Philip Ardagh and I have just started a weekly writing prompt. We take it in turns to choose a theme (often just a word or two) and have 10 minutes to come up with something. Fun.
If anyone who doesn’t draw has ever wondered what it’s like to get lost in a drawing....here’s mine.
Prompt: COFFEE
I draw the leaves one by one. The black ink stains my fingers. My left hand holds the handle of my coffee mug as though I am three years old again and clutching my mother’s hand. It tethers me to this world - this real world - as I carve the leaves across the paper, between the trees. The heat of the coffee against my fingers is the only thing that reminds me I am here, not there. And when it cools, I am lost in the forest I am drawing. I add trees and birds and the nests they have built between branches. I add shadows that fall across the forest floor and I shape them into monsters. And I remember a moment when I was younger, walking between the trees afraid and holding my mothers hand. Then I am back - here not there - as though I have been asleep, in a dream for a while. And my coffee is cold.