Dreamer – chapter 4

Chapter 4

Henry took and deep breath and looked into the green aura behind the burning red flame of the candle. Simmi rubbed around his ankles purring. His mind was a little fuzzy now, and seemed to be floating in another dimension. In the background he could hear Purrlin’s calm voice.

“Let your self go boy. Your dream is waiting to be fulfilled!”

Everything faded in a blanket of fog. The green aura of the candle became the green fields on both sides of him as he found himself in the engineer’s seat of a puffing locomotive. Across from him was a young man who looked very much like Purrlin. And there was Simmi the cat curled up at his feet.

Amazing, thought Henry to himself, as he reached up and pulled the rope that brought a shrill whistle piercing the clear mountain air.

Paintings: Dwight L. Roth

Dreamer – chapter 3

When Henry hesitated, the old man reached for a box of stick matches and struck one on the side of the box. It burst into flame and Purrlin used it to light a single candle sitting on a wooden stand by his chair. The candle burned with an eerie green glow of molten smoke rings rising around the red flame.

“Come, come, my boy, tell me what is on your mind.’


As Henry stared at the candle’s aura, it gave him a light headed hypnotic feeling.


“I want to be a railroad engineer,” he said. “I want to drive an engine that belches fire and smoke as it goes down the track!”


“I see,” said the old man, “You are not alone. Many young boys have that dream! Follow my instructions and your dream will come true. Stare deeply into the candle’s flickering flame!”

*****

This is a continuation of a flash fiction story I started as our prosery (144 words exactly) prompt at d’Verse Poets Pub.

Check it out at: https://dversepoets.com

Painting: Dwight L. Roth

Dreams – chapter 2

Henry only paused a few seconds. When he heard the voice saying, “If you are a dreamer, come in.” he could not resist. He always had a vivid imagination and loved the mystery of ‘what comes next?’ in the books he devoured.

As Henry stepped from the bright stoop into the dark hallway, it took a minute for his eyes to adjust. “Come in my child, it has been such a long time since I had visitors other than Simmi! As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a stooped old man holding Simmi on his lap. There was nothing fearful about him as Henry anticipated.

“My name is Purrlin. I can make dreams come true. Do sit down and tell me your dreams.”

Henry moved to the rickety old chair by the table. Should he tell the old man about his dream?

Painting: Dwight L. Roth

D’Verse Prosery prompt: “If you are a dreamer, come in” from Shel Silverstein’s poem Invitation…

https://dversepoets.com

Dreamer

Henry followed the big yellow cat down the block, wishing to pick her up and hear her purr. He continued across the street to the next block. She showed up before on the door step of his old brownstone buildings.

His mother told him not to wander off, but the cat seemed to want him to follow. Henry’s mother’s words faded away. He would only go a block or two.

The cat paused in front of a long winding stair case, then scampered up and through a large open door at the top. Henry thought perhaps he could meet the cat’s owner, so he slowly climbed to the top. As he peered into the dark opening, Henry heard an old man’s voice, “If you are a dreamer, come in my child.” He froze, uncertain whether to go in or run back down the steps.

Painting: Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse, Lillian is challenging us with a prosery prompt. Prosery is a flash fiction piece, of exactly 144 words, that includes a line from a poem given by the host. The line is from Shel Silverstein’s poem, Invitation, as published in his wonderful book, Where the Sidewalk Ends. The line is, “If you are a dreamer, come in“.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Mystery Bridge

Do you recognize this bridge? A few years ago while I was working at the Habitat Restore, we got an old wooden desk donated. While cleaning it up for resale, I found the small 3 x 3 black and white photo above in one of the drawers. It appeared to be an old post WWII era photo of a bridge, and on the back it said Savan River Bridge. I was intrigued by the picture and did some research, but came up with nothing with that name.

