"Simon was an eternal optimist"
Meet Simon. Simon is a struggling artist, forced to paint houses to pay the bills. Simon is an eternal optimist. Simon is known to be the best house painter in town, even though it takes him three times as long to paint the same amount of space. Everyone says its because he puts so much more effort into it. Simon knows the truth. He knows that painting a wall is easy. Simon paints murals. He paints epic murals--abstract masterpieces--that express the deepest feelings of his soul. Then Simon paints over his murals with sage green and white trim. Bob and Maureen Johnson have no idea that under their beige and neutral brown medium gloss fast-drying, long-wearing bedroom paint lies the love of Simon's life. He painted her, three times life size, nude, along one wall and onto the ceiling. In the Neilson's bathroom Simon painted a great sea-faring ship, all beautiful lines and billowing sails. All they see is a calming sea-foam grey. The Goldstein's kitchen contains Simon's entire life story, from birth, year by year, till his own prophecied death. He laid it all out, how his life would go, who he would marry, who he would know, what his children would look like. It hides beneath a buttery warm yellow matte, with green and white accents.
Over the years Simon has put every bit of himself into the houses he's painted. Each room has a little bit of his soul. No one understands why you can always tell if a house was painted by Simon. It is because his presence lingers forever after. In all those years, Simon never got a break as an artist. He never had a single painting hung in a gallery. Indeed, he was repeatedly told that his peices were rubbish, good enough only to be thrown away and quickly forgotten. Simon knows the truth though. He knows that his masterpeices, his works of genius are hidden all over the city, some in the very houses of the gallery curators who reject him. Simon understands that he puts his heart into these, and has nothing left to put into the flimsy studio productions.
The life Simon painted for himself didn't ever happen. He never married, he never met the people he painted in the Goldstein's kitchen, nor had those children. None of the dreams Simon Painted in hundreds of bedrooms ever came true. And no one ever saw any of his greatest works. No one even knew they existed. But when Simon died he was not sad because he knew that his true spirit was hidden and safe on the walls of his city. It didn't matter that no one could ever see it. It was enough to Simon to know that it existed, safe and secret under layers of paint.
Over the years Simon has put every bit of himself into the houses he's painted. Each room has a little bit of his soul. No one understands why you can always tell if a house was painted by Simon. It is because his presence lingers forever after. In all those years, Simon never got a break as an artist. He never had a single painting hung in a gallery. Indeed, he was repeatedly told that his peices were rubbish, good enough only to be thrown away and quickly forgotten. Simon knows the truth though. He knows that his masterpeices, his works of genius are hidden all over the city, some in the very houses of the gallery curators who reject him. Simon understands that he puts his heart into these, and has nothing left to put into the flimsy studio productions.
The life Simon painted for himself didn't ever happen. He never married, he never met the people he painted in the Goldstein's kitchen, nor had those children. None of the dreams Simon Painted in hundreds of bedrooms ever came true. And no one ever saw any of his greatest works. No one even knew they existed. But when Simon died he was not sad because he knew that his true spirit was hidden and safe on the walls of his city. It didn't matter that no one could ever see it. It was enough to Simon to know that it existed, safe and secret under layers of paint.