‘I thought
about a public relations type role. You know, just talking to the customers,
showing people through the gallery, that sort of thing. It’s only a small space
and they won’t be expecting hosts of visitors. What do you say?’
‘I think I
might enjoy that,’ Nanna said, sounding brighter. ‘When would you need me?’
‘The exhibition
isn’t for another three weeks yet so you’d have plenty of time to brush up on
your knowledge of art.’
‘Which is
practically nothing,’ Nanna said and laughed.
‘Never mind,’ Fleur
responded, ‘a lot of people don’t understand art and those of us that do have
different interpretations. It’s all very individual. I’m sure you’ll do just
fine.’
Jessie found
it too hard to concentrate on her own thoughts with the conversation going on
in the front seat of the car. Finally she said, ‘You should do it, Nanna,
I wish
I
was going to be here for it.’
‘I don’t,’
muttered Harmony, ‘I’ve seen it
all
before.’
‘Well, Jessie,
since it’s on a weekend,’ Nanna said, ignoring Harmony’s comment, ‘Perhaps
Sarah could drive you down and the two of you could come to the exhibition.
Fleur, could we take a look at the gallery this morning, and I’ll pick up my
groceries on the way home?’
‘Of course.’
‘That’d be
great!’ said Jessie.
Fleur parked the car
behind a small rounded building that had a big sign GALLERY over the door.
Inside the full length windows Jessie could see all sorts of colourful pottery
vases and teapots and as they entered the front door a bell chimed.
A lady wearing
a ‘Nancy’ name badge came up to them and smiled. Fleur spoke to her as if they
were friends and introduced Harmony and then Nanna and Jessie.
‘Is Michael
here yet?’ Fleur asked.
‘Yes, he’s in
the back. Just go through.’
Jessie and Harmony
wandered through some metal sculptures, trying to guess what each one was.
Nanna was way behind, studying some colourful glassware as the girls found
their way to the paintings.
There were all
sorts of paintings in here, some were landscapes that looked exactly like the
countryside around Nanna’s and Jessie thought she understood them quite well.
But others were portraits of people or still objects like fruit and flowers,
and still others were more like Fleur’s - bright colours but a little difficult
to identify.
‘Do you like
any
art?’ Jessie said to Harmony.
‘Mum’s is okay
I guess. But like she said in the car, we each have different ideas about it.’
‘Do you like
our paintings, girls?’ Nancy asked as she came up behind her.
‘Some of
them,’ Jessie replied, ‘but some I don’t really understand.’
Nancy smiled
and whispered, ‘Either do I’, and wandered away.
Jessie found
herself lost in thought as she stared at the paintings and remembered the
portrait in the hall at Nanna’s. It was a real problem. Those voices were going
to keep waking her up at night - but worse than that, Harold was never going to
get his peace unless she could communicate with him. But how?
She couldn’t
speak - because even a cough had silenced them. So how could she tell Harold
that it was all okay and that he didn’t have to keep talking about it and
making himself sad?
Maybe she
could write something, a note perhaps and leave it in the hall for them to
read. No, that wouldn’t work, how would they see it in the dark?
Her thoughts
were interrupted by Nancy again who said she had a special treat for them both.
‘What is it?’
Jessie asked.
‘Well, it’s a
new style of painting. By a local artist. He had this idea you see, that it’s a
shame paintings can only be viewed during daylight. So he decided to paint
something that could be seen at night. He’ll be showing some paintings when
Fleur is exhibiting - except his paintings will be shown outside the building,
in the dark.
‘Why would
anyone want to look at paintings in the dark?’ Harmony asked.
‘You’ll see,’
said Nancy. ‘Jessie, I understand you might try to be here for the exhibition –
but just in case I thought you might like to see a couple of these special
paintings now.’
‘Okay,’ said
Jessie, as she and Harmony followed Nancy into a back room and watched as she
pulled two paintings out of a rack and laid them on the ground up against the
wall. They looked like any ordinary paintings; one was of a fancy dining room,
with an ornate chandelier and a really long dining room table, covered in plates
of delicious looking food. Jessie counted twelve chairs around the table but
there weren’t any people in them.
The other
painting was of an old fashioned horse and carriage, on a country road. Again,
there were no people in the painting.
‘As you can
see, Jessie, both paintings have something in common.’
Jessie stared
at them both for a few seconds and then said, ‘There aren’t any people in
them.’
‘That’s right.
They’re part of an exhibition could Luminesque’.
‘So where are
the people?’ Harmony asked.
‘Well, that’s
the surprise, Harmony. Now I’m going to turn off the lights, just for a minute,
and you both look at the paintings very carefully.’
The lights
went out and suddenly it was as if the paintings came to life. Jessie could
barely make out the dining room table now, but she could see people seated all
around it. She counted twelve, six women in formal full-length gowns, in a
variety of colours and six men in black suits with white shirts and bowties.
And they all held drinks in their hands.
Harmony was
looking at the other painting - the carriage was just a shadow, but now there
was a driver, and four passengers behind him in the carriage, also in formal
dress, as if they were on their way to the dinner.
‘Wow,’ she
said, ‘this is cool!’
‘Yes, I thought
you’d like them,’ Nancy said as she flicked the light back on. ‘It really is a
most unusual method of painting. I certainly hope he’s successful. So now, even
if you can’t be here for the exhibition you’ll have an idea of what we’ll be
showing.’
‘Thanks,’ said
Jessie, her lips pursed as her mind went into overdrive.
‘Not bad,’
said Harmony as they walked back through the pottery and out into the street.
‘And,’ Jessie
said, ‘I think I can use this, to help my ancestors.’
‘How?’
