Solo [Tain's Studio] Start Simple

Weekend Challenge: Mauriel paints her mask for The Azure Festival

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The Diamond of Kalea is located on Kalea's extreme west coast and called as such because its completely made of a crystalline substance called Skyglass. Home of the Alvina of the Stars, cultural mecca of knowledge seekers, and rife with Ethaefal, this remote city shimmers with its own unique light.

[Tain's Studio] Start Simple

Postby Mauriel on February 18th, 2019, 9:55 pm

87th of Winter, 518 AV

Drip. Splash. Chatter. Laughter. As soon as the Ethaefal walked into Tain's Studio she was greeted by an image of her fellow Lhavitans participating in the traditional mask painting. Many were covered in paint, kids played, dipping their hands into it, artists were seemingly commissioned to paint people's masks, and some people even set up a stand selling plain wooden masks in a far corner, away from all the paint. She was approached by a girl who politely offered help. She was in her mid-teens and was likely an aspiring artist or a daughter of an artist.

"I wanted to paint this mask, but I'm a complete beginner," Mauriel held up the carved wooden object. It was an Okomo face, kind of like many wore, but customized to blend in with her Ethaefal horns, making them seem like a part of the mask. "I thought maybe going for entirely white would ensure I can't go too wrong with it?"

The girl nodded and gestured her to follow, taking her into a somewhat secluded space. "I already made a lot of oil-based colors for the occasion, you can use some of the white color and our brushes, as long as you make sure to clean up after yourself. Here," she offered Mauriel a little container full of white color. "Most people take a bit for their palette, but I suppose it's okay if you use it directly since you won't be mixing any other colors. Don't add anything to the paint, clean the brushes after you're done." The girl was restless while she spoke, talking quickly and gesturing, currently banging her own head softly, as if she was trying to indicate she's trying to remember something. "Yeah, I also wanted to tell you it may not end up looking as you imagined. While your mask is quite pale and it's not going to be hard to paint white over it, it may take a few layers for it to be matte, and one layer needs a few days to dry. If you paint it now it should be fully dry for the festival, but you might want to continue working on it after if you want it to be completely white."

Mauriel barely managed a nod and a thanks before the girl scuttered away to help the next batch of visitors. She placed her mask and the colors on the nearby table and fetched some brushes. She took several sizes, unsure what she might need. She figured it would be too slow to use the small ones for everything and might end up a bit imprecise, but the big ones might not reach all the detail, especially the crevices around the nose and the mouth.

She dipped a large brush and started working. This oil paint seemed rather easy to work with to the Ethaefal, though it might have been her having a rather simple task before her. The direction she colored in was visible, so she quickly figure out she should try and keep the direction uniform to keep everything looking even. Luckily, it was easy to fix any mistakes as it did not dry quickly at all. She worked on big surfaces first, trying to cover as close to the little details as possible without using enough paint to fill the crevices. She painted into the insides of the eyes a bit as well, to make sure it looked like it was painted on the inside as well, even though she had no intention of doing so fully - at least not for now.

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Mauriel
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[Tain's Studio] Start Simple

Postby Mauriel on February 18th, 2019, 10:20 pm

While the mask was quite large, it was rather light. It was elongated, going from the top of the head and around the horns at the back, and well under the chin where the snout and beard engravings ended. It was facing outside as much as possible, likely so that it wouldn't bump into your collarbones as you danced. Mauriel thought it would make anyone you danced with keep a bit of a distance, but she didn't mind that too much. That did mean she had to color the insides of the beard however, and - luckily - she remembered that before coloring everything and not having what to hold the mask by to lift it up. It was more difficult to color in mid-air, but it was the price she had to pay for her chosen chronology.

The white paint was disappearing much quicker than she expected and she began worrying she'd need a refill. However, the rate at which it disappeared significantly dropped when she finished with the broad strokes. Picking one of the tinier brushes, this time with a pointy tip, she dipped it into the white oil paint and carefully drained anything that could drip onto her precious work.

At this point it was somewhat inevitable to break her usual top-to-bottom brush direction in order to fill in horizontal crevices that she couldn't reach into with the large brush. She could paint little by little, but it was inevitably going to be ugly and choppy. Instead, she tried to make it make sense. She kind of painted the lips like she imagined you'd do with makeup. In the dark, there was no visible difference from the rest of the mask, but in the light they ended up vaguely humanoid, like something painted lipstick on a goat. They were white, but the reflection of light on the different directions of strokes made the shape she drew clear to any observer.

She also painted the nostrils differently, opting for a sort of a circular movement. They were in a shade and their coloring would not be too visible, but she thought it'd be ugly to leave them wooden, it would provide too much contrast to a fully white mask. Maybe it would work if it was something she wanted to emphasize, but she had no intention of bringing undue attention to the mask's nostrils.

Ears and beard also had a lot of carved in detail that she had to trace with the tiny brush in order to fill them in completely. To an extent the whole mask had a furry texture, but it was kept minimal in the center area, while it was done in a little bit more detail for the ears and the beard.

This was taking ages! Mauriel was growing increasingly tired and impatient of this process. She thought it'd be relaxing and consuming, but her craving for the end product destroyed her enjoyment of the process. She got really annoyed at every little mistake and could hardly force herself to keep fixing them. Maybe a part of it was this not being a very social activity? She turned around, letting the rest of the room back into her awareness. Everyone was having fun. A few snobs were seemingly obsessed with their masks, trying to explain to the artists they were patrons to exactly where their golden stripes should go and how to adorn them with gems of all sorts, but most people were there with their families, a lot of kids with them, goofing around, yelling about amazing ideas, celebrating each other's creative endeavors. Suffice to say, the young Ethaefal was jealous.

