The Painter

Brush strokes
start to colour
the page. Thick dabs
of paint fill the
negative space as
the image
takes
shape.

The paintbrush clatters against the glass jar,
the colour used last
forming whirlpools as the brush is
swirled until it’s clean.

A return to the palette, to choose the next shade.
Paint squeezed from tubes into disparate dots,
combined and mixed into something new:
careful ratios, unique hues.
A dash more blue, a touch more red,
then it’s back to the canvas.

Hands move more freely now, as the peace of the studio
infuses each sweep.
The perfect conditions for creativity.

What started with the painter exists no more –
a blank canvas, transformed.
What started small has grown to a much larger scale
and the painting reveals more than what meets the eye.

It’s the transfer of skills, the passing of time,
the cyclical nature of community life:
giving back to others, and confidence gained.
It’s working together, and sharing a space,
where every brush stroke, each colour and shade,
is a memory created –
a mark that’s been made.