To paint reflections

A canvas is so small.

It’s within the confines of a snapshot.

The artist knows that all around her are other hills, mountains.

The person viewing the picture doesn’t.

A patch of deep shadow on one side can indicate a towering peak

that’s cutting off the westering sun.

A long shadow across a sunny road

suggests a tree out of vision.

An artist is likely to paint scenes

about four in the afternoon,

with long shadows slanting across vivid green turf.

A sudden darkening of the sun

seems to strike a note of fear in someone’s mind,

that someone threatening is behind, unseen.

Or dappled shadows suggest the moon shining through the trees.

Look at a reflection.

It doubles its charm.

Every tree or man has a twin.

People have always loved paintings that have reflections in them

as well as the actual scene.
It seems to add another dimension, 

And in a lake scene, makes you aware of the great depth of the water,

Gives you an impact of the knowledge of how still the day must have been.

You can convey the force of a gale in a picture

by tossing branches or a scrub on some wild coast

leaning away from the prevailing sea wind,

But to convey a stillness takes more skills,

And its portrayed best of all by reflections.

But, authors, writers, paint in words.

Don’t forget that reaches more people –

The painted word – than any other gift does.

Art lovers can buy prints and masterpieces

if they are wealthy enough, I suppose,

But never as many as they would wish.

So many of the world’s art treasuries

are in galleries not accessible to everyone.

But, books go into thousands and reach all corners of the globe.

Words retain the originality and freshness

of whoever first thought them.

It’s not enough for an author to retain a picture

In his mind’s eye.

He’s got to describe them in words,

Not too hackneyed,

So that everyone who reads them,

Say someone in the middle of a continent

far away from any ocean, can see for a moment

the fiery ball of the sun shinning into a northern sea.

It was the reflections that made those sunsets So spectacular,

The fact that those changing lights painted the sea as well as the sky.