‘Well, my ancestors
only come alive in the dark, right?’
‘Yeah?’
‘And these
lu-min-es, whatever they’re called paints only show up in the dark, right?’
‘Yeah, so?’
‘So, maybe my
ancestors would be able to see the lu-min-es, whatever it is, paint. Don’t you
get it?’
Harmony
shrugged. ‘Not really. Are you going to buy one of these paintings?
Jessie shook
her head in frustration as Nanna and Fleur appeared beside them. ‘Well, what
did you think of the gallery, girls?’ Fleur asked.
‘It’s okay I
guess,’ said Harmony.
Fleur creased
her brow. ‘And you, Jessie?’
‘I thought it
was great!’
Fleur smiled.
‘And what
about those luminescent paintings?’ Nanna said, ‘weren’t
they
unusual?’
‘Weird,’
replied Harmony.
‘Fantastic,’
said Jessie as they followed Fleur and Nanna back to the car.
‘You’re been
very quiet back there Jessie,’ Nanna said as Fleur dropped them at the house,
‘Are you okay sweetie?’
‘Yep. Just
thinking, Nanna.’
‘Are you
having a good time?’
‘I’m having a
great time.’
After lunch
Jessie took a walk through the fruit trees and idly picked a peach she thought
looked pink enough to eat.
What if I
could give Harold and great-grandmother a message they could see in the dark?
she wondered as she took a bite. But the peach was sour and she grimaced and
threw it down on the ground.
What if I got
some of that paint, like in those Lumi… whatever paintings, and painted them a
message on the wall? But of course I couldn’t do that, Nanna would freak. And
what would I write anyway?
Deep in
thought, she wandered back to the house, said goodbye to Nanna and walked
across to Fleur’s house. Maybe I could ask Fleur about it, maybe I could paint
something myself …
Fleur was
packing some paintings into the car. Jessie assumed Harmony would be at the
computer, emailing her dad, or Kurt.
‘Did you see
anything you liked at the gallery? You sounded quite impressed.’
‘Yeah, I
really liked those Lumi-nes … paintings.’
‘Luminesque.’
‘Yeah, that’s
right. They kind of glow in the dark.’
‘Yes, David Mahoney’s
work. He’s a wonderful artist - like me he moved down here from the city. He
said that one night he was lying in bed, unable to sleep. Apparently he’d been
having a problem with a current work in progress. So he decided to get up and
go to his studio. And as he walked down the hall he remembered thinking how
wonderful it would be to be able to see his art at night, without turning the
lights on, just like in daylight.
‘So, he got on
the Internet that night and found a supplier selling luminescent paints, and
ordered them in a dozen different colours. He’s already sold quite a few and
when I was asked to exhibit at the gallery here in town, I suggested David
might like to exhibit with me. My paintings will be indoors, his will be
outdoors with lighting that will go on and off during the evening. It will
certainly be a first for the town, we’re both really excited about it.’
‘So what is
lumines …?’
‘Luminescent
paint has particles in it that absorb light and this causes them to glow in the
dark. It’s used quite a lot in products, for example, they paint strips of it
on life jackets so that if you are stranded at sea at night, you are able to be
seen.’
Suddenly
Jessie had an idea. What if she painted a whole painting and put a message in
the painting - in luminescent paint, that only great-grandmother and Harold
could see at night?
‘Fleur, would
you teach me to paint?’
Fleur smiled.
‘I’d love to teach you Jessie, but you’re only here for another couple of days.
Maybe next time you visit Nanna we could start lessons straight away.’
Jessie thought her heart
would beat right out of her chest. Panic gripped her. She had to do this
painting, she just had to.
‘Do you think we
could just do one painting together - something
really
simple?’ she
said, her eyes pleading, ‘I’d really like to leave Nanna something.’
‘To remind her
of you?’ Fleur asked.
Jessie felt
her face flush. ‘Yes!’ she said.
Fleur smiled
again. ‘Well okay then. You’ve been such a good friend to Harmony, how can I
say no. So, what would you like to paint?’
‘I … don’t
know … but can we use those luminescent paints?’
‘Well, I don’t
have any Jessie - but I suppose I could get some tomorrow. Don’t you want to
paint a normal painting though?’
‘Yeah, but I’d
really like to put some of that luminescent paint in it. Just to be different.’
Fleur laughed.
‘Okay then. Why don’t we do a simple painting this afternoon and when I go back
into town in the morning I’ll get a couple of tubes of luminescent paint and we
can put the finishing touches on it tomorrow afternoon. How does that sound?’
‘Perfect,’
Jessie said, as she pictured her own painting in Nanna’s hall, with a
luminescent message on it, and smiled to herself.
By mid
afternoon, Fleur and Jessie had painted a lovely country farmhouse, complete
with lace curtains, a big open verandah and a chimney, with a cottage garden
out front. The garden was a sea of colours - pinks, reds, yellows, blues, the
sort of colours Fleur loved and a cottage garden Jessie thought Nanna would
like. And painting with Fleur had taught Jessie a little bit about shapes,
colours and perspective. Now she thought she might even be able to see what was
in all those paintings inside Fleur’s house.
Jessie was
just filling in the pathway from the house to the gate when Harmony appeared
beside her.
‘There’s only
so many computer games you can play on your own, you know,’ Harmony said, ‘are
you two going to be all afternoon?’
‘We’re just
about done, Harmony,’ said Fleur, ‘Look, isn’t it lovely?’
‘Yeah, I
guess,’ said Harmony as she looked at the painting one way and then tilted her
head to the left.
‘Tomorrow, how
about we put a couple of people into the painting, Jessie? Using the
luminescent paints?’