ARROW - 1. Chapter 1

Armand was destined to become a painter. Only he didn’t know it yet. In Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, his art skills were no better or worse than his classmates.

In third grade, something happened, he began to have dreams. At first, he was scared, but the little old lady who came to see him in his dreams seemed to project caring and love. She talked about things that were important to Armand, the changing seasons, small animals, playing in the snow.

About three weeks after his first dream, he mentioned to his mother a woman came to him in his dreams. “What does she look like?”

“She looks like Grandma A.” Armand’s name for his mother’s mother. Armand looked very serious. His mother went and got an old photo album. “Armand, let’s look at these pictures, and maybe we’ll find her picture.”

Sitting on the sofa, they began to look at photos. Like any young child, Armand’s mother heard it if once at least ten times, “Mom, who is that?” As a mother should, she would spend time not only answering Armand’s question by giving a name, but each name had a story to go with it. And so the afternoon passed.

Just as she was ready to put the album away, a loose photo fell out onto the floor. Armand picked it up, “Mom, look, this is the house that the lady showed me.”

His mother looked at the photo, and there was something familiar about the house. Her curiosity led her to search the attic, and she found a box with photos that weren’t in the album. Taking the box to the living room, “Armand, after dinner, we can look at these.”

As Armand and his mother looked through the box of photos, the usual questions started again. “Who is this?”

His mother would read the message on the backside of the photo, “This is Grandma A’s great uncle.”

As they continued to look at the photos, “Mom, that’s the woman who comes to see me.”

“This is Grandma A’s great-great-grandmother. This photo was taken in 1814.”

“She told me she lived in that house, and her room was at the back, and she could see the trees. She said there was a bluebird that would sit in the tree and sing.”

That evening she told her husband about Armand identifying the woman who visited him at night. “Didn’t you say one of your ancestors was a painter or artist?”

“Yes, I remember my grandmother mentioning it. I’ll call Mom in the morning and see what she remembers.”

That evening Armand had his visitor. He was excited as he told her about finding her picture. “I think you are my great, great grandma, but is it okay if I call you GG?”

The woman smiled as she told him she was his grandma, and if he wanted to call her GG, it would be fine. She knew for him to say all of those greats was a lot for a little boy.

School started, Armand was anxious. He liked school, did well, and had friends he missed when school was out. Not uncommon for an only child, the school made his day, and interacting with his friends gave him something to look forward to each day. However, he found it hard to concentrate on his art class as in the past. The teacher wanted him to use crayons, and he preferred pencils.

He told GG about his school art classes, and she decided to help him. She knew he had the talent but needed encouragement.

That weekend GG told him to go to an art store in town and asked for colored pencils and sketch pads. That Saturday, after breakfast, Armand asked his mother to take him to the art store. He told her that GG said they have colored pencils and sketch pads.

With GG guiding him, he began to practice drawing straight lines. GG told him that he must be able to draw straight lines, or he could not draw a tree. So during art, he practiced drawing straight lines, the teacher wasn’t happy, but Armand listened to his GG. When GG thought his lines were okay, she started him on drawing circles.

The teacher didn’t understand what Armand was doing, but he was quiet and didn’t bother the other students. Only the last week of the class did she realize that all of the straight lines and circles provided a disciplined approach to art and the finished pencil drawing was the tree outside the class’s window. She never noticed the tree until she saw Armand’s drawing.

For the next four years, Armand’s drawings became more and more realistic. There was no question he had an eye for detail and an awareness of what made his drawings special, at least according to GG.