Work Text:
What is it with dark days that make the artists’ imagination fly? Is it the longing for the sun back? The implicit atmosphere of sadness? The chance to finally look up and see something different?
Whatever it is, dark days make artists go mad on inspiration. All artists, except April.
“I have a feeling this is going to be left unfinished amongst my other tries of actually doing something other than just stare at you while you work.”
Emma turned around from her sculptor desk. “You are kidding me.”
“Please, look at it.” April took two steps back from her half painted canvas. “It’s…just so… agh.”
“You shouldn’t give up on things so easily, April.” Emma looked at the canvas and then turned back to her work. “You are better at this than you think.”
“Your sculpture looks so right in comparison.” She stared at it for a moment. “What are you making exactly?”
“It’s some short of…water dragon, I don’t know. It came to me in a dream, I think.”
“You think?”
“I can’t remember at all.” Emma smirked.
“Whatever it was, I’ll have two.” April sat back in front of the easel, removing the colours at her palette, mixing green and white to get a brighter green and do the light reflected on the mountains in the background of her painting.
“You know what you need? To stop forcing yourself in here every day and go out and search for inspiration outside.” Emma left the desk and walked towards April again. “See, how are you going to paint mountains and lakes and cascades if the only grass you ever see is in the little park in front of the academy?”
“Oh yes, because Venice is famous for its natural environment.”
“A change of airs is what you need, young lady. I’m almost finished and it looks like you’re not going any further than putting that weird greeny mix in there, do you wanna go to the bar with me?”
April looked at the painting and sighed. “Sure. Let me put the greeny mix and I’ll see you downstairs.”
Emma left a while after. When April was finally alone and the weird green mix was almost all extended she had a brief moment. A brief epiphany. She closed her eyes and just... saw it. And it felt so real, so near.
Suddenly she knew what to paint after the mountains, she knew. Just like that. The sensation left by the sudden idea was as strange as inspirational lapsus get.
April made a few touches with her pencil and left the palette and the brushes, her mind filled with crazy fantasies, dragons, white dragons, with big white nests and dying trees besides them. Perhaps too sudden to be so sure about drawing it, but it was just what she needed. She hadn’t plan on doing anything fantasy-like, but…
The whims of dark cloudy days.