Through his lens

The girl with the pearl earing

'Nice work Eve.'
I pulled my headphones out of my ears as I smiled up at my favourite teacher. Art is my best subject so I'd been praying I'd have a good teacher that understood my work when I started here and thank god, I got lucky.
Ms Stevens, i.e. call me Helena, is exactly the kind of art teacher I loved.

'You don't think it's lacking a little colour?' I asked standing back and criticising my own work.

'How about you keep it neutral but add in faint colour as if to look like flecks of dust or disbursed light.'

It was like a light bulb had gone off and all these ideas flew into my head.
'Yeah I like that!'

'So, how are you getting on with the nature parts in the background?'

'Good but I feel like I need some more ideas. I'd go for walks around local places here but I still don't know the best areas yet. I'm waiting for a day when one of my friends is free to show me around.'

Helena looked deep in thought for a moment before speaking.
'Let me speak to my photography students. They go out into the local areas all the time, I'm sure they've got some good recommendations.'

She patted me on the shoulder encouragingly and moved on to the next student.

I got up from my stool and moved across to the other side of the classroom where more supplies were. As I was deciding which paints I wanted to use my eyes caught on to an abstract painting of a desert scene. It was filled with aboriginal symbols and had a wavy sheen that gave the effect of heat actually coming out of the painting itself.

The girl sat behind it was giving it the same expression I had been giving mine 10 seconds ago. Her petite frame was hunched over as if she was trying to remain as invisible as possible.

I'm not going to lie; this was my second art class and I hadn't noticed her before.

'It looks amazing like it is.' I interrupted. 'Don't over analyse it or you'll end up doing what I do when I add too much and I ruin it.'

The girl's grey eyes looked up at mine with a wide almost scared expression. Ever so slowly though her features softened and she gave me a small smile. She didn't reply to me though.
'It's aboriginal right?'

She cleared her throat and nodded at me practically whispering so quietly only mice could hear.
'Yeah that's right.'

'That's cool. How did you get into it?'

She was still looking at me like I had two heads but I could see that her whole demeanor had relaxed. I guess she wasn't used to strangers speaking to her.
'My mom studies ancient languages so she always has books and drawings laying around the house. I guess I just got inspired by that. My only problem is I don't know how to get others to understand the meaning behind the paintings.'

I thought for a moment, looking at her painting once more and then back at her.
'Well, everyone will have a different interpretation to it. I think it also depends on the mindset of the person looking at it. One person might see tranquil and another empty lonely space. I guess if you wanted to though you could create some sort of key with the meaning behind most symbols. That way they can take that knowledge and come up with the message from that.'
I suddenly realised I'd been rambling for too long and she'd been too silent. God maybe I got a bit too geeky with her.
'Just an idea though.' I added holding my hands up in defense.

'No I love it, that makes perfect sense. Thanks.' She gave me a full smile this time whilst pushing her glasses up her nose with her index finger.
'You're different to how I thought you'd be.' As soon as the words were out, she clasped a small hand over her mouth as if she was trying to push them back in.