WC: 606
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Mauriel
Shining On
 
Posts: 209
Words: 167162
Joined roleplay: July 12th, 2014, 12:45 pm
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Race: Ethaefal
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[Tain's Studio] Start Simple

Postby Mauriel on February 18th, 2019, 11:07 pm

Mauriel sighed and decided to take a bit of a break. She was worried about leaving her stuff unattended, but she didn't stray too far. She stretched her legs a bit, waiting to ambush the next newcomers to get them to sit with her. Her star-crossed match walked in, a little boy who wanted to be a ghost. Mauriel listened to the girl explaining them the basics as she approached, chuckling at how much of it was rather revised. Or was it just because they had rather similar needs? Either way, she soon joined them. "Would you mind sitting with me? I'm almost done on my mask, and I'm also using a lot of white. Maybe we'll have to mix some more for you, though."

All of them tagged along, the girl insisting to show them how to make more color for the boy. They were soon all lined up for a demonstration. The trick was to fill a container with a certain oil they used for this, but the girl informed them that egg yolk was equally as valid if they were making this at home. There were differences, but at their level they did not matter. The paint was actually a dry rocky thing, reminding Mauriel a bit of condensed, refined sand or something. The girl ground it up into a powder, allowing each of them to try and do so as well.

It was easy to break apart and grind down, although making a really fine powder took a bit of patience. Mauriel used a pestle she was offered to do it and found it a somewhat satisfying process. Once they were finished with that, they simply mixed it all until it was homogeneous.

"Were you ever on The Azure Festival before?" Mauriel asked the little boy when the girl left, letting them work alone.

"Yes! We go every year, but I still have to be in bed during the Rests. Mommy says I won't grow otherwise."

"Well, you should listen to your mom, it's very important to get enough sleep." For you humans. While she was used to the convenience of her condition, she kept having to remind herself that everyone is endowed different gifts by the Gods. "This is actually my first time on The Azure Festival!"

"Oh, no way! Are you a foreigner? You're going to have so much fun you can't even imagine! Music is like no other time of the year!"

"There are wonderful percussions each year that Billy loves," the boy's father informed her. "And various street performers play all throughout Zintia, as you exit the earshot of one song you are within the earshot of another."

She smiled. "Sounds lovely! I'm a lutist actually, I might join in..." And sure enough, she was made to sing all sorts of children's songs. She kept her voice down, as to not disturb the other painters too much, although the studio was rather noisy today. She sang The Lazy Donkey, Little Beetle, Starchildren. She didn't know many kid's songs, but that was quickly remedied by the duo before her. She was happy to follow their lead, sometimes imitating the way they sang, sometimes changing it up into what she thought was intended by the author or at least how she preferred to sing it. Once it really upset the boy because 'it doesn't go like that,' so she adopted his way, but made sure to explain that many folk songs like that have different variations depending on when and where they're sung, and people tend to put their own spin on things. The boy didn't seem to understand, and she didn't want to further upset him, although she thought he'll come to understand it with time. Certainly if he travels! She wondered how widespread Lhavitan songs were outside of The Diamond of Kalea. She would guess not very much, although traveling minstrels, merchant sailors, and tourists in general might spread some of them. They're likely distorted beyond recognition in the nearest cities, let alone somewhere as far as Avanthal, Abura, or Zeltiva!

They kept chit-chatting as they finished their masks. Mauriel was done soon enough, only to find the boy frowning over his. His father was trying to show him how to paint it properly, but the paint kept spilling in blotches as he didn't dry the brush properly. It was, admittedly, a bit large in his hand. The father soon gave up and started convincing the boy you couldn't see anything wrong with it from afar, and the boy demanded to be placed on his shoulders to check for himself. "Whoa, you have an Okomo mask! Is it because it goes well with your horns?"

Mauriel just nodded. She figured they were pretty common, it was a funny mask, showing you don't take yourself too seriously, but it was still a symbol of the city and respectful towards the festivities, some even said it brought luck to the wearer or prosperity to local Okomo. "Your ghost is going to be so cool as well! Just make sure to wear white and I'm sure you'll scare all of your friends if you manage to find them in the crowd!"

He grinned. "You bet. I'm gonna scare you too!"

They were soon done and were informed they could pick up their masks before the festival if they wanted to leave them to dry. They were all given little markers so the workers would know which mask is whose, and reassured their masks will be well taken care of. Mauriel said goodbye to the two before stepping into the night's embrace.

WC: 936
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Mauriel
Shining On
 
Posts: 209
Words: 167162
Joined roleplay: July 12th, 2014, 12:45 pm
Location: Lhavit
Race: Ethaefal
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[Tain's Studio] Start Simple

Postby Madeira Dusk on February 28th, 2019, 7:46 pm

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Grades Awarded!

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Mauriel

Skills
  • Observation: 3xp
  • Planning: 1xp
  • Painting: 3xp
  • Logic: 2xp
  • Socialization: 2xp
  • Singing: 1xp

Lores
  • Painting: oil based paint takes a long time to dry
  • Painting: the process of making white paint opaque
  • Painting: using a fine brush for details
  • Painting: egg yolk can substitute paint oil
  • Singing: Lhavitian children's songs

Awards & Retribution


Notes
Quote of the day: "In the light they ended up vaguely humanoid, like something painted lipstick on a goat."
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Madeira Dusk
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