She blushed as he managed to create something beautiful out of her mess but then again he had the magic fingers that guided a brush. “You’re really amazing love. My side is going to look silly compared to yours,” she giggled in embarrassment as she tried copying what he did.
“But at least I can take pictures of how you look right now all smeared up~” she finished, tone light and teasing again.
“I’d like that,” he said, beaming at the thought. “We can each put our talents to use. And it would be wonderful if we could get some photos of this saved for the future.”
Jack picked up the bowl of paint, then paused. “What if, instead of painting our own butterfly, we paint each other’s? We can show how we see the other.”
“Then I’ll definitely need to make it something special!” she cheered, rolling up imaginary sleeves as she set about getting the colors she would need. “And try my best to represent you.” The thought excited her a great deal, giving her new fuel as she set to work making a new rough sketch and trying her best to really make a butterfly as he had before transferring it over onto the actual canvas.
She worked hard, mixing colors of blue, purple, silver and green and even trying to make a trail of sparkles coming off the wings. She concentrated hard on the details, her mind projecting butterfly pictures she had seen for reference. If it didn’t look right, she would try her best to paint over it and mix again.
It had to be perfect.
While Katelynn worked on her section, Jack continued to mix the colors he associated with his beloved. He made a soft outline in creamy peach, only just visible on the white canvas, and marked out the butterfly’s eyes in rich brown. Its antennae became the same sandy brown he’d mixed for Katelynn’s hair, and he made them feathery, more like a moth than a butterfly.
And that gave him an idea.
As Jack painted the wings, he gave them long, elegant tassels, like a luna moth. Shades of warm peach and tan, highlights in blue and gold, some white streaks, black hightlights … he finished by giving it a pair of eyespots, delicately marked in a rainbow pattern that stood out strikingly against the soft colors of the wings.
Jack Maple 