ANNE BROOKE

"Painting from Life" is a short story about an artist who discovers that his muse is not at all what he expected. Indeed, love is never what you think. When a painter goes beyond the degree of intimacy that provides the connection between him and his newly-discovered muse, he is forced to undergo a re-evaluation of the true meaning of love. In a strange twist on the Dorian Gray theme, perhaps the artist steals the subject’s essence as love and art meld into one.