I though it looked like a bridge that could have been in Paris so I started looking at bridge images on line and found that it is the Ponte Alexander iii bridge. It was named in honor of a Russian Czar. You can read about it at this web site: Pont Alexandre III – Wikipedia

I decided to paint the bridge and this is how it came out: It is 3′ x 4′

Mystery bridge found

in Paris crossing the Seine

Someone’s lost treasure

The Oyster Gatherers of Cancale by John Singer Sargent (restoration)

A few weeks ago a 22 x 28 print on canvas, of the Oyster Gatherers of Cancale, came in to the Habitat Restore where I volunteer. It was in very bad shape with stains and yellow with cigarette smoke. We could not clean it, so I decided to get it and attempt to do a restoration on it to bring it back to life. I painted over the colors with acrylic paints, trying to keep the feel of the original. This is what I completed today. The original is below.

Impressionistic

Smoke stains covered with fresh paint

Life on French seashore

“OYSTER GATHERERS OF CANCALE byJohn Singer Sargent”

“John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the “leading portrait painter of his generation” for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He was born in Florence to American parents, and trained in Paris before moving to London, living most of his life in Europe. He enjoyed international acclaim as a portrait painter.

From the beginning, Sargent’s work is characterized by remarkable technical facility, particularly in his ability to draw with a brush, which in later years inspired admiration as well as criticism for a supposed superficiality.

In later life Sargent expressed ambivalence about the restrictions of formal portrait work, and devoted much of his energy to mural painting and working en plein air. Art historians generally ignored “society” artists such as Sargent until the late 20th century.”

The Painter Without a Brush

All of nature

is painted without a brush

filled with glorious hues

splashed on the canvas

Flowers and butterflies,

bullfrogs and dragonflies

A gallery of starry nights

Silver moon glows bright

Sunrise/Sunsets filled

with a kaleidoscope of color

Continuously changing

before our very eyes

Landscapes of mountains

deserts and plains

oceans rivers

lakes and streams

With red trees of green

thousands of years old

Towering strong…

feet covered

with a needles

And then there is us

painted only for a season

Ephemeral beauty all

short lived full of Spirit

The canvas always changes

when Master Painter makes the call

Today at d’Verse we are writing Ekphratic poems picking one of the five Painting titles give to us by Laura. We are to write our poems painting word pictures describing what that might mean. They we have the option of writing an ekphratic poem from the actual painting itself. I chose The Painter Without a Brush (abstract iii). (Painting below)

Above Photo: Dwight L. Roth

The original painting: Gerhard Richter – ABSTRAKTES BILD, 1987
https://www.sothebys.com/en/videos/gerhard-richter-the-painter-without-a-brush

Chaos of nature

Splashes of color perfect

Brushless painter’s joy

Join us at: https//dversepoets.com

Blossoms and Blue Sky

Blue sky and blossoms

Reminds us that Spring is here

Cardinal’s sweet song

***

Painting – Dwight L. Roth

Two Different Perspectives

A few years ago I painted this waterfall. It started out from a completely different perspective. It was originally a painting of Looking Glass Falls in the Pisgah National Forest, NC. I had it sitting upside down in my garage. When I looked at it, I loved the way the perspective of the overhanging rocks changed as the painting rotated. I decided to turn it sideways and paint the waterfall flowing from the opposite direction.

The bottom painting was the original and the top painting is the redo. I added in more rocks and extended the waterfall to the bottom. I like the way it turned out. If you rotate the bottom painting you can see how the perspective changes.

Rotation changes

Rocks and water perspective

The world keeps turning

Paintings: Dwight L. Roth

Painting Hobbiton Mural

It was one of the most fun paintings I have ever done! A few years ago, I was asked by a neighbor down the street to paint a mural of the Hobbiton Shire, on their garage wall, for her husband’s Christmas present. He was a big fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was my first attempt at anything quite this extensive, but I agreed to do it. I tried to incorporate significant parts of the story into the painting. This is how it turned out.

Paints spread colors wide

Across neighbor’s garage wall

Hobbiton Shire shines