A Commission

[Lora]

Timestamp: 36th Winter 514AV Lora sat on her blanket, her painting spread out in front of her, waiting to be sold. It was a rather slow day without many customers to keep her busy. The recent storms had brought in colder weather causing Lora to have to wrap up in her warm cloak as she sold her wares. The cold weather made painting outside more difficult than before. Having to wear the cloak caused her to continuously try to keep the ends of the cloak out of her paints but also her fingers were chilly making her brush movements less fluent and more rigid. Lora made a mental note to herself to buy some warmer cloths, gloves in particular. Running her paint brush through the red paint, Lora added some red highlights to the petals of the rose she was painting. Before Lora had only ever painted things that she saw but she wanted to start painting things out of her memory. She didn’t want to just be constricted to painting just things she was looking at so she was starting to try painting things from her memory. So far she had only painted flowers from her memory. Plants had always interested her, specifically flowers, so she thought it would be easiest for her to remember what they looked like. The two painting she had done so far from only memory had come out better than she had expected. Obviously they weren’t as good as the ones she usually did but she thought with a little bit of work she could get good at it. Lora enjoyed the challenge that came with this new thing she was trying. In her mind Lora was envisioning a rose plant and she was trying to paint that. She was so enthralled with her work that she almost didn’t notice when a woman came up to her blanket and began examining her paintings. Luckily she did notice her and looked up smiling to great her. “Hello, does anything here interest you?” Lora smiled. The woman, who appeared to be a konti in her 70s, smiled in return. “Well, could I commission you to paint something for me?” The woman’s question surprised Lora a bit. She had never been asked that question before. “Yes, I mean I’ve never done that before but I wouldn’t mind if you want me to, that is.” Lora thought for a second. “What would you like me to paint for you?” “I’d like you to come and paint my house. We will be moving soon and I would like to be able to remember my house.” The konti paused for a second then looked as though she had just remembered something. “Oh, and, I was hoping you paint my house from a few different locations.” “You want me to paint your house from different locations? Like the back and the front?” Looked up at the woman, a bit puzzled she had never had someone ask her to do something like this for them but Lora certainly liked the idea, whatever it was. “Well, yes.” The woman replied slowly. “But I was also hoping you could paint the inside too. I was hoping for a total of 5 or 6 paintings and of course I would pay you whatever you want for it. Tomorrow morning I can meet you here and from here take you to my house where you can paint. Does that work for you?” “Yes, that sounds good. I’ll meet you here.” Lora smiled at the woman as she nodded. “In that case I will see you then.” With that the woman turned and walked off, her purple cloak swishing in the chilly air as she did.

[Lora]

The next day Lora woke to excitement of having been commissioned something. She danced through her daily morning preparations twirling around in excitement. She quickly packed her supplies and was out of her house and starting towards her spot on the harbor before the sun had even finished rising. It was a short walk and was made even shorter by the prospect of the days activities. As she walked down the dock she was a little disappointed to see the woman had not yet arrived. Slowing down her intense pace she frowned a little to herself. She wasn’t quite sure of what she would do. As she approached the spot she was to meet the woman she decided it would be best to just stand and wait. As she stood on the harbor she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, swaying to the rock of the early morning ocean currents. She realized she had never been at the harbor this early in the morning. Usually there were people already walking by, loading onto and off the boats, carrying their wears and objects off the boat and away to the city. Now the harbor didn’t seem to have started up yet. There were a few people but they there were certainly less and the few looked less like they were working and more like they were looking at the view from the docks or just simply going for a walk. The atmosphere of the dock was extremely varied and it astonished Lora that in just a few short chimes the place would be as bustling and busy as it usually was. As she stood on the dock she watched the variety of people that walked by. The types of people were different as well. They were mostly konti which, while it wasn’t usual for the island it was different for the dock. Generally there were all kinds of races roaming the dock, mostly konti but never to this overwhelming extent. Lora began humming softly to herself. It was a lullaby her mother had liked to sing to her when she was little. She couldn’t remember the words but the tune was still sharp in her memory. She was so enthralled in her own thoughts that Lora almost didn’t notice the woman when she walked up to her. “Hello again.” She said, attracting Lora’s attention. Lora turned to face her and stopped humming abruptly. “Hello.” Lora smiled. “I was worried you wouldn’t be here this early.” The woman smiled in return. “I’m glad I am.” Said Lora. “Should we go to your house?” “Yes, sorry, you’ll have to stop me if I start to ramble. I have a bad tendency of doing that.” She chuckled like she was sharing a joke with herself. “Lets go,” The woman turned and began leading the way back to the city. Lora followed quickly, her excitement flooding through her making providing an extra spring to her step.

