Fruits in the Attic. (Ip) by MarciaMarcia

Fruits in the Attic    Ip

“ Come Lev” Nanna beckoned. “Follow me up the attic stairs to my studio “

 Nanna opened the door and Lev walked  inside. He gazed around the room and saw many of Nanna’s works of art in progress, sketches and paintings and stacks of different colored papers which she said she would glue together to make Collages, paper paintings. 

    He also saw his very own space. 

  It had a child size desk and an old fashioned little jelly jar closet, she had turned into a curious place  filled with many types of art supplies. There was a chair just the right size for him to sit in and a board on the eave’s wall where he could put up his works to display them. 

  Nanna said

“This is a place we will share, if you like it. You will be able to create worlds in works of art, all your imagination can hold.”

 Lev walked to his closet. Opened he saw all his very own art supplies. 

  Then something caught his eye. A platter and bowl of many different kinds of fruits were sitting in the center of the room on a table with a flowered cloth under them. 

“What’s that yummy bowl Nanna, it smells so good.” Lev went to take a large deep pink grape to eat.  

  “Isn’t it delicious” she said. Come, let me tell you a story. 

  Once upon a time, artists like you and I, used to set up their lunches; platters and bowls of the most yummy fruits and vegetables in a pretty way. Then early in the day, like it is now, they would take out drawing and painting supplies, like the pencils and paints and brushes, from their closets and sit with paper or canvas and draw and then paint a picture of the fruits. Watermelons and grapefruits cut in half and pineapples with their leaves standing tall. “

  “Ooo” Lev said licking his lips, the grapes are so good and the apple and peaches smell so sweet. And the banana too. Can we have the strawberry bowl now?”

   “Well, not quite yet. You see these master painters of olden times needed to make money to live and eat and feed their families, so they waited till their paintings of the fruits were finished as art works they could sell. So they hung them up to dry. 

  Then they sat at the table in front of their fruit, knowing the paintings they did were good and would bring enough money, when sold, to buy food for themselves and their families. 

   Happy with their art work these artists reached over the platters and took a delicious fuzzy skinned peach and took a big bite. They had worked hard all morning and were hungry. They feasted on the very bananas and persimmons and oranges they had just painted. That’s what we are going to do today. 

   We will paint these into pictures and then feast on them when we are finished.”

  Lev was so excited he and Nanna took paper and pencils and began to draw and paint what they saw. 

   The morning passed and Lev finished first. He hung up his artwork and saw his fruits were well painted. Then Nanna was done and hung her work as well. 

   “We really worked hard this morning, making our pictures” she said. 

 “Come let’s wash our hands and then, like the masters of old, feast on our beautiful fruit”

  Lev and Nanna reached over to the bowl of strawberries with happy smiles and ate their fruits in the attic. 

   By Marcia Marcia