Masterpiece

If only he could paint the woman of his dreams on canvas
But there are always roadblocks when one tries to create
Sometimes he would fumble on the strokes
Other times there was something wrong with the texture
And he was never sure just which one was the right brush
There was only one thing he was sure of and that was color

She had to have long hair that was auburn in color
She had to come to life on his canvas
Her hair had to look real enough to brush
She would have the most beautiful green eyes he could create
Her skin has to be rosy and of the softest glowing texture
He would capture her on linen even if it took 1000 strokes

He found himself obsessing over strokes
He mixed paint again and again trying to get her skin the right color
Each part of her hair and skin and face had to be the right texture
For years he worked on that one canvas
He would take breaks from the other art he was trying to create
He would stand in front of her holding his palette and brush

At night he would close his eyes and reach out an imaginary brush
In his dreams he would practice making perfect strokes
His friends left him alone so he could create
He was lost in a world of composition and color
He only left the studio to buy more paints and canvas
He studied Botticelli and Rembrandt to learn to paint skin texture

Eventually her skin took on a soft and glowing texture
Her auburn hair looked real enough to brush
She became his dream girl on that canvas
He was finally close to finishing her with a few more strokes
He just had to tweak a few more spots of color
And at last she became the dream girl he always wanted to create

She reached her hand out to touch her creator
She rubbed her fingers over his old face to feel the texture
She looked at his mottled graying skin color
She reached over and grabbed his wet paintbrush
He gasped for breath and stumbled as he had three strokes
They found him laying face down on the canvas

They rolled his body over to examine his color, "I wonder what he was trying to create?"
"He's just laying here on this giant blank canvas." They examined his body for its texture
"Look, I think he dropped this brush. See over here where it spattered this auburn color."