Aleksandra looked at Demetri's canvas again. Was there anything else that she could say about it? It didn't really speak to her that much. She couldn't really see herself going into any more depth than she already had, and all she really had was the one or two comments that she had brought up. Maybe that was one of the perils of being presented with an art that she wasn't very knowledgeable of. She just had a couple of things to say, and that was it. She kind of just wanted to get back to painting at this point. She really needed to make progress.
She was going to ask if she could go back to her own work, but Demetri beat her to it. Well, kind of. He wanted to know if he could... hang around her? Or something like that, anyway. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she would really be great company. She tended to sort of just focus on her work whenever she was busy, so she didn't really know what she could do. Unless he just wanted to watch her paint of something. Art was really interesting, but she'd think that making it would be a lot more interesting than watching it, even though she had been entranced by watching painters do their work a few times in the past.
"Uh... if you want, I guess." She replied, momentarily scratching at a shaved area over her ear that was starting to grow back ever so slightly. "I don't really talk when I paint though, so you might get kinda bored."
Aleksandra
Demetri's eyes immediately went, like, straight to that spot where her hair was thinned out to the scalp when she scratched it. Jeez he just.. liked that, a lot. Unique looking.
"I mean that's fine, I guess." Well, if he thought about it... it wasn't that fine really? Sure he was almost done, but he wasn't actually done with his work. He had the rest of the fifteen-odd minutes in this period, to finish this project before it was due for critiques. On the flip-side, he got to spend time with Aleks, but if it was time that was going to be silent and awkward? Not so good. He liked watching girls doing their thing just as much as any red-blooded and honest guy did, sure, but if there wasn't going to be much to being at Aleks' side except for watching her without any guarantee of response or interactivity, well. Suddenly the math didn't work out in his favor, did it?
But he had already said he'd do it, so. No pussying out. Besides, he could probably talk at her enough to get something going, right?
Maybe this would be the day. Day of what, he didn't know. Just, the day. Rest of the metaphor left unsaid, or something. Because, like, art was sometimes best left to the imagination than not.
He started to walk over to Aleks' canvas again, without another word. Wait, was he supposed to say something else? Was this going to be it?
"I mean that's fine, I guess." Well, if he thought about it... it wasn't that fine really? Sure he was almost done, but he wasn't actually done with his work. He had the rest of the fifteen-odd minutes in this period, to finish this project before it was due for critiques. On the flip-side, he got to spend time with Aleks, but if it was time that was going to be silent and awkward? Not so good. He liked watching girls doing their thing just as much as any red-blooded and honest guy did, sure, but if there wasn't going to be much to being at Aleks' side except for watching her without any guarantee of response or interactivity, well. Suddenly the math didn't work out in his favor, did it?
But he had already said he'd do it, so. No pussying out. Besides, he could probably talk at her enough to get something going, right?
Maybe this would be the day. Day of what, he didn't know. Just, the day. Rest of the metaphor left unsaid, or something. Because, like, art was sometimes best left to the imagination than not.
He started to walk over to Aleks' canvas again, without another word. Wait, was he supposed to say something else? Was this going to be it?
Wait, Demetri was actually okay with that? Aleksandra would have thought that he would have preferred to keep working on his own art for the rest of class, or at least that's what she would have done. Maybe he was bored of his own piece and wanted to watch someone else work for a while. Was he into painting too, maybe looking for inspiration? Or was he just bored in general and looking for a way to pass the time? It was hard for Aleksandra to really judge.
Although there was one thing that she certainly knew, and that was that she wanted to return to her painting. She crossed the distance back to her own work station and picked her brush from the palette. She rolled it between her fingers for a moment before allowing it to return to its familiar position between her fingers, ready to be dipped in another coat of paint to continue the process of creation.
The hovered the brush over her paint selection, wondering which color should be next. She had already deduced that red was out of the question, since it was the last stroke she had used. She took a glimpse of her canvas for guidance, looking for areas that were in need of a bit more color, or perhaps a new direction. Her eyes drifted over to one corner. It was a fairly empty-looking corner, an area that she had not done very much with as of yet. She hadn't really touched it at all today, as the lack of fresh strokes revealed. However, what little work was there was almost overwhelmingly warm. Reds, yellows, and oranges, with very few cool colors nearby. She needed to do something about that.
