Painting to New Horizons

Painting to New Horizons

In the book Touchblue by Cynthia Lord, a boy named Aaron comes to live with some islanders because his mother can’t care for him. The islanders, a small family consisting of a girl named Tess, her little sister Libby, and her parents, are superstitious lobster fishers - at least, the father is, and Tess wants to be. When Aaron arrives, everybody wants it to work out, but it’s not that easy, because Aaron almost resists their help and he’s stiff and angry all the time. He just wants to be with his mom, not some random people. So Tess generously offers to invite his mother to the island talent show - and she actually comes. Then she has to leave again, without Aaron, and he’s hurt by that.

However, in the end, Tess and Aaron reconcile, and Aaron accepts that his mom can’t keep him for now, and they both get ready to go on and depend on themselves. This is shown in the end of the book, after Tess drops all her lucky items into the water - her lucky pennies, her blue sea glass, her plastic lobster, and so on. Then it says, “I reach into my pocket and pull out [my lucky objects]... drop each lucky thing into the ocean so quickly there’s barely a splash... [Then,] my hands on the wheel, my heart near to bursting, I aim the Tess Libby’s bow at the horizon... And gun it.” (pages 183 and 186) This shows that she’s ready to go on, alone and without any superstitious objects’ help, and she’s heading towards the horizon. In other words, she’s painting her own path on the easel of life.

In my collage, I have a picture of an easel with a paintbrush painting on it. The paintbrush represents Tess, how she’s now painting her own way and choosing whether to go on or to double back. On the easel is a painting of a path going off and disappearing beyond a hill, and a person walking on the path. The grass nearer to the bottom of the picture is darker because in the book at first Tess is disappointed by Aaron. Still, it gets lighter later as Tess becomes Aaron’s friend and they support each other, like real siblings.

The path goes on towards the horizon, becoming thinner and thinner, until it disappears into the distance. The person walking on the path is Tess and I put her there to show how she’s taking her own path. Finally, there is a small blue pile of objects right near the beginning of the road. In my mind, that shows her lucky objects that she left behind, and the fact that now her own hands are gripping the paintbrush. The hands gripping the paintbrush are invisible, because it’s as if she makes the choices invisibly, yet they can affect her in so many ways.

This is important because in our world, there are many people who never actually pick up the paintbrush. Maybe they let other people paint everything for them, or perhaps they just leave their life a blank canvas and don’t do anything at all. So really, when you next have a chance to pick up your brush, take it, and create something beautiful with it. Because with a paint brush, and easel, and a few colors, you can create anything - and the same thing is true for your own life.