Conor's Canvas

Cover: 196 x 130mm. Spine: 5.6mm

p and a s

Conor’s

35

Canvas words Gillian Perdue pictures Michael Connor

Gillian Perdue Michael Connor

GILLIAN PERDUE has also written Conor’s Cowboy Suit and Conor’s Concert in the PANDA series, as well as Adam’s Starling for older readers.

C O N O R’ S C A N VA S

Conor’s class are painting special pictures for a show.

There are pictures of flowers, pets, friends.

But Conor’s canvas is weird.

It’s just splashes and splodges of paint.

It’s a mess – or is it?

ISBN 978-1-84717-043-9

9 781847 170439

Beginner Readers

O'BRIEN

p and a s for

pan

d a 35

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PANDA books are for young readers making their own way through books.

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O’BRIEN SERIES FOR YOUNG READERS

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Conor’s Canvas GILLIAN PERDUE Pictures by Michael Connor

THE O’BRIEN PRESS DUBLIN

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First published in 2007 by The O’Brien Press Ltd, 12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, D06 HD27, Ireland.

Tel: +353 1 4923333; Fax: +353 1 4922777 E-mail: books@obrien.ie Website: www.obrien.ie CBI edition printed in 2016.

Reprinted 2017.

Digital edition 2020.

Copyright for text © Gillian Perdue 2007 Copyright for illustrations, layout, editing and design © The O’Brien Press Ltd

ISBN: 978-1-84717-043-9 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any way or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Typesetting, layout, editing, design: The O’Brien Press Ltd

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Can YOU spot the panda hidden in the story?

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Conor loved painting.

It was one of his favourite things to do at home.

He would sit down with the paintbrush in his hand and close his eyes to think.

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When he got a really good idea, Conor would dip the paintbrush into the soft, shiny paint and get to work!

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7 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:24 2007

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Sometimes, Conor painted pictures of people, like the one of Dad blowing out the candles on his birthday cake.

In the painting, Dad had a huge cake in front of him.

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And his hair nearly touched the flames of the thirty-five candles on the cake.

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Sometimes, Conor painted animals, like the one of his pet rabbit, Fungi, with the long, soft ears.

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10 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:25 2007

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In school, Ms Keane let the children do lots of painting.

But sometimes the others didn’t wash their brushes, so the paints got all messy and dirty.

Conor hated that.

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11 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:26 2007

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One day, Ms Keane gave the children some great news.

‘We are going to have our very own art exhibition,’ she said.

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‘All your Mums and Dads and Grannies and Grandads and anybody else you want can come to the big hall to see all your paintings!’

‘Great!’ said Conor.

‘I can’t wait to do my painting.’

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Ms Keane told them all about famous artists.

Artists used canvas, she said, so their paintings lasted

forever.

She told the children to think carefully about what they would like to paint.

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‘You might like to paint a picture of a person you know,’ said Ms Keane.

‘Or your pet?’ said Mark.

‘Yes,’ said Ms Keane.

‘Above all, you must

do your best,’ she said.

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Then Ms Keane gave the children a piece of very good news.

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‘You have no homework for the rest of the week,’ she said. ‘Your work will be to do your painting!

You must have it in

by Friday.’

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All the children started talking about their paintings.

But Conor was quiet.

He thought about his painting all day.

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He wanted his picture to be big.

He wanted it to have

lots of colours in it.

He wanted to use

lots of paint.

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At home, later that day, Conor told everyone about the painting homework.

‘We did that when I was in Ms Keane’s class,’ said Laura.

‘I painted a picture of a bowl of fruit.’

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‘What will you paint, Conor?’ said Dad. ‘I don’t know yet,’ said Conor.

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21 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:31 2007

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That night, in bed, Conor had a lovely dream.

He was walking

inside a painting.

It was full of all the colours of the rainbow!

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It was full of shapes.

There were squares and rectangles, squiggles and swirls.

Blocks and stripes of colour.

Dots and spots.

It was brilliant!

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23 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:32 2007

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Conor woke up early.

He knew now what his picture would be.

He ran down to the kitchen to paint.

First, he knew he had to use a canvas, not a piece of paper.

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He found a huge white sheet in the back of a cupboard.

He spread it out on the kitchen floor.

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25 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:33 2007

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Next, he took out every single bottle of paint that he could find in the art cupboard.

Then, he took out the cans of paint that were in the garage too.

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Conor painted

dots and stripes.

He painted swirls and curls.

He painted squares and triangles, circles and rectangles.

‘This is great!’ said Conor.

‘I love painting.’

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Then, he had a great idea.

He began to flick the paint on to the canvas.

It fell like a tiny shower of colourful rain.

Then, Conor rolled up his pyjama-bottoms.

He painted the soles of his feet.

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He painted the left foot purple and the right one blue.

And he danced all over his painting.

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Just then, Mum, Dad and Laura came into the kitchen.

They stood staring at Conor and at his canvas.

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‘Is that your painting, Conor?’ whispered Dad. His eyebrows shot upwards.

‘Is that one of my

good

sheets?’ asked Mum.

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31 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:35 2007

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‘That’s not a painting,’

mess!’

said Laura.

‘That’s a

Conor smiled at them.

‘It’s my painting,’ he said happily.

‘I’m taking it to school when it’s dry.’

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‘But –’ said Mum. ‘But –’ said Dad. ‘But –’ said Laura.

‘It’s my painting

and I

love it!’ said Conor.