Her brush was dipped in some sky blue paint. Not icy blue, sky blue. There was a difference. Icy blue was brighter, almost a grayish-white color. Sky blue was more, well, blue. Her brush touched the canvas very near a yellow stroke, but not quite touching. She dragged it across, shaping her line with slow, methodical movements of her wrist and fingers. It was on the longer side where strokes were concerned, evening oout the warmer area where she had placed it. Maybe it needed a few more lines like it to give it a bit more variety. Yeah, that sounded nice. But what color to use next...
She had only just gotten back to work, and she was already getting lost in the serenity of the craft.
Although there was one thing that she certainly knew, and that was that she wanted to return to her painting. She crossed the distance back to her own work station and picked her brush from the palette. She rolled it between her fingers for a moment before allowing it to return to its familiar position between her fingers, ready to be dipped in another coat of paint to continue the process of creation.
The hovered the brush over her paint selection, wondering which color should be next. She had already deduced that red was out of the question, since it was the last stroke she had used. She took a glimpse of her canvas for guidance, looking for areas that were in need of a bit more color, or perhaps a new direction. Her eyes drifted over to one corner. It was a fairly empty-looking corner, an area that she had not done very much with as of yet. She hadn't really touched it at all today, as the lack of fresh strokes revealed. However, what little work was there was almost overwhelmingly warm. Reds, yellows, and oranges, with very few cool colors nearby. She needed to do something about that.
Her brush was dipped in some sky blue paint. Not icy blue, sky blue. There was a difference. Icy blue was brighter, almost a grayish-white color. Sky blue was more, well, blue. Her brush touched the canvas very near a yellow stroke, but not quite touching. She dragged it across, shaping her line with slow, methodical movements of her wrist and fingers. It was on the longer side where strokes were concerned, evening oout the warmer area where she had placed it. Maybe it needed a few more lines like it to give it a bit more variety. Yeah, that sounded nice. But what color to use next...
She had only just gotten back to work, and she was already getting lost in the serenity of the craft.
So......
Yeah. Cool.
Demetri had put his all into watching Aleks ascend to some transcendental place in her mind or, uh, whatever the hell it was she was doing. He'd tried to really meditate on the details of Aleks work process. Maybe learn something, or maybe just lose himself in slightly erotic day dreams. The turn of the brush in her fingers, nice, the gentle drag of the brush over canvas with effortless elegance, also nice. It all went without saying.
And pretty quickly it went without actual interest. It was slow, methodical, and over time Demetri's mind was moving way faster than Aleks' strokes of pen. He felt, like, visions of stuff happening already playing out and by the time he'd experienced those scenarios, well? In reality shit still hadn't actually happened. Just a pretty girl hunched slightly over her painting and doing whatever it was she was even doing. Demetri kind of just saw a bunch of colors arbitrarily imposing over a canvas.
He wanted to say something, and he did.
After like, some hesitation. He'd been concerned about whether he'd break her concentration or anything, but he'd eventually voted on the best option of 'not being a fucking pussy'.
"What is it you're, uh, currently working on?" He mumbled in her general direction, "in terms of inspiration I guess."
Yeah. Cool.
Demetri had put his all into watching Aleks ascend to some transcendental place in her mind or, uh, whatever the hell it was she was doing. He'd tried to really meditate on the details of Aleks work process. Maybe learn something, or maybe just lose himself in slightly erotic day dreams. The turn of the brush in her fingers, nice, the gentle drag of the brush over canvas with effortless elegance, also nice. It all went without saying.
And pretty quickly it went without actual interest. It was slow, methodical, and over time Demetri's mind was moving way faster than Aleks' strokes of pen. He felt, like, visions of stuff happening already playing out and by the time he'd experienced those scenarios, well? In reality shit still hadn't actually happened. Just a pretty girl hunched slightly over her painting and doing whatever it was she was even doing. Demetri kind of just saw a bunch of colors arbitrarily imposing over a canvas.
