Art-Rageous by Jessica Young

Author:Jessica Young [Young, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction; Picture Window Books; Finley Flowers; humorous stories; social issues/friendship; imagination & play; 9781479561773; 9781479559602; 9781479561889; 9781479585915
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2015-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

“Voilà,” Finley muttered. “Wilted Still Life with Dead Plant.” It might not be pretty, she thought. But it’s still. And it’s life.

At that moment, Evie bounded into the room. “Ooh!” she said, holding her nose. “What are you doing?”

“It’s called a still life,” said Finley. “It’s for school.”

“It looks pretty dead to me,” said Evie. “Maybe it’s a zombie still life!”

“Out!” said Finley, pointing to the door.

“Okay.” Evie scurried backward into the kitchen. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you . . .”

Finley walked around the table, surveying her still life from all angles. Something was missing, but she couldn’t figure out what. Finally she gave up, grabbed her colored pencils, and took a seat. All right, she thought. Time for some Fin-spiration.

Finley sketched and shaded. She striped and swirled. Just as she was adding rainbow-colored rings to the onion, Zack came in and plunked his backpack down beside her.

“What is that?” he said, eyeing the strange arrangement.

“My homework.” Finley said, coloring the bruise on the apple a brilliant blue. “It’s a fall still life.”

“Wow,” Zack said. “That’s one funky fall still life.”

Finley glared at her brother. “Don’t you have homework to do or something? Maybe a test to study for?”

“I was going to get a snack first,” Zack said. “But I just lost my appetite.”

Zack tromped upstairs, and Finley put down her pencil. The problem with this fall still life is that there’s nothing fall-ish about it, she realized.

Suddenly, Finley had an idea. She dashed to the backyard and collected the best leaves she could find. Then she marched back to the dining room and stuck them between the other objects in her still life. There, she thought. That adds some fall flavor!

Finley had just finished drawing the leaves and was working on shading the neon-green mold on the cheese when Dad came out of the office.

“What is that smell?” he called from the kitchen.

“My still life!” Finley answered. “It stinks!”

“Come on,” Dad said, poking his head through the dining room doorway. “It can’t be that bad.”

“No,” Finley said. “I mean it actually smells.”

Dad came a little closer. “Oh,” he said, sniffing. “You’re right. Don’t we have anything you can draw that’s less . . . ripe?”

“Nope,” said Finley, shaking her head. “I’m making the best of what I’ve got.”

“Well, I guess it shows nature in action,” Dad said. “That’s what happens when you leave things too long. You’ve got to eat them while you can. Seize the day, I always say!” He picked up the phone. “I’m going to order a pizza for dinner.”

Seize the day! Finley’s heart leaped. That gave her a great idea! She ran to her room and grabbed the glow-in-the-dark watch she’d gotten for her birthday. Then she stretched it out on the table so it dangled off the edge, just like the pocket watch in the still life at the museum.

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