Mall Roaming Plaza

Business has been great today, the suited young man spoke to himself with a little smile. He reclined in his seat with his arms crossed as he watched the people go by. Sound filled his ears, immersing him in the bustling atmosphere of the large mall. Crowds formed and dispersed, spread and contracted, and moved about within the confines of the building. At the center of this contained chaos, Idleweiss had set up shop.

His sat behind two tables arranged in a v formation. One was covered with a diverse collection of origami along with more dynamic paper figures. Paper robots and horses towered over paper cranes and frogs. They all came with directions, so kids could do it themselves, share it with others and have fun. The other table consisted of caricatures and speed-artwork, which he claimed were done within three minutes. Two wooden eisels were set up behind the table, one for display purposes and another for requests.

To be honest, this had been more fun for him than work. The only trouble he had was securing a space in the mall, which wasn't too big a problem. He had managed to negotiate his way around all the little hoops he was expected to jump through and managed to land one of the best spots in the mall. Oh, and don't even ask how he managed to haul in all this stuff. Sometimes, he wished had an assistant, but he preferred things as they were.

From time to time, he'd have to build up his diminishing paper army and replace disappearing artwork as people bought them up. He had just finished replenishing his stock, so he was taking a breather. His eyes darted back and forth, scanning the crowd. Families, couples, groups of friends. Most everyone was together, having an enjoyable outing. He enjoyed people-watching, since it allowed him to see into the life of the crowds.

He readjusted his glasses just in time to spot another group of kids. Seeing them made him think about how good it was to be young. He grinned at the thought. As if he was old. He could feel an amalgamation of personalities among them as they traversed the mall. He suddenly felt something. What was it? Inspiration. It was a good feeling to have something growing in his mind and like a baby, would be born onto his next canvas.

"Sure thing." Idleweiss eyed his next potential customer and immediately slid over to his eisel, gathering painting tools. "Any requests?" He twirled his two and a half inch brush between his fingers as he peeked from behind the canvas. He enjoyed the challenge of speed and perfection. He would see how quickly and accurately he can make the image. He's done this race so many times, didn't even need a clock to tell time. However...

"You can time me, right?" he grinned. "When you're ready." With with color pallet to his left and brushes to his right, he decided to aim for 2:32. He knew he couldn't be too intense though, as there could be other potential customers around. Taking a deep breath, he waited for the go ahead.

His hands began to blur. Idleweiss prized his hands above all else. After all, they allowed him to do such amazing things. He felt glad his parents had pushed him when he was younger. His heart sunk. The thought of his family choked him up a bit, but he swallowed his feelings as we spread paint across the board. He went with a mostly warm pallet, aiming for a desert storm scene. "...37, 38, 39..." His mind moved time along with every stroke. The sky began to take on a light violet tint, as clouds obscured the night sky. "...1:18, 1:19, 1:20..."

He laid down the dusty desert floor with a dry brush, pressing firmly as he spread the color. Next, he took a little of the same color and mixed in a dab of white and began creating dunes, creating arches that blended together with the previous coat. "...1:59, 2:00, 2:01..."

Once he finished up the dunes, easiest part came. Taking a liner brush and some paint thinner, mixing it with some yellow and white, making sure it came out thin like ink. With his pointed brush, lined the sky with various sharp strokes, loosely drawing on the canvas. "...2:31, 2:32, 2:33."

Darn, he just missed his mark. "Done." He gave the young man a thumbs up before turning the canvas around

"Nah, it isn't that big a deal, when you do what you wanna do. Decide for yourself and you can do pretty much anything you wanna do. That's how I live, anyway." Listen to me, talking about my way of life, as if it were a big deal. He laughed to himself as he shook the young man's hand firmly."Jonathan, eh? Well, tell ya what. I'll let you keep the painting, free of charge. Consider it a gift from World Tour Artist Idleweiss."

He leaned back in his seat, clasping his hands together as he watched the straightforward teenager. "That's a nice observation. People on a World Tour usually wouldn't set up in a mall." Indeed Jonathan was right. What right would a guy like he to call himself a World Tour Artist? That's easy, he thought to himself.

"Well, it's not like I haven't been traveling the world. I just don't let myself get tied down by other people's labels and definitions for what I do. From large gallery openings to peddling artwork on the side of the road, I do what I feel. It's all about freedom."

Pulling the painting from the eisel, he eyed it carefully, glancing back and forth from it towards his customer until finally...

"Well, I don't intend to force my good will onto you. What is your offer?" he grinned up at Jonathan.

Idleweiss stared attentively at Jonathan as he sat down. A teacher around his age? He hadn't done it yet or really considered it. His curiosity began to peak and he grabbed a bottle of water to cool himself down. Teaching at a new school where the young teach the young. His teachers had mostly been old guys, so it was kind of a cool idea. All he'd been getting lately were the dirty jobs, so teaching might be a welcome change of pace. "Alright, I'll do it. Though, I may or may not teach about art," he grinned. "So, what's this school called?"

Idleweiss tossed the name around in his head. "No, GIA is a pretty good name. If you don't like it, couldn't you all just change the name anyway," he replied. "Anyways, it's not really the name that's important. It's more about the spirit of the institution, don't ya think?" The traveling artist began to notice a few customers appearing behind his new acquaintance and decided it was time to wrap things up. Sliding him a piece of paper, he asked for an address and number. "Since this is a new school, I doubt I could just look it up in the phone book."