You ask way too many questions I said Art studios are always full of stuff I took a deep breath The smell of turpentine and clay filled the room I’d been taking lessons at L’Artiste for over three years Today was a typical Saturday Students were busy drawing painting and sculpting She frowned Everything in here looks like a little kid went crazy with finger paint She was sort of right Dried specks of paint covered the tables Ditto for the stools The shelves against the walls were loaded with all sorts of rainbow-splattered cans and containers Even the sink in the corner had green paint streaked across the faucet For the record there’s no junk in here I said It’s art And there was a lot of it Paintings and projects were plastered all over the walls and hung from the ceiling Papers were tucked into drying racks around the room Easels were arranged in clusters near the windows 8
She pointed to the back windowsill where there were at least a hundred old coffee cans packed with paintbrushes pencils and markers That’s junk They’re supplies I said It may look like junk to you but it’s not Becca’s eyes lit up as she motioned to the sagging clothesline above her head that draped from one side of the room to the other Collages full of odds and ends dangled from it Now that’s what I call art Whoever made those recycled some of the junk Becca’s my cousin A tree-hugging earth-loving crusader Her mom is an environmental scientist She tests water for pollutants Becca constantly talks about preserving Washington’s lakes and waterways and the importance of recycling When her mom travels for work Becca stays with my family Since she lives in Kirkland just across Lake Washington from Seattle where I live it’s not a big deal She’s at our house so much that some people think she’s my sister But we don’t look anything alike 9
I have black hair and green eyes She has red hair and blue eyes And freckles Lots and lots of freckles We’re both in sixth grade Why do I have to draw a bunch of water lilies anyway she asked She tossed her pencil on the table I’ve never even seen a real one before Have you She glared at the picture of the painting that was clipped to her easel Why would a guy paint so many pictures of the same thing over and over again Didn’t he have any other flowers to paint Or people Animals There must have been some fruit around back then Apples Oranges My art teacher overheard her Monet had a whole garden of beautiful flowers to paint Bonjour Madame Petite I said This is Becca Even though I am only five foot three I towered over her and the two paintbrushes that stuck up through her messy bun She waved Bonjour Mademoiselle Welcome I’m glad Logan brought you to L’Artiste She put 10
her glasses on and examined Becca Next time you may pick out something else to paint Becca nodded but I could already tell she had no plans for a next time If she weren’t staying with us this weekend she’d be in Marina Park or cleaning up some polluted waterway with her mom Monet drew water lilies over and over again for a reason Madame Petite said in her thick French accent He drew them at different times of the day so he could see how the natural light reflected on them He was an Impressionist painter She squeezed paint onto Becca’s palette He doesn’t impress me much said Becca He should said Madame Petite His are some of the most popular paintings in the world today My parents have one hanging in their bedroom I said Becca’s mouth dropped open A real one Madame Petite laughed A real one would cost millions of dollars She pursed her lips and waved 11
