Mo and the Magic Mirror (with process pictures and an audio sample of the story)

I finally finished my fourth Mo!
This was a story I still really wanted to tell about this lovely guy, but I think this is gonna be the last one for a while.

If you're interested (and haven't read already), here are my posts about the first three paintings and stories:

Mo and the Egg-Bird
Mo and the Lonely Flower
Mo and the Travelling Giraffe

I had a bit of a struggle with this one to be honest. I worked on it for a few weeks on and off, because several times I got to a point where I didn't know what it needed anymore and I got a bit stuck.
So I had to let it sit for a few days to be able to look at it again with fresh eyes after some time had passed.

These are my first sketches for the painting. It's always a bit of tinkering about with Mo's poses.
I thought about including all of those into the animation, so that Mo would kind of lean back and forth. But I decided against it. Not because it would have been significantly more work ^^ but because I think the magic of my Mo-pieces is the very subtle animation and small movements, so it still remains a painting on the whole.

I also played around with the colors a bit. I somehow wanted it to be different from the other Mo-paintings and tried out some darker colors. It's mostly dark in the story as well, so I thought it would fit better than my usual palette.
But Mo didn't seem to go well with those colors ^^ He got a bit drowned by them. I wanted him to be in stronger contrast to the colors around him, so in the end I settled for the lighter palette again.

On the picture above you can also see the first version of the mirror.
For a few days I tinkered about with the composition and how to find the right balance between Mo, the Mirror-Mo and the position of the colors.

For a while the painting then looked like this:

But like the animation of his whole body, this would have been too much for poor Mo ^^
He is more a quite and humble man, who enjoys the small things in life, and he would drown in too much color at once.

The round mirror made a huge difference and was the final idea that saved me ^^
I knew that something was still wrong with the picture but for days I couldn't make out what it was.
It's funny how the simplest ideas don't come to our mind sometimes.

Like for all my Mo-paintings I wrote a little story for this one too. And this time I even recorded it and included the audio version as unlockable content when I minted it on OpenSea! Now when somebody purchases this Mo, he gets access to the full high quality audio recording of the story :-)
By the way, here is the link to my OpenSea-Gallery, where this painting is available for purchase: https://opensea.io/collection/life-of-mo

I'm very lucky that my man is such an audio wizard and could help me with that. And it was great to revive our little home studio again :-)

Here you can listen to a little audio sample, the beginning of the story, while watching lovely Mo blink and tap his foot ^^

And here you have the whole story in written form :-)

Mo and the Magic Mirror

Mo was a bit confused today. He almost made a camomille tea in the morning instead of his usual mint tea. And to make it worse he tried to pour it into in one of his shoes instead of a cup!

He just couldn't really concentrate. There was this dream he had last night that he couldn't stop thinking about. He usually couldn't remember his dreams but this one was different, he remembered all the details and feelings he had. So he figured this must have been a special dream, an important one!

Mo tried to do some simple chores but after he failed to clean the window with the stump of a candle and found himself mopping the floor with his hat, he decided that it's no use. So he sat down in his favorite arm chair by the fireplace and let his thoughts wander back to the dream he had.

He was in a forest. It looked quite like the one Mo passed through on his occasional walks. There was no path but somehow Mo knew which way to go. There was some place he had to go to. So he walked, or rather floated, deeper into the thick forest.

The trees seemed to change their shape the farther he went. They turned from brown to grey and at some point their surface looked more like stone than wood. But Mo didn't wonder about that at all. The weirdest things often seem perfectly normal in dreams.

And suddenly he was there. The forest was gone and Mo stood in a big room that looked like an entrance hall. It was so huge that he couldn't even see the ceiling! Just like before he knew exactly where to go and he went towards a staircase to his left.

The stairs led down and it was quite dark, but Mo was not afraid. It felt like he was on his way to a place where he had already been before, a long time ago, when he was a child. And he was happy to get back there after so many years.

At the end of the staircase he found a door. It was closed and Mo could see no handle. But he reached out with his hand anyways and suddenly a golden door knob appeared.

He stood in a small room now. It was still dark, although there was an open window to Mo's right. Needless to say that he didn't wonder at all about a window to be that far under the earth.

There was something else in the room. A mirror, and there was a warm glow coming from it.

