“It’s beautiful.” He kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”
She turned into his arms, the paintbrush still in her hand. “Thank you.” She looked up into his face. “I never knew I wanted to do that.”
“I hope we experience a lot of firsts together.”
“Me too.” She had to pull herself together. Things were already moving super-fast, and today her heart soared. “What’s next?”
“I’ll work in the other stuff and show you when it’s done. Did you get the measurements?”
“Yes. I have them on my phone. Let me get them.” She walked into the other room and grabbed her phone from her purse. “Here you go.” Turning the phone toward him, he jotted the dimensions on the palette with paint.
“Got it. Let me know when we need to install so I can clear my calendar. It’ll come in a roll, and we’ll put it up sort of like wallpaper. Won’t take but a couple of hours.”
“That’s incredible.”
“Glad you thought of it, and thanks for letting me be a part of something so special.”
She nodded, wanting to tell him how special he was to her, but not knowing how to put it into the right words. “Thank you. You are so easy to be with. All this stuff over the past couple of weeks—my life is not usually full of drama.”
“You made it through without a scar.”
“I did, but you helped. This. You and me. It’s so good, and I’m anxious, incredibly excited about it all, but I want to be sure we take our own advice. Take our time, build a foundation.”
