Chapter 4

In scene 4 he doesn’t know what to paint and how to paint. He tried to replicate the sunset he saw from the goldfinch student

With new inspiration and purpose, Mokhoddis walked home with a pep in his step to give painting a try. Mokhoddis quickly dashed upstairs, threw his bag on the ground, and grabbed a paintbrush. “Time to show them just what I’m capable of.” Mokhoddis giggles to himself.

He saw a symbolic painting with literal landscapes but couldn't replicate it no matter how hard he tried. With each iteration of his painting, the proportions were off, his landscape felt flat, and his sunset looked more like a nuclear explosion.

“This is stupid! Why can’t I draw what I see in my mind? Why can’t it be more like an arcade game? A simple cold calculated move of the joystick to defeat an upcoming boss.” He looked up at the ceiling in bewilderment. The scene of sunset came into his head, all the colors flowing together in a harmony.

“Hmmm . . . what if I put this stroke here, then it looks like this so if I put a smaller brush stroke there. . . and if I put that over there.” Mokhoddis lay in his bed with a canvas out, paint splattered all over it. “Ahh, I got it. I need more yellow and orange for the sunset.” Mokhoddis dipped and swirled his brush. Then he made his calculated strokes. “Huh, not too bad… maybe?”

At the same time Rubina strolled down her neighborhood taking a moment to admire every bit and piece that helped shape it. “This flower garden out in the middle of this empty lot, It’s abandoned with no owner and yet, these flowers seem to flourish all year long without anybody coming out to take credit.” She walked closer to the flowers in an attempt to smell them, but before she could.

“Hey!”

A voice startled her and she fell flat on her butt. “Grrr.” Rubina whispered “You know it’s not like a gentleman to sneak up on a lady like that!” Rubina stated with a stern voice as she got up and wiped her skirt.

“Sorry, I was just walking and saw you.” Phet replied. “Anyways whatcha doing?”

“I'm clearing my mind, don’t tell Mokhoddis but I am struggling with my painting. A part of me thinks he was right about what he said. But the rest of me knows for sure that he’s dead wrong.” Rubina said with a solemn look. “Come, why don’t we walk together? I could use the company.”

“Sure! Where do you want to go?”

“Not too sure, let’s just walk around the town. Maybe stop by the arcade, knowing Mokhoddis he’s probably still there trying to beat his high score.”

Mokhoddis held the canvas in the air, paint dripping all over it. Strokes of orange and yellow, all straight lines. They surrounded a blue rectangular shape in the center. This was Mokhoddis’s attempt to recreate the painting he had seen earlier. “Ahh, it just doesn’t look the same.” He scratched his head in frustration, his smile quickly fading. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I can’t get these nice curved lines and these realistic shadows. I don’t even know where to start. There is no start or set formula to build off of.” He looked at his painting once more as the sunlight shone through his window as if the universe was mocking his poor attempt at capturing the essence of life.

“I should have never given this stupid activity a try. I… really hate painting.” Mokhoddis narrowed his eyes, threw his canvas on the floor, and walked away. In times of frustration, which is a lot of the time, there is only one place that would calm Mokhoddis.