He wanted to say something, and he did.
After like, some hesitation. He'd been concerned about whether he'd break her concentration or anything, but he'd eventually voted on the best option of 'not being a fucking pussy'.
"What is it you're, uh, currently working on?" He mumbled in her general direction, "in terms of inspiration I guess."
Hmm... green?
Yeah, she needed more green. Aleksandra cleaned her brush thoroughly before hovering it over her color of choice, lowering it in and bringing it back out with a light covering of vibrant green. It followed her pattern. Enough to create a decent stroke, but not so much that it would smear or force her to wash a huge amount off afterward. It was measured as precisely as she could manage, which admittedly wasn't saying much since she had no method of measuring or controlling it aside from the way she dipped it into the paint.
It was a very natural-looking shade. It reminded her of the way the leaves of some of the bushes near school looked in late spring, after they had recovered from the cold barrenness of winter and had managed to regain their luster after spending a couple of months regrowing their coat. She had a good feeling about this color, that was why she had picked it out at the outset of her project. She brought he brush near one of her orange strokes, creating a new line above it. She followed its length until she reached the end of the older stroke and hooked her current stroke around it, like a vine around the corner of a fencepost. She thought it looked nice. She didn't have a lot of lines with that kind of placement yet. Maybe she would play with space like that a little more.
Aleksandra was admiring her latest bit of progress when Demetri's question registered. Her inspiration? She wasn't really sure what her answer was for that. She didn't think she had one. She had a theme with the singular strokes, but outside of that she was just painting what came to mind and seeing where it took her. None of it was really planned out in advance.
"It's surrealist. It's kind of its own thing." She told him before washing her brush again. As she cleaned the residual paint from the bristles, her mind was hard at work pondering her next move.
Yeah, she needed more green. Aleksandra cleaned her brush thoroughly before hovering it over her color of choice, lowering it in and bringing it back out with a light covering of vibrant green. It followed her pattern. Enough to create a decent stroke, but not so much that it would smear or force her to wash a huge amount off afterward. It was measured as precisely as she could manage, which admittedly wasn't saying much since she had no method of measuring or controlling it aside from the way she dipped it into the paint.
It was a very natural-looking shade. It reminded her of the way the leaves of some of the bushes near school looked in late spring, after they had recovered from the cold barrenness of winter and had managed to regain their luster after spending a couple of months regrowing their coat. She had a good feeling about this color, that was why she had picked it out at the outset of her project. She brought he brush near one of her orange strokes, creating a new line above it. She followed its length until she reached the end of the older stroke and hooked her current stroke around it, like a vine around the corner of a fencepost. She thought it looked nice. She didn't have a lot of lines with that kind of placement yet. Maybe she would play with space like that a little more.
Aleksandra was admiring her latest bit of progress when Demetri's question registered. Her inspiration? She wasn't really sure what her answer was for that. She didn't think she had one. She had a theme with the singular strokes, but outside of that she was just painting what came to mind and seeing where it took her. None of it was really planned out in advance.
"It's surrealist. It's kind of its own thing." She told him before washing her brush again. As she cleaned the residual paint from the bristles, her mind was hard at work pondering her next move.
Green... Orange... Yeah man, that's some green and orange right there. What had even happened in the past five minutes? TFW this was why the art budgets in public education kept on being slashed forever and ever. Fuck.
"Surrealist, huh?" ... Well, what was he supposed to say about that? He technically understood 'surrealist' as it was defined, it was a specific artistic movement in the 20th century that sought to capture the bizarre workings of the mind that people didn't quite understand, like... more specifically, the melting Dali clocks or whatever. But seriously, Demetri had never quite gotten the big up with the Dali clocks. It was just melting clocks and an underwhelmingly detailed background. Big whoop.
But Aleks seemed to buy into that sort of thing. He had to say something. This was his chance to.....
... To what? Oh for fucks sake.
"It, uh, looks nice. Really makes you think." Made Demetri think 'the hell am I even doing here', for example. Why was he such a goddamn tool? He decided to cut his losses and run before a canvas with paint smeared on it managed to cuck him any more than it already had.