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Laura glared at Conor.

‘You can’t take that to school,’ she said.

‘They’ll all laugh at you.’

Conor cleaned the paint off his feet.

He didn’t say anything.

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That morning, some of the children brought their paintings to school.

They had finished already.

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The paintings looked great.

Kevin had painted Mark.

He had put in all Mark’s freckles.

‘It really looks like Mark!’ said the children.

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Sarah had painted her back garden.

‘That’s lovely,’ said the children.

‘You can see all the colours of the leaves on the trees!’

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37 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:38 2007

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‘Remember, all the paintings must be in tomorrow!’ said Ms Keane.

‘I hope everybody has almost finished!’

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Later that day, Conor looked at his canvas.

It was dry now.

It was really colourful.

It was really bright.

It was lively.

But it needed more.

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Conor closed his eyes and thought.

Then he had a great idea.

He ran into the garage and got his bike.

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Then he got a big tray from the cupboard and put it on the floor.

He took the lid off a tin of yellow paint and he poured the creamy, shiny paint into the tray.

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Conor rode his bike on the tray first and then on his canvas!

He left a bright yellow print of tyre tracks all over the painting.

The tracks criss-crossed all over the other colours.

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Conor looked at his painting.

‘Brilliant!’ he grinned.

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43 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:41 2007

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Mum came into the kitchen.

She looked at the painting.

She looked at Conor, with his bike.

‘Did you just cycle all over your painting?’ she said.

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44 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:37:13 2007

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Laura came into the kitchen.

She looked at the painting.

‘Now it’s even more of a mess,’ she said.

‘It looks terrible.’

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45 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:41 2007

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The next morning, the canvas was dry.

Conor rolled it up and put it in a bag.

Then he went to school.

Ms Keane and the children were in the classroom looking at all the paintings.

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46 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:41 2007

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There were lots of portraits.

The children had painted their friends, or their grannies, or even their pets.

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There were beautiful landscape pictures too.

Josh had painted sheep in a field.

Jenna had painted some boats out at sea.

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Other children had painted still-life pictures.

There were fruit bowls and jugs.

There were vases of flowers and loaves of bread.

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‘Where’s your painting, Conor?’ asked Ms Keane.

‘Is it finished?’

Conor smiled at Ms Keane.

He opened up the bag and took out the sheet.

‘Stand back!’ he said.

‘I need plenty of room for my canvas.’

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Conor took two corners and walked over to one side of the room.

He did the same with the other two corners.

Soon the whole sheet was spread out on the floor.

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‘What’s it meant to be?’ asked Josh.

‘Yes, what is it, Conor?’ said Kevin.

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Conor smiled at them.

He pointed at the canvas.

‘It’s

my painting!’ he said.

Ms Keane looked at Conor.

‘Very unusual,’ she said.

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All day, the children were busy hanging the paintings in the big hall.

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‘Now!’ said Ms Keane.

‘Some very exciting news!

Miss Palette from the art gallery is coming to visit.

She’s going to choose one painting to hang in the real art gallery!’

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That night, the school hall was full of people.

They all walked around the hall, admiring the paintings.

Mum and Dad and Laura were there too.

‘Oh! There’s your painting, Conor,’ said Dad. ‘It’s great!’

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Mum looked at the painting.

‘It’s so ... big!’ she said.

‘It’s a mess, Conor,’ said Laura.

‘That one of Sarah’s garden is much better, you know.’

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Miss Palette came into the hall.

She was dressed all in black, but she was wearing a huge, long, colourful scarf.

‘Well,’ said Miss Palette.

‘These paintings are wonderful!’

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58 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:45 2007

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She looked at the portrait of Mark.

‘Excellent!’ she said.

She looked at Sarah’s garden.

‘I love this painting,’ she said.

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59 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:46 2007

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She walked all around the big hall, looking at all the paintings.

Then she stood in front of Conor’s canvas.

‘What have we here?’ she said.

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60 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:46 2007

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The children gathered around.

‘It’s not a person,’ said Kevin.

‘Or a place,’ said Josh.

‘It’s not a picture of anything,’ said Jenna. ‘Nobody knows

what it is.’

‘It’s a bit messy, really, we think,’ said Mark.

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61 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:45:13 2007

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Miss Palette said:

‘This painting is colourful.

And nobody knows what it is.

I love it. Who painted it?’

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62 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:47 2007

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‘I did!’ said Conor. ‘I painted it!’

‘It’s wonderful, Conor.

It’s so alive!’ said Miss Palette.

‘This is the one for the gallery.’

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63 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:47 2007

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‘Hurray for Conor!’ cheered the children.

‘Hurray for Conor’s canvas!’

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64 E:...Conor’s Canvas.vp Fri Jun 22 10:07:48 2007

Cover: 196 x 130mm. Spine: 5.6mm

p and a s

Conor’s

35

Canvas words Gillian Perdue pictures Michael Connor

Gillian Perdue Michael Connor

GILLIAN PERDUE has also written Conor’s Cowboy Suit and Conor’s Concert in the PANDA series, as well as Adam’s Starling for older readers.

C O N O R’ S C A N VA S

Conor’s class are painting special pictures for a show.

There are pictures of flowers, pets, friends.

But Conor’s canvas is weird.

It’s just splashes and splodges of paint.

It’s a mess – or is it?

ISBN 978-1-84717-043-9

9 781847 170439

Beginner Readers

O'BRIEN

p and a s for

pan

d a 35