-
Margaret Lukas
a book bubble about
Farthest House
Literature & Fiction
Author Insight
Facing ourselves
"White Mask" is Willow’s first successful painting. It’s successful not for its masterful execution—she’s still learning how to paint—but it’s successful because it moves her. I really believe that’s the purpose and value of all art. The painting is a symbol of her fears; she sees that. It represents her inability to be her authentic self. She is afraid of being vulnerable and attacked again. What she must learn is that not being authentic, hiding one’s self, is a form of self-attack. I have incredible belief in a person’s ability to change. I’ve seen it in my own life. So I don’t want "White Mask" to serve as a reminder of how poorly she’s doing. I want the painting to be a mirror, but filled with hope and a promise of what waits for her when she steps out of the dark place in her psyche. In the scene, Willow realizes these things. She still lacks the courage to make the leap, but she’s looking in that mirror, which is a huge first step.
Book Excerpt
Farthest House
On the canvas, grays, greens, umbers, and sables dominated. A girl, half hidden in the shadows of overarching trees, crouched in undergrowth along a forest’s edge. She wore a mask: a wide square of bone-colored birch bark with two dark eyeholes.
Willow smiled to herself and sat down on her bed. She never imagined Mary would one day be standing in her room, having all but broken in, to see a painting. “It’s not weird or creepy, she’s just hiding,” Willow said. “She’s scared to come out of the woods and into this world. It’s called White Mask.”
Mary glowered, “Stupid.”
“When she does come out, the mask will fall off. She’s been hiding her whole life because she knows if she takes a face everything will change.”
Amazon
Barnes&Noble
Apple Books
Kobo
Click Follow to receive emails when this author adds content on Bublish
Comment on this Bubble
Your comment and a link to this bubble will also appear in your Facebook feed.