The Amazing Adventures of a Young Artist

Dylan Predmore loves art.  He started drawing as a little boy and now, at the age of seven, he was learning how to paint. His dad was also an artist and often giving him pointers.  He’d explain about not getting the brush too wet and to always pay attention to the details.  While Dylan liked to learn from him, he still wanted to do things his way.  When Dylan created something, he’d use his imagination which was his very favorite thing to do. Then one special day, Dylan fell into his own painting and experienced the real creative journey.

Dylan was sitting at the kitchen table, working on painting a pirate ship in the middle of the ocean.  He dipped his brush in the water, swirled it in the blue and white paint, and pressed it into the paper.  While Dylan worked he thought about pirates. At first, he didn’t notice that he was getting wet.  A soft, salty spray was hitting his face but he brushed it off and kept painting.  When he made more brush strokes, even more water splattered at him. By the time that he felt wind it was too late.  The painting was growing larger in front of him, stretching out in all directions, while he felt himself growing smaller and moving towards the picture.  He was pulled forward, tumbling through the air until he landed with a splash into the ocean he’d just painted a pretty shade of turquoise.

Dylan splashed in the water in a panic.  Right next to him was the pirate ship but instead of being empty, there were angry pirates on deck looking right at him!  He started to swim as fast as he could away from the ship, towards an island ahead.  When he made it to the beach, he collapsed and caught his breath.  The ship wasn’t coming after him so he looked around the island and liked what he saw.  There was a white sand beach, tall palm trees, and not a scrap of homework anywhere.  He decided to relax and stay for a while.  Dylan made a hut on the beach from branches and palm leaves. He ate juicy pineapple, drank sweet coconut milk, and swam with dolphins. At night he’d lie on the warm sand and gaze up at the stars. 

After awhile, Dylan felt ready to go home.  He missed his parents, his little sister Autumn, and their cat Simba. The problem was that he didn’t know how to get home.  He built a signal fire on the beach but no planes came by.  He thought about building a raft but he had no idea which direction to go. There wasn’t even a bottle that he could put a message in. Then it occurred to him…if a picture brought him there, maybe another one could take him back. At low tide, Dylan took a stick and drew in the damp sand. He made a picture of his house and family.  As he was making the last marks on the roof, he felt a pull.  He kept at the drawing, adding more details, and by the time he finished the front door he saw it start to move.  The door was getting bigger and growing wider and Dylan felt himself becoming smaller and lighter.  The sand door opened up and into it, he disappeared. 

When Dylan looked around next, he was back in his own kitchen.  “Wow,” he thought, “That was amazing!”

His mom came in and said, “Dylan, it’s time to clean up. We’re going to eat dinner soon.” 

“Mom, aren’t you mad at me?”  He asked.  “Mad?” She replied, “Why would I be? Didn’t you do your homework?”  “I did,” he answered, “But…I kind of went away for a while.”  “You did?  She said, “Well it couldn’t have been for very long because you were sitting right there a few minutes ago.”

Then she looked over his shoulder at his painting. “That’s a really great painting Dylan,” she said, “It looks so real!”

“You know mom,” Dylan said thoughtfully, “I feel exactly the same way.”

Later that night he was lying in bed and thought about what had happened.  He’d had a wonderful time on his island adventure and, when he got back, it was like no time had passed.  He couldn’t wait to make another picture to see if it would happen again.

The next day after school, Dylan sat down and started to make a picture…of dinosaurs!  He’d always wanted to see the land of the lost in person. He drew a big, wide sky over a huge, grass-covered valley. He added tall trees and a volcano in the background.  He had finished a Brachiosaurus and was starting to paint a Triceratops when he felt the first tug of the picture.  He kept painting and by the time he finished coloring the third horn, the pulling sensation happened again.  Excited and inspired, he painted faster and faster.  He was adding a Pterodactyl flying through the air when the power from the painting pulled Dylan forward with a lurch.  He saw the volcano rising up towards him and started to panic, knocking over his water. Dylan tried to move back but the force was too strong.  He closed his eyes as the ancient world grew and rose in front of him. Back in the kitchen, the water spilled over the table and on the picture but, by then, Dylan was already gone.

Dylan opened his eyes to the green valley he’d painted and caught his breath.  Right there next to him was the massive Brachiosaurus!  He had seen their skeletons in the museum but was still surprised by its incredible size. He watched it eat leaves on treetops for a while but then it stopped and looked up.  It didn’t see Dylan but seemed to sense something else.  The giant dinosaur was backing up, making the ground tremble.  Dylan lost his footing for a moment and fell into the tall grass. While he was down he heard the roar.  He put his hands over his ears to block the horrible sound and tried to press himself deeper into the grass.  The ground shook even more and the air was filled with the roaring, snarling of a large, angry Tyrannosaurus!  The massive meat-eater came into the clearing with Dylan and the Brachiosaurus and the T-Rex started to fight.  Dylan turned and ran as fast as he could in the other direction, keeping low to the shaking ground.  He ran until his legs felt like falling off but could still hear the bellowing of the Brachiosaurus as the T-Rex took it down and began to eat its meal. 

