"You call that a creative critique? Anyway, I like yellow. It's the color of sunflowers--it's cheery." And it would have been relatively easy to paint over, if Alec had decided to use his canvas himself.

But, not to be outdone, he cleans his brush and adds a hint of black to a puddle of white on the palette, turning it a pale gray with the palette knife. He places a gray smudge beside the yellow on the canvas.

"There, more your speed?"