Cliff liked his village for the quietness, the peacefulness, and the absence of passing traffic, but mostly he liked the blank brick walls and fences in the main street and the little lanes. Some of the walls had been painted over and over again \u2014 they were the best, he always thought, they provided the canvas he loved for his swirling paint cans, and the best place for him to draw the designs that grew in his head for a long time before he put them out there in public. He would check these walls out time and again, walking past with his jacket hood over his head and surreptitiously glancing to the side so as not to raise suspicions by showing too much interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He wasn\u2019t sure quite how his obsession started, but somewhere in his youth he found out that he could draw \u2014 a \u2018little weirdly at times\u2019<\/em>, his teacher reported to his parents at one end of year students\u2019 review. She went on to suggest that he should have some \u2018psychological assessment\u2019, which would be offered by the school; it would be free of charge, she said, but they would have to wait six months for an appointment. This never happened: his \u2018little problem\u2019 got lost in the mire of other family stuff; another baby and another mouth to feed; dad lost his job at the council; mum couldn\u2019t cope; grandma died. These events affected everyone in his family one way or another but for Cliff they were a gift \u2014 no one focused on him, no one asked him what he was doing or where he was going, and he just got on with doing the thing he liked to do. He drew. He drew anything, anywhere \u2014 at first in notebooks he found in the dusty attic at home, then on computer paper that he took from school, packed quickly into his bag as he passed the general office on his way home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cliff liked the feeling of starting a drawing on a clean unlined and unused surface; he liked the way his shapes sometimes merged, but mostly he liked the way he could round out a design in fat comic letters, like connected sausages, spelling out his secret name with big sweeps of his pencil and filling in the middle with shading. He worked quickly, getting quicker and quicker with each passing day and at night he would prop his drawings against his bedside lamp, stand back and check out his work \u2014 and he was well pleased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was content just drawing for a while, but then the desire to do his designs on something bigger began to occupy his thoughts day and night. He took to the street: any street, any fence, any wall became his target. He saved his money from his after-school job in the corner milk-bar and purchased small pots of paint and searched for spay-cans and paint cans in curbside rubbish every day and hid his findings away in his bedroom cupboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He wouldn\u2019t touch anyone else\u2019s work as a rule \u2014 and never touched good wall-murals \u2014 although once he got really cross at the message of \u2018hope and peace\u2019<\/em> that someone had painted over the work he had done the week before, and Cliff painted boldly right over it the next night. He was stealthy in the dark and worked speedily, waiting for a train to pass, passing car-lights to fade, house-lights to go out. And this was the thrill; sitting in the dark behind the side of a house he felt an excitement he couldn\u2019t name and he couldn\u2019t wait for the next opportunity \u2014 the next time he could sneak out of the house into the dark while everyone slept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then he was caught out. He had become careless because he didn\u2019t seem to be visible to anyone and he assumed he wasn\u2019t. His mother found his hidden bag of paints. That night his father was waiting for him when he came home, his eyes glinting in the filtered light from the street lamp as he watched Cliff creep in quietly. His father wasn\u2019t angry, but what he said, with his head down and his shoulders hunched in his chair, affected Cliff in a way he hadn\u2019t felt for a long time. He felt remorse. His father told him about the effect that irresponsible painting on private property had on the homeowner, how they worried and worked with scrubbing brushes and buckets to clean up after it happened, how they felt about their community buildings being painted on and defiled. Most of all<\/em>, his father said, people feel very sad when it happens<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the first time in a long time, Cliff felt noticed, and understood, and cared about, and his life changed. He might no longer have the thrill of illicit graffiti outings, the pleasurable gut feeling of knowing he might be caught out at any moment, but that night he knew he would burn his tag name and start talking to his family again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cliff liked his village for the quietness, the peacefulness, and the absence of passing traffic, but mostly he liked the blank brick walls and fences …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":3618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[327,394,8,10],"class_list":["post-3617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-barbara-mccarthy","tag-graffiti","tag-mountain-ash-chapter","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pff1uY-Wl","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3268,"url":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=3268","url_meta":{"origin":3617,"position":0},"title":"Low Tide","author":"Kel White","date":"February 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"His hands crease around his empty coffee mug like old leather. Paint peppers his fingers, flaking off under the flex of his grip. Brown tide marks circle the faded ceramic to punctuate his cumulative breaks. Boats float in the water, tugging against their moorings like dogs on tightened leashes.