Dylan collapsed against a tree and tried to figure out what happened.  “I didn’t draw a T-Rex,” he thought, “The only meat-eater I made was just a flying….” As Dylan was finishing his thought a large shadow passed over him, from above.  He realized he’d better get out of there quickly because he’d look like a tasty treat to a Pterodactyl!  He picked up a sharp rock and started to scratch a picture of his home into the bark of the tree.  It was hard work and the shadow passed over his head again.  “Come on!” Dylan thought, “Details, details.” Dylan was putting in figures of his family when he heard the screech of the flying reptile as it spotted him. Dylan carved deeper into the tree and finally finished his front door.   The Pterodactyl was swooping down just as the door started to move on the bark.  “Yes!” Dylan thought. It was definitely getting bigger.  The carved door grew and stretched, until it was as large as Dylan.  As he was pulled into the door, he heard the massive beak snap behind him.

Dylan opened his eyes and let out a deep breath when he was back in his kitchen. 

His sister Autumn came into the room and said, “Look at this mess Dylan.  You better clean it up before mom sees.”  Dylan looked down and saw the spilled water in a puddle under the table.

 “Oh no!” Autumn cried, “Your dinosaur picture is ruined!”  The water had spilled into the picture and all the colors had run together.

“That’s ok,” He said, “I didn’t really like this one anyway.”  He started to mop up the mess.

It was a few days before Dylan got up the courage to make another picture.  He missed painting but could still hear the roar of the T-Rex when trying to go to sleep at night.  After a while, he decided the safest thing to do was paint a picture of somewhere there wasn’t anything scary like…. outer-space!  He had dreamed about being an astronaut and seeing the stars. Encouraged by his new idea, Dylan sat down in front of the blank paper.  After making his sketch, he started to paint.  He dipped his brush into the yellow and painted the bright shining sun. He used white for the twinkling stars and bright colors when adding as many planets as he could remember.  Dylan rinsed his brush after he painted the earth and remembered a rocket ship.  He started to outline it when he heard his mom and dad coming.  He didn’t want to stop to do homework and really wanted to visit space. So Dylan forgot about the ship, dipped the brush in black, and quickly filled in the rest of painting.  Soon he felt himself getting lighter and floating out of his chair – no gravity!  The dark quiet of space spilled over onto Dylan as he drifted into the painting. 

When he looked around, he saw he was wearing a spacesuit.  Dylan was floating in space and it was beautiful. He spun around laughing, amazed at all the celestial sights.  He saw the bright glow of the sun, the moon, and sparkling stars.  Best of all was the soft green and blue of Earth. Dylan knew he’d never forget seeing his home planet from outer space.  He drifted for a while, happy to be in the marvelous Milky Way.  

Dylan felt he’d seen enough and wanted to go home and tell his family about his special adventures.  What he’d seen was so incredible that he wanted to share it with them (although he might leave out the part about the Pterodactyl when telling his mom). Dylan reached for a pencil, a rock, or even a stick but didn’t have anything.  He ran his fingers over his space suit but there weren’t any pockets.  Worried, he tried to draw an outline of his house but it didn’t work.  He realized he was all alone, floating in outer space with no way of getting home. Dylan twisted and turned and tried to push himself towards Earth but instead he floated in the opposite direction, headed towards deep, dark space.  Tears filled his eyes as he watched the planet growing smaller in front of him and his family becoming further and further away.

Suddenly, warm arms were around him, holding him tight.  It was his dad in a space suit!  His father was attached to a line connected to the rocket he’d started to draw. “It’s ok Dylan, I’ve got you” his dad said.

“Dad!” Dylan cried, hugging him tight, “I was so scared! How did you find me?”

“It was easy,” he said, “I finished your picture. Remember, I told you details were important – like that rocket ship.”  His dad held up a paper and pen and smiled, “Now let’s go home!”

After that, when Dylan made a painting he was sure to include everything. Through his pictures he journeyed to far away places, visited the past and the future, and sometimes went to worlds that existed only to him. However,  Dylan made sure to keep a pencil in his hand and  the love of his family in his heart so he always came back home.

Copyright of this story Cathy Predmore, 2009.  All rights reserved.

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