Completed It is fall

[Valo]

67th Fall 512AV
Mid afternoon
The Quill's Rest

Valo was commissioned! And this made him very happy indeed for he hasn't had any actual guaranteed work for a very long time. To a rising artist this was very important. Not only did it mean he'll have money again, although that was a nice feeling too. More importantly, it made his eyes light up and his mind swell with the regained belief in himself. He was one step closer to making a name for himself in the city and one step closer to making his mother proud.

The man who commissioned the work was friendly indeed and Valo had met him several days before at the market. He seemed very impressed with Valo's paintings but none of them were quite what he had hoped for. And for a large sum, he had described a delicate painting he wished for, which would be the jewel in his house.

Quill's Rest was a peaceful place at this time of day and despite not actually being a student at the university, the others treated him with enough kindness and respect. It felt good to be able to mix with other's so much like himself. Valo had found himself a corner by the window, where the diffused light was perfect for accurate mixing of colours. Being a perfectionist, his lighting had to be perfect. Beyond the glass rain fell upon the rooftops of Zeltiva, echoing a rhythmic melody which aided concentration.

That day Valo brought a great roll of handmade paper, which he had spent the night preparing. It was a devious job, if not a messy one. But now dry and primed with an alcoholic medium, so that his water based paints would not bleed into the paper making a righteous mess of things, he set up and began painting.

The paper had a yellowed colour which wasn't quite what Valo desired. So he took out his largest squirrel hair brush, they were best for water colour painting, their ability to absorb large reservoirs of water was unmatched. Upon his palette, he mixed a very pale grey rose colour. And he had the perfect primary colours to do so. First he took a little his permanent violet pigment, which was a vibrant, pink based red and mixed it with a little ochre yellow. The warm undertones cancelled out the red's vibrancy and softened it. Adding just a little phalo blue, a pigment the colour of the ocean in a storm, which gave that cool feel to the mixture. Titanium white pigment had lightened everything just a little and brought out the grey undertones perfectly. And then it was just a matter of adding enough water so that the colour would make a soft wash on the handmade paper.

Valo waited a little before the initial wash of paint fried. Something he had learned from his countless experimentation with water based paint is that he should never paint over a wet surface. This makes the colours bleed into one another. And the only thing worse than undesirable colour mixing, is when a difference in moisture in thepaint in adjacent areas on the paper, causes these strange lines to appear in the paint. Lines that look a little like the edges of cabbage leaves. These lines are impossible to remove and are a painter’s worst nightmare.

Once the base wash dried, Valo produced a soluble black ink from his bag and watered it down so that it became a mere grey. He used this to outline the silhouettes of three rabbits in mid jump. His use of proportion was such that the shapes seemed to emerge right out of the paper.

Now it was time for gwache. It was another type of water based paint, only slightly different than watercolours. The secret lay not in the pigments use, but in the medium with which they were mixed in the tube. This made them much thicker and more vibrant. An there was a quality which Valo valued more than anything. With a little bit of water he could easily lift the pigments out of the paper, should he make a mistake.

The forms of the rabbits quickly gained life as he pinted them. Their fur glistened with reds and gingers and browns. A fully fall inspired colour palette. There were single strands of grass beneath their rabbit feet, to prevent them floating in mid-air on the paper. Just enough mucky green to accent the vibrant reds in the fur and eyes. And with the few final strokes of jet black ink to accent the details, the paintings was finished.

Three rabbits of a silvery pink backgrounds, escaping something that startled them, with autumn leaves and grass at their feet.

[Echelon]

Adventurer's Loot A Gift Experience is its own reward. Val's Loot : Valo Lore: Commissioned Again At Last! Notes: I do so love seeing the Quill's Rest being used. Not sure why, it just seems to Zeltivan to me. First Paragraph "hasn't had" should be switched to past tense. And "he'll." I'm not certain a man of Mizahar would ever think to make, or use, Titanium White. Also your skills here were overplayed for the time, with little to no mention of struggle. (Well, hon, you have improved greatly since this post was written. I am glad to see you have a better idea of the quality expected on Mizahar, and glad to see your work threads are of higher quality now. Aside from being short, overly simple, and bordering on inaccurate this post lacks, in places, the life of some of your others. But, I shall view it as a stepping stone, a building block. ) - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, please PM me.