\u00a0The sun\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Stories","link":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/annie-spratt-KjxH1eHFb8w-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=801%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/annie-spratt-KjxH1eHFb8w-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=801%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/annie-spratt-KjxH1eHFb8w-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=801%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/annie-spratt-KjxH1eHFb8w-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=801%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3475,"url":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=3475","url_meta":{"origin":3617,"position":1},"title":"Lume Impressionism Ignites!","author":"Bethany Sinclair-Giardini","date":"April 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The lights danced around the auditorium. A riot of colour. These twin traits are the very epitome of Impressionism. Names from my childhood returned to me, bringing a wave of nostalgia. Nostalgic due to my mum. We spent a lot of time during my childhood admiring the works of Renoir,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travelarium"","block_context":{"text":"Travelarium","link":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_0235-scaled.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_0235-scaled.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_0235-scaled.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_0235-scaled.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4526,"url":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=4526","url_meta":{"origin":3617,"position":2},"title":"Knot","author":"Kel White","date":"June 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I know it's trendy to look down on modern art. But what most people don\u2019t know is they\u2019re confusing modern art and contemporary art; they\u2019re two different genres, and about 150 years apart from one another. What I\u2019m looking at now, is contemporary art. And it is worth looking down\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Stories","link":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/mohamed-ziyaadh-hL4Eqvmhco8-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C812&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/mohamed-ziyaadh-hL4Eqvmhco8-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C812&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/mohamed-ziyaadh-hL4Eqvmhco8-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C812&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/mohamed-ziyaadh-hL4Eqvmhco8-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C812&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/mohamed-ziyaadh-hL4Eqvmhco8-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C812&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2152,"url":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=2152","url_meta":{"origin":3617,"position":3},"title":"Lily","author":"Helen Jahn","date":"August 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The last time he saw her was at his father\u2019s funeral. It took a moment only to notice the vaguely familiar face but it wasn\u2019t until the final dirge-like hymn that the penny finally dropped. Dave couldn\u2019t be sure of which brain connections collided with which memories that led him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Stories","link":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nick-karvounis-axOBcLLvV_Q-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=960%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nick-karvounis-axOBcLLvV_Q-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=960%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nick-karvounis-axOBcLLvV_Q-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=960%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nick-karvounis-axOBcLLvV_Q-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=960%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3850,"url":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=3850","url_meta":{"origin":3617,"position":4},"title":"Gifted","author":"Kel White","date":"September 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Armitage Shanks could never simply present a gift to a friend. You'd think that\u2014the selection of the gift aside\u2014it would be the easiest thing in the world. 'Here is a box with coloured paper around, now unwrap it and receive a reward for your efforts'. \u00a0 But no.\u00a0 Not for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Stories","link":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/kira-auf-der-heide-IPx7J1n_xUc-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/kira-auf-der-heide-IPx7J1n_xUc-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/kira-auf-der-heide-IPx7J1n_xUc-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/kira-auf-der-heide-IPx7J1n_xUc-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/kira-auf-der-heide-IPx7J1n_xUc-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3385,"url":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=3385","url_meta":{"origin":3617,"position":5},"title":"The Kookaburra’s Garden","author":"Bethany Sinclair-Giardini","date":"March 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It was a quiet day in the garden. The wind had dropped and there was a silence that was almost deafening. The soil was void of footprints. There was no rustling in the undergrowth.\u00a0 The lack of human hands witnessed the overflowing of the flowers across the formal boundaries of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mountain Life"","block_context":{"text":"Mountain Life","link":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_9957.jpeg?fit=622%2C493&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_9957.jpeg?fit=622%2C493&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_9957.jpeg?fit=622%2C493&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/benjamin-finley-SI2p7RnPT8s-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1707%2C2560&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3617"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3619,"href":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3617\/revisions\/3619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}