Sapphire's Dream

Am I getting better at painting yet? I keep trying! Suggestions are always welcome in this field. I don't always go along with the suggestions, but I still don't mind hearing them, if they're not mean spirited.

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This is based on the dream sequence (nightmare, really) from the story I wrote in High School, "Sapphire Stars" --> [link]

I actually took both dream parts and smooshed them together...because I can And here are the parts - dialogue and some other parts excluded. If you just read this and not the whole story, just keep in mind that it's through the mind of a 6 year old. The style was inspired by "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce...even though I rally didn't like the book, just the first chapter Anyway, these are the descriptions the painting's based/inspired by:

"A butterfly flew into the strawberry field and turned into a dragon- large and red, scaly. It was a big dragon, and it burned the strawberry field. Saphie loved strawberries, she used to pick them with Meme- that was her field. Nice big, red strawberries- eat them with whipped cream."

...

" Father carried her inside and let her sleep on the big red-orange couch. Meme was gone, and she would not be back. She didn’t have a choice, just like Mother didn’t have a choice. She saw herself as dead, all alone in a cold dark hole. Then she saw Mother, she was holding the red bird."

...

" Saphie was very afraid, but Mother would not lie to her, Mother would never hurt her. Mother was beautiful and loved her. She’d be safe, follow Mother. There’s a beautiful gate, there’s beautiful clouds all around. Saphie held a handful of the beautiful clouds- soft, beautiful white clouds. It was lovely. There was blood on the gate, fresh blood."

...

"Dead. Saphie was dead. She didn’t want to be dead. Everyone dies, who cares if it’s now or later, you still die. Mother’s white dress turned red, a deep, dark, wine-red. Saphie walked on. Mother no longer had the bird, it was on the ground- dead again. Things can’t die twice? The bird was never alive, Mother was dead. Why was she following Mother? She was dead. Turn around, go home, Father’s waiting for you. There’s a coffin, a beautiful white coffin with gold trim. Mother was gone, Saphie opened the coffin. There was sand inside- fine, gray, dry sand. The bird was inside too. He had moved from the ground to the coffin without her even noticing. Then the bird’s red wings turned black, his beak grew long and sharp. Its beady eyes glared at Saphie. Skreeeaooowichoooie! It flew up in a flurry of night and pecked Saphie in the face. Skritchawyafaawlt! Did it just say what she thought it said? Awyafaawlt! Yes, yes it did! It said it was all her fault! It knew. It knew she helped Tigger catch it, now it would kill her. Look at your shoes and it won’t see you, just look at your shoes- nice black, shiny shoes. Look at them. Don’t look up or you’ll die, look at the shoes. Meme bought her those shoes to go to church in. Saphie was in church now. Meme was in the coffin, not sand. There were no birds about, just Meme- dead. She was in there all alone, no one to comfort her. The big black bird would scare her too, but it wouldn’t be able to kill her- she was already dead. Don’t look at the coffin, you’ll cry. Look at your shoes, keep your eyes on your shoes. Remember, Meme bought them for you, they’re her shoes too. Keep an eye on them, don’t let the big black bird get them. It’s time to go now."