Page 13 of Who Pissed Off Ivy Dell?

Ivy

The Art of Attraction

I’ve sent Mom atleast a dozen videos of chipmunks playing, even though I know she saw them growing up. She hasn’t told me to knock it off yet, so I assume she’s enjoying them as much as I do. And she didn’t correct me and say they’re ground squirrels, so obviously, they’ve always been chipmunks here.

I wander into the community center to see if Tawny left behind any muffins from this morning. Sometime, she leaves a covered plate on the counter after they close up the coffee shop. I’m surprised to find her still there. She and Leo have set up easels near the front windows.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to barge in.”

“Nonsense,” Leo says. “We don’t own this space.”

“We’d paint outside if we could, but the wind makes it’s impossible some days. We just want to get a few more pieces done before the festival, but you’re not bothering us.”

I spy the covered plate on the counter. “I’m glad I didn’t disturb your process, but I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I steal a muffin.”

“You can’t steal what’s free,” Leo says.

“Please, take the rest,” Tawny says.

There are three left on the plate. “Maybe I’ll take the last two over to Alma and Elma.”

“You are so sweet,” Tawny says. “I bet they’d love an afternoon snack.”

Pausing at the door, I watch the couple paint for a few moments. I always loved watching Gran at work. When I was little, I’d sit and watch her for hours, stunned when her strokes turned into a recognizable image. Even when I was a teenager and no longer amazed by her process, I still loved coming home to find her on the sunporch with a paintbrush in her hand, humming in front of a canvas. She was so happy when she was painting.

I can’t resist stepping over to see what Leo and Tawny are creating. His painting is abstract, and I like the colors, but I don’t know much about this type of art. All I can say it’s pretty.

Tawny’s piece is a desert landscape with a cactus in bloom. The flower is bright yellow, but thin enough that there’s sunlight coming through it, and she’s set a haze of dirt in the wind so realistic I instinctively squint when I first look at it. The sky is the perfect shade of blue. She’s not painting a sunrise or sunset, no magical melding of jewel tones.

This is the desert in midday, captured in its ordinary, dusty beauty. Tiny red flowers on a spindly stem, a white butterfly, brown and gray rocks. There’s a pair of chipmunks I almost miss, so lifelike they look like they may run across the canvasany second. Every detail is so perfect it almost looks like a photograph. She’s really good. And I really want this painting.

Gran mostly did watercolors. Her art is beautiful, but it presents the world the way you might want to see it, soft and full of illusion. Tawny’s work is all stark reality. No illusions, almost commanding of attention.Look at this. See these things. Appreciate them.

“Are you going to sell this piece?”

“With any luck.”

“Someone will buy it. Do you mind if I ask the price?”

She sets her brush down, but she doesn’t turn to look at me. “I never set a price until a piece is done.”

“Oh. Well, I’d love a chance to consider this one when you’re ready to put a price on it. I don’t know that I could afford it, but I really love it, and the sooner I know the cost, the sooner I can start figuring out a way to buy it because I’m pretty sure I’m going to think it’s worth whatever you’re asking.”

“I wouldn’t want you to put yourself in a bind over it. That wouldn’t feel right to me, sweetie.”

“You forget that an artist helped raise me. I wouldn’t see this painting as an expenditure. I’d see it as an investment, and not just financially. It makes me feel. I don’t care what anyone says, sometimes, happiness can be bought.”

Leo clears his throat. “Amen.”

Tawny just nods.

I leave them to get back to their work. A part of me wishes I’d never seen that painting because it feels like it’s already mine, but I have no idea what Tawny’s work sells for.

It may be nap time for the Spirit Sisters, and I don’t want to disturb their rest. If Josephine’s around, I bet she’ll be happy to have one of these muffins.

Cujo’s bike is parked in front of her casita. Yeah, I’m not knocking on her door when he’s there. She doesn’t knock onmine if she knows Jensen is over. I wouldn’t mind as he’s leaving, though, just long enough to casually bring up tattoos. Inconspicuously, of course.

Zara is going to love the coffee shop Tawny and Leo provide. There is so much about this place that is clearly her vibe. I see it more and more since she said she wanted to come visit.

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