Free Write Friday!
It's that time of week again! Free Write Friday! This week Kellie gives us the following image, and asks us to tell the story. Hope you guys enjoy my attempt! The prompt:
The attempt:
Everyone always wants to know the story behind this painting. They always want to know my inspiration, because after all there must be some connection between artist and the art no? I guess I could tell you though, since you asked politely that is.
When I was younger my dad used to pull me up into his lap for story time before bed every night. I couldn't have been more than six years old when he'd told me the story that first brought this world painted here to life. He said "Son, close your eyes, and get ready for the adventure." Looking back on it now the story was mediocre at best, but back then I wouldn't have doubted it's debut at #1 for a second. Anyways, so the story was about a young girl, I believe her name was pip, yeah that's right Pip. Pip lived in a different time than I did, back in a time where humans didn't have the rights to land they do now. In Pips world you had to fight for your place and if you didn't fight smart you didn't have a home. Dad always said I was a lot like Pip because she was tough and didn't take crap from anyone, I thought he was insane for comparing me to a girl...ew. One night Pip was walking through the wooded area not far from where she'd last settled, it was dark out but she had a small glass jar filled with fireflies to light the way. She'd been out searching for food but had come up rather empty handed and her empty belly did not appreciate it. Tired and hungry, young Pip began to daydream with each step she took, back to a time when she didn't have to hunt alone or spend her days silent from lack of ears to listen. Lost inside her memories she had not noticed that she'd wandered into a clearing until it was too late. She had come too far and now she wasn't even sure which direction she'd come from. The fog that had earlier made it difficult to see was clearing and with the light from the moon she was able to make out her surroundings. It was a beautiful clearing, a small body of water lay just steps ahead of her. Pip could hear the wildlife around her stirring, unsettled by her presence and she was afraid to move. She wanted to wait until her eyes adjusted completely to make out what she was dealing with. The water began to ripple lightly and on the other side of it she could make out small creatures that humans called the hybrids. She knew she was in trouble because hybrids were very vicious. It was not known by humans what exactly the hybrids were, just that they had a lot of human characteristics with none of our table manners. High up on a large rock stood a tiger, he seemed to be very in control of this piece of land. From the looks of it, this had formerly been an area that housed animals because beside the large tiger was a broken cage. Pip was afraid, she wasn't sure if she should run or not.
That moment is what this painting stems from. I won't bore you with the details of what happens with the rest of Pip's story, just know that even now, over twenty years after first hearing this tale, the image of it all is still vivid in my memory. Plus, it's been so long I can't actually remember how it ends. I don't know that when my children are six that I'll put them to sleep with tigers and hybrid life forms, but I do know that I'll paint them vivid pictures the way my father did for me in hopes that when they're my age they will remember those times. So there's your answer, that is what inspired this painting, from the imagination of a six year old to the wall of this museum. Next question please.
So that was it for this weeks FWF. Hope you guys enjoyed the story, I don't know that I put as much time into as I could BUT it is called free write and I wrote freely what came to mind and ended it when my mind said so. Make sure you check out the lovely Kellie Elmore's blog for more awesomeness!