The Painter

It was a particularly beautiful day, and I decided the best way to enjoy it was to slowly grind my knees into dust by going out for a jog. As I was dragging myself down the sidewalk of a busy four-lane road, I saw something unexpected: a car actually signaling its lane change! Ha-ha! Just kidding! That never happens! Actually, what I saw was a woman on the sidewalk painting. She had her canvas held by an easel. She was facing a small pond on the side of the road, her back to the passing traffic.

Now, I’ve encountered painters before, but it's usually been in a state or national park, and never on the side of a busy road. I was immediately impressed by the woman’s nerve. I’d never have the guts to set up shop where she was - assuming I was a painter - in a place where my work could be scrutinized by every passing person and car, which could easily lead to heckling. (“Paint Forrest, paint!” “What the heck are you painting anyway, a giraffe stuck in a phone booth? Or a mutated carrot fleeing the police?”)

As I jogged past her, I had to take a quick peek at her work. I was trying hard not to be too obvious about it, so I only got a glimpse. As I expected, it was a painting of a pond. What I couldn’t tell was if she was painting the exact pond on the side of the road. My suspicion is that she wasn’t, and she was just using this pond as a frame of reference for trying to get the water to look right.

Anyway, this has got me to thinking: If you’re a painter and you set up shop on a busy sidewalk, you have to know that everybody passing by is going to look at your painting, and with that in mind, how fun would it be to throw everyone for a loop by, for example, working on a picture of a unicycle-riding clown who’s juggling bowling balls, even though you're facing a picturesque pond surrounded by lush trees? You could squint at the pond dramatically, your face screwed up in determination, all while trying to get the clown’s makeup to look just right. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that’d be pretty fun. Well, at least more fun than grinding one’s knees to dust while jogging.