“What’s on the agenda today sweetheart? Have you got art class with Mrs Roberts? She texted me to tell me that she was going to drop by the gallery later.” Mom said as she kept her eyes ahead, focused on what was happening around us in the carpark.
“Yep, it's my last class of the day. We’re working on a sculpture project using clay and wood.” I began, I could see her eyes prick up at the mention of doing sculpture. “It’s meant to represent one of the legendary sea monsters of Camden Falls.” I said, looking out the window.
“I’ve chosen the mighty Camden Falls Coastal Kraken for my inspiration.”
I was genuinely interested in the old maritime legend of the Camden Falls Coastal Kraken, or the CFCK as I liked to call it. What made it special was the fact that Kraken were generally found in Nordic waters, but according to the legend, one had somehow managed to make its way to a vicinity off the coast of Camden Falls, which I had always found fascinating.
“Interesting choice.” Mom smiled. “How’re you using your materials to create your masterpiece?”
“The wood represents the pirate ships that the kraken supposedly destroyed and I’ve modelled the kraken's tentacles around the ships to show it crushing them into pieces.” I made a display of smashing my fist into my palm as I spoke to illustrate the intensity. I was enjoying the project, pummeling the clay was proving quite therapeutic.
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Mom laughed out loud and then tried to stifle her laughter by turning to look out her window and pretend that she was glancing in the wing mirror.
“What’s so funny?” I humpfed, folding my arms across my chest in mock annoyance. “We can’t all be amazing artists like you, it's a lot of pressure you know, creating these masterpieces because of your artistic prowess. Mrs Roberts expects ‘BIG’ things!”
She turned and looked back at me with a gentle smile on her face.
“I understand the difficulty you must be feeling, Ariah. My Mother was the best baker in town, her baking was not only delicious but oh so beautiful as well with the intricate icing decorations that she used to create.” She said, looking back out the front windscreen smiling. “She made the best ‘everything’! So you can imagine my frustration when I would try to bake like her and my…let’s use cupcakes as an example…my cupcakes would come out burnt and deflated.”
It was my turn to let out a snigger as I pictured the cupcakes that Mom made. Her baking was pretty terrible and these days it was usually store bought so we didn’t have to endure the burnt offerings that she made us. We had even given her a timer one Christmas so she would be able to pull the baking out of the oven on time but it hadn’t helped. Dad had said it was a great mystery as to how she could still burn things even when they weren’t in the oven for that long, but we all still appreciated her efforts no matter how burnt things were.
I looked at her and smiled, patting her gently on the arm as I did so.
“It’s okay Mom, we all know you try your best.” I said,
“Thanks Ariah, so you understand about the art thing now too, huh?” She raised her eyebrow as she replied. “You’ve got to do you. Focus on what makes you feel good, and if it’s art then focus on the stuff about it that makes you happy rather than putting pressure on yourself to be perfect or to create like someone else.”
I nodded.