"Gotta go, uh, finish my canvas too." And Demetri was already busy getting up and almost awkwardly stumbling over the leg of the spare stool he'd sat on, failing to pay attention to his surroundings because all his brain power had been channeled into some color shit that didn't even make sense. "Talk to you some other time, Aleks?"
Wait, fuck. He hoped that question hadn't had a pathetic tone, because, he'd just been trying to leave the door open on his way out... Shit. Operative word, trying.
((Demetri Futscher continued))
"Surrealist, huh?" ... Well, what was he supposed to say about that? He technically understood 'surrealist' as it was defined, it was a specific artistic movement in the 20th century that sought to capture the bizarre workings of the mind that people didn't quite understand, like... more specifically, the melting Dali clocks or whatever. But seriously, Demetri had never quite gotten the big up with the Dali clocks. It was just melting clocks and an underwhelmingly detailed background. Big whoop.
But Aleks seemed to buy into that sort of thing. He had to say something. This was his chance to.....
... To what? Oh for fucks sake.
"It, uh, looks nice. Really makes you think." Made Demetri think 'the hell am I even doing here', for example. Why was he such a goddamn tool? He decided to cut his losses and run before a canvas with paint smeared on it managed to cuck him any more than it already had.
"Gotta go, uh, finish my canvas too." And Demetri was already busy getting up and almost awkwardly stumbling over the leg of the spare stool he'd sat on, failing to pay attention to his surroundings because all his brain power had been channeled into some color shit that didn't even make sense. "Talk to you some other time, Aleks?"
Wait, fuck. He hoped that question hadn't had a pathetic tone, because, he'd just been trying to leave the door open on his way out... Shit. Operative word, trying.
((Demetri Futscher continued))
"Oh, thanks. See you later."
Demetri had the right idea. There wasn't a whole lot of time left for today's class, so Aleksandra agreed that it was best to get as much done with her canvas as she could, so it would be set up really nice for her to get back to work tomorrow, and every day afterward until she was finished. After all, that was how art class usually went. It was a period where she could just ignore everything else and focus on something she really liked. He guessed that there were a few other periods like that, like music class and basketball practice, but art was her favorite. Besides, music class was loud, and basketball had a lot of things going at once, so art was by far the most relaxing of the group.
Aleksandra coolly returned to her painting, hovering her freshly cleaned and dried brush as she looked over her canvas, her last few strokes playing in her head as she discerned her next course of action. There was still a lot of open space yet, and quite a few shades that she hadn't tried out either. Was it too late in the class for her to get some viridian or turquoise, or should she wait until next class to try them out? They would really add a lot of variety to her piece, so she definitely wanted to get them on the canvas at some point. Maybe over there, next to that long, wavy orange line...
The rest of the class period went on in a similar fashion, with a lot of thinking and theorizing interspersed with painting.
(Aleksandra Prudius continued elsewhere...)
Demetri had the right idea. There wasn't a whole lot of time left for today's class, so Aleksandra agreed that it was best to get as much done with her canvas as she could, so it would be set up really nice for her to get back to work tomorrow, and every day afterward until she was finished. After all, that was how art class usually went. It was a period where she could just ignore everything else and focus on something she really liked. He guessed that there were a few other periods like that, like music class and basketball practice, but art was her favorite. Besides, music class was loud, and basketball had a lot of things going at once, so art was by far the most relaxing of the group.
Aleksandra coolly returned to her painting, hovering her freshly cleaned and dried brush as she looked over her canvas, her last few strokes playing in her head as she discerned her next course of action. There was still a lot of open space yet, and quite a few shades that she hadn't tried out either. Was it too late in the class for her to get some viridian or turquoise, or should she wait until next class to try them out? They would really add a lot of variety to her piece, so she definitely wanted to get them on the canvas at some point. Maybe over there, next to that long, wavy orange line...
The rest of the class period went on in a similar fashion, with a lot of thinking and theorizing interspersed with painting.
(Aleksandra Prudius continued elsewhere...)