The Muralist's Conversation With The Developer

Developer: "So, I really like what I've seen of your work - Your compositions fill spaces without overwhelming them, the colors you use pop, your imagery is first rate - really like all the flowers, especially the hypericum androsaemums. There's one thing though..."

Muralist: "Hmm? What's that?"

Developer: "Well...it's your hands. I mean, not your hands -  the hands you use to draw and paint with, I mean your hands as in the hands you draw and paint in a lot of your work."

Muralist: "I'm afraid I'm not following you. The hands I depict in my murals are somewhat of my hallmark, it's how people can readily identify one of my pieces. Also, I very much like drawing and painting hands - do you not like hands? Or is it just the way I depict hands?"

Developer: "Oh, no, no, don't misread me on this - I very much like hands, absolutely love them! It's just your hands, the ones you paint, are so...overly graceful. They're all beautiful, like the hands of the very best hand models who ever lived. Thin, graceful fingers, tipped by expertly manicured fingernails. That's just too much...beauty."

Muralist: "Waitaminute...What?" What are you saying, you want me to incorporate uglier hands into the mural you're commissioning?"

Developer: "No, not uglier, I don't want uglier hands at all, actually. I just want them less graceful. I want them to be more like, like Bernie Wrightson hands."

Muralist: "Bernie Wrightson hands?" You mean hands like Bernie Wrightson would draw on all the freaks and zombies in the books he illustrated?"

Developer: "Yes! Exactly, just like that! That's exactly what I mean!"

Muralist: "I don't know about that - for starters, it could get me labeled a swipe artist, and I'm no swipe artist. Plus, the type of gnarled shapes Wrightson twisted hands into really doesn't lend itself to what I'm trying to convey in my murals..."

Developer: "Are you willing to compromise a little" You could put at least one Bernie Wrightson hand in the mural, and however many graceful hands you want in the rest of it - but there's got to be at least one Bernie Wrightson hand - think of it as a homage, or a memorial."

Muralist: "Hmm...okay, I think I have an idea of how this compromise might work, and I do like the idea of including a Wrightson hand as a memorial. That man was very talented and left us much too soon. Okay, you get one Wrightson hand in the mural, but just the one."

Developer: "Great! Let's shake on it!" 

And with the those words the developer extended his right hand, fingers bent and twisted from years of arthritis...