Pictures Of Hollis Woods

One Monday, Hollis is sketching when Josie announces that Mondays are when Beatrice comes for dinner, and she soon arrives with generous portions of Chinese takeout. Beatrice sees one of Hollis’s drawings on the table and is so impressed she asks Hollis to bring out others. Beatrice doesn’t eat anything until she’s looked through every drawing, and then she says, “Imagine. I never saw anyone who was able to do this, […] and I was an art teacher for forty years” (43). Josie agrees.

After dinner, Beatrice shows Hollis some drawing techniques. Hollis asks her to improve her own drawings, but Beatrice refuses, saying that art reflects a person’s true perspective and that sometimes drawings contain truths even the artist does not consciously know. Hollis remembers the Old Man telling her something similar. Beatrice goes further, noting that “You, the artist, can’t hide from the world, because you’re putting yourself down there too” (45) and pointing out that Hollis clearly loves Josie based on one drawing. This prompts Beatrice to wonder if she should take a long-planned painting trip to New Mexico at last because she can leave Josie safely in Hollis’s hands. The chapter ends with Beatrice emphasizing how great Hollis’s gift is and how lucky she is; Hollis feels overwhelmed by the compliment.