Painting

For the first time in several weeks, Topher was painting. He had all the equipment for it, and so he had set up before the lake, which was fairly quiet in early morning. He sat on a stool, with his easel before him, painting the scene of the lake in the morning. He was glad for the silence, or rather, as silent as it could be.

The painting was simply blotches of color in the pattern of the lake so far, but as he placed the large paint brush into the pocket of his paint stained jeans, and pulled out a very fine brush, it was obvious that he wasn't finished.

He dipped the brush into a dark color, and began adding dark lines to his painting, blending the wet paint so that it looked natural in all of it's highlights.

He'd heard her coming before she'd even come into an area where she could see him, and still he winced slightly as she spoke. Everybody talked too loudly. He smiled slightly though, turning his head to look at her. "Hi." was his quiet reply, raising a rather paint covered hand in greeting.

He assumed that she'd keep on talking, and so returned his attention back to his painting, adding in details before the paint dried, waiting for her conversation to start, as he was pretty sure it would. Everyone seemed to like talking.

"That's pretty good."

He glanced at her, pausing mid brush stroke. "Thank-you." he replied, his voice still quite a bit quieter than hers. And then she was silent.

He liked her now. People who were quiet were alright in his book. He smiled a truly friendly smile, before turning his head back to his painting. The brush rasped and spooshed against the canvas. It was almost the only noise that he could handle well. That and brush strokes.

He could still hear her breathing, but that wasn't new. He could hear himself breathing too. He turned a practiced eye back to the lakeshort, quickly adding little pieces he'd missed. The painting was beginning to take on amazing likeness to the lakeshore before him.

Topher jumped a bit as she spoke again, and he mentally berated himself for it. Then he smiled a small smile, slightly amused at what she'd asked. "No, I don't come out here often, but I have a feeling that I will." he spoke quietly, and a bit quickly, to get out the long sentence, and he smiled a secretive smile, silently proud of himself for being able to say something without stuttering. He couldn't bring himself to raise the volume of his voice, since it was so hard to know how loud he was speaking.

"I'm Topher." he was downright amazing himself today. First he doesn't stutter, and now he introduces himself. He was almost being extroverted. He smiled at her, before glancing at his painting, deeming it finished. He dipped his brush in the black paint, and made a little squiggle and a T within the squiggle. His signature.