Mo suddenly felt a great joy coming over him and he stepped closer to the mirror. He knew what he would see in it and he couldn't wait!

Of course he saw himself. Up to this point everything was like it should be. The odd thing was that the Mo in the mirror looked completely different from the one in front of it!

Usually when Mo looked into a mirror he just saw a pale face with a grey hat on it. But this Mirror-Mo was completely covered in colors! His hat was blue and green, his face and body were yellow, orange and pink! And there seemed to be a golden glim all around him!

But Mo didn't wonder about that at all (at least not while he was dreaming). It was like meeting a dear old friend, one that he had missed for a long time.

He felt such overwhelming joy and happiness in his heart! He wanted to hug his friend, his dear old friend Mo! He took another step towards the mirror. He reached out and Mirror-Mo did the same on the other side of the glass.

Their hands almost touched each other and Mo felt his heart beating in his chest. He had waited for this for so long, it was like he had finally found his missing part again!

And then the scene changed. Mo was in another room now, lying in a bed, the sun gently shining through the curtains. He blinked and then he realized.

This wasn't a dream anymore, he had woken up.

He sighed. What a wonderful dream that had been! He could still feel the joy in his heart. Oh, he wanted to go back to sleep and dream that dream again!

His world suddenly felt a bit empty, like there was something important missing now, but he couldn't really figure out what it was.

He spent almost the entire next day sitting in his arm chair thinking about it and remembering the happiness he had felt in his dream.

But eventually he got back to his everyday life and the strong feeling of emptiness slowly faded among his daily routines.

However, the memory and the questions stayed with him.

From time to time something reminded him of the dream; when he was walking in nature enjoying all the beautiful little things around him, or when he had a friendly encounter with someone who inspired him. In those moments he almost felt the same joy he had when he had seen his colorful self in that mirror.

So maybe it is that simple, Mo thought. Maybe if I just keep doing the things that fill my heart with happiness I'm gonna find my missing part someday.
<3

And like always, the story again in German for my family at home <3

Mo und der Magische Spiegel

Mo stand etwas neben sich heute. Am Morgen hätte er sich beinahe einen Kamillentee gemacht statt seines üblichen Pfefferminztees. Und zu allem Überfluss hatte er versucht, seinen Tee in einen seiner Schuhe zu füllen anstatt einer Tasse!

Er konnte sich einfach nicht recht konzentrieren. Da war dieser Traum den er letzte Nacht hatte, und er konnte einfach nicht aufhören, darüber nachzudenken. Normalerweise erinnerte er sich nicht an seine Träume, aber dieses Mal war es anders. Er wusste noch jedes kleine Detail und Gefühl, das er hatte.

Dieser musste also ein besonderer Traum gewesen sein, ein wichtiger!

Mo versuchte sich an ein paar einfachen Hausarbeiten, doch als er scheiterte, die Fenster mit einem Kerzenstummel zu putzen und sich dabei ertappte, wie er den Boden mit seinem Hut wischen wollte, entschied er, dass es keinen Sinn hatte.

So setzte er sich in seinen Lieblingssessel am Kamin und ließ seine Gedanken zurück zu seinem Traum wandern.

Er war in einem Wald. Dieser Wald sah fast so aus wie jener, den Mo auf seinen Spaziergängen oft passierte. Es gab keinen Weg, aber irgendwie wusste Mo genau wohin er gehen musste. Es gab einen Ort, den er finden musste. Also ging, oder eher schwebte, er immer tiefer in den dichten Wald hinein.

Die Bäume schienen ihre Form zu verändern, je weiter er vordrang. Sie wechselten die Farbe von braun zu grau und irgendwann sah ihre Oberfläche eher wie Stein aus, denn wie Holz. Aber Mo wunderte sich überhaupt nicht darüber. Die merkwürdigsten Dinge scheinen oft völlig normal in Träumen.

Und plötzlich war er da. Der Wald war verschwunden und Mo stand in einem großen Raum, der eine Eingangshalle zu sein schien. Sie war so groß, dass Mo die Decke nicht mehr sehen konnte!

Wie schon zuvor wusste er genau, wohin er sich wenden musste und ging auf eine Treppe zu seiner Linken zu.

Die Treppe führte tief hinunter und es war recht dunkel. Doch Mo hatte keine Angst. Er hatte das Gefühl auf dem Weg zu sein zu einem Ort, an dem er früher schon einmal gewesen war, vielleicht als Kind. Und er freute sich darauf, zurückzukehren nach so vielen Jahren!

