The Cloud Painter

We had wandered through the art show…enduring all the crowds when he happened upon an artist…who only painted clouds. “Excuse me”, we said asking the obvious, “and this is by no means a complaint but we have to ask if clouds…are the only things you paint. The artist smiled then turned toward us and silently shook his head “I like to think I’m painting more than just the clouds.” he said. Then he walked us around his different paintings, commenting as he went showing us with each new frame…exactly what he meant. “These clouds depict happiness, you can feel the joy…the fun. Why it’s as if they all are smiling as they’re backlit by the sun.” “And these clouds show a sadness,, a sorrow, or a pain. You can sense they are about to cry, and their tears will be the rain.” “And look at these sunrises and sunsets, painted in colors bright and loud. They would not be near as beautiful…if not for the clouds.” “Do you notice how each painting is different, it’s because clouds constantly rearrange reminding us how life is always changing, but there is beauty in the change.” “All these clouds are simply clouds,” he continued, ”though they may have different names. Like them our beauty is in our differences… and like then we’re all the same.” He took us to each painting, sometimes he spoke softly, sometimes loud and by the end we were convinced he does paint more than clouds. We thanked him for the lesson, it was enlightening…and so much more for we will never look at clouds the way we did before… But what made us smile, as we left, was a voice shaky and faint as a young girl asked, “Hey mister, are clouds the only thing you paint?”