[Lora]

The woman’s house was near the heart of the city. It was significantly larger than Lora’s but not huge. The white stones that created the exterior of the building glistened as if they were coated in water as the early morning sun rays shone of them. As soon as the house met Lora’s eyes she began contemplating ways she would paint it. Already she was choosing which colors she would mix to get the tone of the shining rocks. “Here we are.” The Lora’s costumer said as the pair approached the house. “You should start with the outside if that is alright with you. I would like a painting of a few different view points on the outside. Whatever you think is enough. Maybe three.” “Yes, three sounds good.” Lora mumbled more to herself than to the konti standing before her. She was already engrossed in the paintings she would do and wasn’t paying much attention to the world around her. “I’ll leave you to it, then. I think I’ll go prepare some breakfast. You can’t have had any yet this early I’ll make some for you too. Does that sound alright?” Lora was eager for the woman to leave so she could begin her painting but she politely turned to the woman and said: “That would be great if it’s not too much trouble for you.” She replied, hoping the woman hadn’t heard her stomach grumbling as she realized that she did forget breakfast in her haste. “It’s no trouble at all.” The woman smiled before sliding in through the opened door way of her house. Lora started by walking around the house a few times looking for the best place she could do her painting from. She settled on a place where the sun hit one side of the building and the other was in shadow creating a nice contrast. The spot required her to sit on the edge of the stone road that led by the house. There didn’t appear to be many people on that road so Lora hoped her presence would not be in anyone’s way. Plopping down on the ground she pulled her legs into a crossed position and set the palette that was in one of her hands on the hard path besides her placing the water bowl carefully next to it. With her hands free Lora was able to pull her satchel up over her head without much difficulty and select a medium sized canvas from it. She also selected a medium sized brush. Dipping the paint brush into the paint she began to start the first painting.

[Lora]

Lora started with a light grey tone that she thought best matched the stones. She used the paint to create a base for the house knowing she would go back to add the details later. When she was finished she went back in with a slightly darker shade of grey to outline each individual rock and begin to make shadows. She continued, moving to a darker shade with each coat and slowly the house became more and more realistic. Eventually she moved to a smaller brush to get even more details. She was close to half way done with the final coat when she looked up and saw the woman she was painting for striding towards her. She was carrying a plate with scrambled eggs on it. Walking up to Lora she smiled and said, “I hope you like eggs.” “I do.” “That looks marvelous!” The woman said, glancing at Lora’s picture as she handed her the plate of eggs. “Thank you. But it’s not done you.” Lora stated. She accepted the eggs with a grateful smile. Lora took the fork that was balanced carefully on the side of the plate and took a bite of the golden eggs. They were amazing. She had never tasted eggs this good. There seemed to be some spice on them she had never tasted before. “These are amazing!” She praised as her face lit up. “Thank you. Well, I’ll leave you too your painting.” With that the woman turned and began walking back towards her house. “Tell me if there is anything else you need.” Lora quickly finished off the eggs. She scraped every last bit up off the plate before turning her attention back to her painting. She set the empty plate down beside her and made a mental note to remember to bring it back to the woman. She dipped the paintbrush into the grey paint and began to finish the building. When she was finished she let her eyes scan the whole piece so far. After a few minor tweaks to the color she was happy with how it looked. Picking the medium sized brush off of the ground where she had put it she mixed together a light blue that she would use as the base paint for the sky. The sky was a light blue color and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen so Lora decided to paint it like that. She began to spread the paint out taking extra care not to get any on the house she had already painted. Lora had found that the sky tended to fade to a darker color towards where it met with the ground. She mixed the blue into a slightly darker shade and tried to work that concept into the painting. It wasn’t long until she was happy with the look of the sky.

[Lora]

It wasn’t long before Lora had finished the painting. It took a few more minor tweaks before she was happy with it. Now she needed to choose her next location to paint from. By now the woman had come out to take the plate she had given to Lora back into her house. Lora was glad to have one less thing to carry. Picking up her palette in one hand and her paintbrush and water bowl in the other, Lora didn’t even have enough hands to carry her things as it was. As she stood a tingling sensation wound up both her legs. She realized she had been sitting for a long time without moving and it was only to be expected that her legs would fall asleep. Shaking her legs out to try to get them to stop tingling uncomfortably, Lora stretched her back. She heard her spine as she leaned backwards. It wasn’t uncommon for her to get so engrossed in her painting that she would sit and not move for bells on end. Lora tried to carry as much as she could between what she could carry in her hands and what she had in her satchel but she still had to leave her completed painting on the stone road. Lora made a mental note to come back and get it when she had chosen her next spot to paint from. She began to striding around the house again, looking for another angle that she liked. By this time the warm light of the morning sunrise had faded and so she didn’t have that as a factor in deciding her next spot. As she came around the back of the house a spot which viewed the white painted back door of the house caught her eye. The area that viewed this part of the house was in was in the grass and Lora was glad she didn’t have to sit on the hard rocks on the road to paint this time. The cool grass and dirt provided a much better cushion for her to sit on. Lora set down the items she had been holding in her hands on the ground. Jumping back up, she skipped giddily to the place on the road where she had left the painting. It was still there, but she hadn’t expected it not to be, quickly scooping it up Lora jogged back to the place on the other side of the house where she planned to paint. She was careful not the let any of the stiff blades of dark green grass touch the wet painting as she set it down. Sitting cross legged once more, Lora pulled out a rather large canvas from her bag. It was just large enough that the wooden frame fit right around her knees. The perfect fit made her smile. Lora dipped her paint brush into the gray paint and began to paint the more weathered side of the glorious house.