How One Mom’s Painting Started a Worldwide Painting Party

 

The Internet can be a dark, oppressive place. Readers sometimes do not show their true identities and feel free to leave cruel comments.

So naturally, a schoolteacher in the U.S. state of Florida felt worried when her son wanted to share her artwork on the social media site Reddit. Cyndi Decker had recently taken an art class and made a painting of a huge white bird called an egret.

Her proud son posted a photograph of Decker shyly holding her painting. Below it he wrote: “My mom painted this and said no one would like it. It’s her 2nd painting.”

Far from not liking² it -- more than 24,000 people “upvoted” her painting, meaning they liked it!

Then a professional artist in Sweden saw the photo on Reddit.

Kristoffer Zetterstrand creates, among other things, paintings for the video game Minecraft. He decided³ to pay tribute⁴ to the mother-schoolteacher by painting Decker holding her painting. He even captured the shy look on her face.

Zetterstrand photographed himself holding his painting of Decker holding her painting. He posted the image on Reddit. The caption⁵ for his photograph is, “I painted somebody’s mom.”

Then, two days later a journalism⁶ student in Canada, Laila Amer, painted a picture of Zetterstrand holding his painting of Decker holding her painting.

She posted a photo of her holding her painting on Reddit. Her caption read, “But I painted the guy who painted the other guy’s mom.”

Well, then the Internet stepped in and took over as only the Internet can.

The meme took off!

The artist Vince Law was the next to join in. The caption for his photo of his painting is “I painted the girl who painted the guy who painted the other guy’s mom who painted an egret.”

Then artist Traci Sethre painted Law’s painting of Amer holding Zetterstrand’s painting holding Decker’s painting. She wrote, “I painted the guy who painted the girl who painted the guy who painted the mom who painted the bird.”

Artist Travis Simpson continued the fun.

And it happened again and again and again!

In the very later paintings, the image of the original inspiration⁷, Decker’s egret, is so small you can barely⁸ see it!

Many artists around the world jumped into the process, many at the same time. It began to get confusing. People started calling the egret a swan.

So, someone stepped in and created a flowchart to show how the paintings developed.

The painting styles were all quite different. They began showing up not just on Reddit but on other social media platforms such as Facebook.

By this time, more than one million people had seen the paintings and pictures of paintings online. Cyndi Decker told a reporter from the Washington Post that she had been named the “the honorary mom of Reddit.”

Kristoffer Zetterstrand, who first painted Decker, told reporters that he has received thousands of comments on Reddit and hundreds of messages and emails.

He says millions of people have now seen his painting on a number of social media websites. In interviews, he said he thought the whole experience has been really funny and strange.

Zetterstrand and Decker have been in touch with one another. He sent her his painting of her holding her painting as a gift.

Instead of the cruel comments she was expecting, Decker said so many people have been very kind to her. She joined Reddit just so she could thank them.

She wrote: “I was in fear I was going to read a lot of hateful comments. You all have proven me so wrong. I’m assuming most of you could be my kids, and y’all get a bad rap¹ in this world. You all are compassionate¹⁰, caring, and a ton of fun! Thanks for uplifting me! You all have inspired me instead.”

People on the Internet also have asked her to post her next painting. But Decker said that she has no plans to do so. She says she does not want to “wear out her welcome.”

She is happy to be famous just once. To use another English expression, it’s better to leave at the height of the party.

I’m Anna Matteo.

Words in This Story

cruel – adj. causing or helping¹¹ to cause suffering : terrible and unfair

shyly – adv. doing something in a way that shows a dislike of attention

tribute – n. something that you say, give, or do to show respect or affection for someone

meme – n. an idea, behavior, style, or usage¹² that spreads from person to person within a culture

caption – n. a sentence or group of words that is written on or next to a picture to explain what is being shown

inspiration – n. a person, place, experience, etc., that makes someone want to do or create something

bad rap – n. slang¹³ an unjust accusation¹⁴, verdict¹⁵, or punishment

compassionate – adj. feeling or showing concern for someone who is sick, hurt, poor, etc. : having or showing compassion⁹

uplifting – adj. something that improves the spiritual, social, or intellectual condition of something else

wear out her welcome – phrase To remain a guest in a place, especially someone's home, for too long, to the point where the host no longer wishes one to stay.

It’s better to leave at the height of the party – phrase This means it is better to leave when things are going really well before things start turning bad.

1 rap   

n.轻敲，拍击，责骂，厉声说出，说唱音乐，谈话，最少量；vi.轻敲，敲门，表演说唱音乐，畅谈；vt.抓，抢，拍击

参考例句：

• I heard a rap on the door.我听到有轻轻的敲门声。
• Today we are going to rap about relationships.今天我们要聊聊关系的问题。

2 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 tribute   

n.颂词，称赞，(表示敬意的)礼物；贡品

参考例句：

• She accepted their tribute graciously.她慈祥地接受了他们的致意。
• Many conquered nations had to pay tribute to the rulers of ancient Rome.许多被征服的国家必须向古罗马的统治者朝贡。

5 caption   

n.说明，字幕，标题；v.加上标题，加上说明

参考例句：

• I didn't understand the drawing until I read the caption.直到我看到这幅画的说明才弄懂其意思。
• There is a caption under the picture.图片下边附有说明。

6 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

7 inspiration   

n.灵感，鼓励者，吸气

参考例句：

• These events provided the inspiration for his first novel.这些事件给了他创作第一部小说的灵感。
• What an inspiration she was to all around her!她对于她周围所有的人是一种多么大的鼓舞！

8 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

9 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

10 compassionate   

adj.有同情心的，表示同情的

参考例句：

• She is a compassionate person.她是一个有同情心的人。
• The compassionate judge gave the young offender a light sentence.慈悲的法官从轻判处了那个年轻罪犯。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 usage   

n.惯用法，使用，用法

参考例句：

• I am clear about the usage of this word at last.这个词的用法我算是弄明白了。
• The usage is now firmly established.这种用法现已得到确认。

13 slang   

n.俚语，行话；vt.使用俚语，辱骂；vi.辱骂

参考例句：

• The phrase is labelled as slang in the dictionary.这个短语在这本字典里被注为俚语。
• Slang often goes in and out of fashion quickly.俚语往往很快风行起来又很快不再风行了。

14 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

15 verdict   

n.裁决，结论，定论，判断

参考例句：

• The verdict of the jury was given in his favour.陪审团作出了对他有利的结论。
• Not satisfied with the verdict,they decided to make an appeal.他们不服判决，决定申诉。