Am Ende der Treppe fand er eine Tür. Sie war verschlossen und Mo konnte auch keine Klinke entdecken. Doch er streckte trotzdem seine Hand aus, und plötzlich erschien ein goldener Türknauf.

Er stand jetzt in einem kleineren Zimmer. Es war noch immer recht düster, obwohl sich rechts von Mo ein offenes Fenster befand. Unnötig zu erwähnen, dass es Mo keineswegs wunderte, ein Fenster so tief unter der Erde vorzufinden.

Etwas anderes befand sich auch in dem Raum. Ein Spiegel, und es schien als käme ein warmes Leuchten aus seinem Inneren.

Mo fühlte plötzlich eine Welle der Freude über ihn kommen und er ging ein paar Schritte näher auf den Spiegel zu. Er wusste, was er sehen würde, und er konnte es kaum erwarten!

Natürlich sah er sich selbst. Bis hierhin war alles wie es sein sollte. Das Eigenartige war, dass der Mo im Spiegel komplett anders aussah als jener davor!

Normalerweise, wenn Mo in einen Spiegel blickte, sah er nur ein blasses Gesicht mit einem grauen Hut darauf. Dieser Spiegel-Mo jedoch strahlte in allen Farben des Regebogens! Sein Hut war grün und blau und sein Gesicht und Körper waren gelb, orange und pink! Und er schien zu leuchten!

Aber Mo wunderte sich nicht darüber (zumindest nicht, während er träumte). Ihm war, als würde er einen lieben alten Freund wiedersehen, einen, den er seit einer Ewigkeit schon vermisst hatte.

Er fühlte eine so unbändige Freude in seinem Herzen! Er wollte seinen Freund umarmen, seinen lieben alten Freund Mo! Er ging noch einen Schritt auf den Spiegel zu und streckte seine Hand aus. Der Mo im Spiegel tat es ihm nach.

Ihre Hände berührten sich fast und Mo fühlte sein Herz laut schlagen in seiner Brust. Er hatte so lange auf diesen Moment gewartet, es war als hätte er endlich einen fehlenden Teil von ihm wiedergefunden!

Und dann veränderte sich die Szene wieder. Mo war jetzt in einem anderen Raum. Er lag in einem Bett, die Sonne schien zart durch die Vorhänge. Er blinzelte und dann verstand er.

Dies war kein Traum mehr, er war aufgewacht.

Er seufzte. Was für ein wundervoller Traum dies gewesen war! Er konnte noch immer die Freude und Wärme in seinem Herzen spüren. Oh, er wollte wieder einschlafen und den Traum noch einmal träumen!

Plötzlich erschien ihm seine Welt etwas leer, als würde etwas Wichtiges fehlen, aber er konnte nicht recht ausmachen, was es war.

Er verbrachte beinahe den ganzen nächsten Tag in seinem Sessel. Er dachte an den Traum und spürte den schönen Gefühlen nach, die er gehabt hatte.

Aber schließlich wandte er sich wieder seinem Alltag zu und das starke Gefühl der Leere wurde überlagert von seinen täglichen Routinen.

Jedoch, die Erinnerung und auch die Fragen blieben bei ihm.

Hin und wieder erinnerte ihn etwas an den Traum. Wenn er draußen in der Natur spazierte und sich an all den schönen kleinen Dinge um sich herum erfreute. Oder wenn er eine freundliche Begegnung hatte mit jemandem, der ihn inspirierte. In diesen Momenten fühlte er fast die gleiche große Freude die in ihm aufgekommen war, als er sich selbst in allen Farben in dem Spiegel gesehen hatte.

Also vielleicht ist es tatsächlich so einfach, dachte sich Mo. Wenn ich einfach weiterhin all jene Dinge tu die mein Herz mit Freude erfüllen, vielleicht finde ich dann eines Tages meinen fehlenden Teil wieder.
<3

Thank you for reading <3

Art-Portfolio on Creary: https://creary.net/@anafae/projects
Twitter: https://twitter.com/anafae_art
Gallery on NFT-Showroom: https://nftshowroom.com/anafae/gallery
Gallery on OpenSea: https://opensea.io/collection/life-of-mo

all images by me