Portrait artist, located right here in the City of Splendors. Welcome to my studio! For more info on prices, guidelines, and availability, visit my site below.
My studio’s finally moved to Carrd! Pretty spacious there with bigger walls, a lot more cabinets for storage, and a lot more room for ideas. I’ll still be taking some strolls here on X, but all details on Prices, Guidelines, and Studio Status can now be found at https://t.co/2jyKqNFYgs. How’s that for a slice of fried gold!
Past the Seeing Eye
First on the list, done. Second, done. Third, done. All of it, followed by flicks of the man’s ink. “Pleasure, I am Henry. You must be Adel.” He was thoroughly absorbed by the itinerary on his sheet and aims to tick them all to completion, including today’s portraiture for the duchess he escorts. We have concluded a transaction with him making little eye contact. It was one task after another.
“Let’s get this done,” says Lady Alicia. Our hands shake through magic, whoa….
As soon as we sit down, silence befalls the studio. She keeps a stern expression and faces only forward, her blue falcon scanning the room for her. The hours never grow dull. She stays still and upright, but once in a while, her eyes squint with curiosity, studying every detail of my easel, my brushes, my floorboards. Her eyes follow my every move, her ever observing eyes that paint a picture of me in her head. I only wonder what else she sees.
Lady Alicia Avery Berrycloth, played by @ruskillaS.
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
“Thank you for coming!” Once, twice, three times. I remember closing my doors to the man in the silken red shirt too many times. He was incrementally closer to the minute every single time. His expression, always dismayed at the exact same words, “Thank you for coming!” He waits again.
Though sometimes, fate is playful. He was the second customer and brought no lute this time. Instead, a rose. “Ciao! My name is Alfonso.” How did I resist the smooth charms of this man before? I had finally given time for his portraiture. A natural he was, posing as if he had practiced in front of the mirror a few times, but oh silly me. He was dressed early for a reason. The rose was not for anyone else but for the lady he anticipates at the docks. He then waits again.
Alfonso Ayedark, played by @drawing_angie.
Starstruck
I don’t think my studio was ready for the tidying up I did today. See, the canvases were lined up, paints behaved on the shelves like children, and all the brushes were tucked away in mugs. I had just locked the front entrance and prepared the backdoor for her arrival. Signage is now flipped to “closed.”
Finally, she’s here, seated right at the center. Surreal! Her smile, her laugh. What magnetic charm she brings! Her assistants and guards are scattered and stand right where they need to. I begin sketching, but my mind runs. Would they use my painting for a poster? Is she preparing for her next show? I cannot believe how a task so mundane as this is making me feel immensely electric. There must be a word for this sort of thrill.
Untethered Esteem
I see them approaching. The lady with the crystalline fluid hair eagerly pulls her beloved by the hand. I continue cleaning my jars, but I can already hear it all even from inside. The silence breaks with my chimes announcing their arrival. It has been a very special week for them both, Sir Diego introducing her as his betrothed. I promised for their portraits to be just as special.
I learned to become comfortable with intimacy in the studio. Love is a rare moment that can only be captured when I am looking, but I will admit. Perhaps, I should not be looking right now. Past the playful romance, he takes her hand, and with their sincerest of gazes, they both sigh with the excitement of the uncertain future.
Diana Koray and Diego Brumazul, played by @FranBautistart and @itsBerru.
Lightning
The daily groceries must be done, but as the looming grey skies and rolling thunders slowly approach, there are minutes that the patrons take advantage of while no blots of water can be seen on the ground. The streets grow less busier for a moment, and the only ones left are rushing customers and occasional travelling roofed carriages.
The rain falls. All have taken shelter, some standing under any canopy they find. My storefront windows blur out in the cold rain as the lady standing there is tucked tightly in the corner, refusing to look at the skies. A flash of deafening pure white light fills the city, and I wonder if the god behind the clouds revels in this. I think she is afraid. I let her in my shop while we wait to let it pass.
There it is, blowing in the wind and slipping through the cracks of the doors. The purple glow lands gently upon my desk. I blink twice to understand what I see. No, not a falling leaf. It is a fella, smartly dressed and decorated. He fixes his coat, almost displeased that the little illusory drumrolls I play are not a call to action but a mere call for his attention. “Hello, sir! This painting on the leaf, it is you, isn’t it? I attempted to capture your likeness in my own painting. Not as impressionistic as yours, but I hoped I came close.” He takes my gift, quite impressed that I had painted it on a tiny canvas.
“She’s going to like this,” he says with a cheeky smile. He slaps his forehead as if remembering something, “Oh, shoot! I must find my way home! Will you help me?”
Halls with pillars towering high, curtains draped to the floor, candles lit upon chandeliers, today was a special day. Much like the voices of the arriving guests and the symphony playing in the air, I am filled with all sorts of thrilling emotions, an overwhelming mix of joy and anxiety that an assembly of total strangers get to look at my exhibit of paintings up close. I feel so little in these great halls, and even smaller against the giant curious lady in a beautiful blush gown with bright fiery hair over there. She came to me to give her compliments and graciously wished she’d have a similar painting of herself. I hate to stare too long, but truly, it was me who was enchanted enough by her to say yes.
It went by like regular routine. The two ladies sat for a portrait two weeks ago and came back to claim the dried paintings, but at my studio, not a day goes by without something extraordinary to behold. They requested the portraits be unframed. “Stay still,” said Ms. Mavis as I held the portraits on both my hands. She takes a breath and closes her eyes. Seconds pass. She raises her arms, recites a poem in a different tongue, and waves her hands in the air, a rhythmic ritual that lightened the paintings I carry until they have shrunk as small as a thumb. They took the paintings from my palms and inserted them into golden lockets.
“I hope they like these,” says Ms. Alice.
I wave goodbye as they leave and fade away to another plane….
Hunched on a bench by my window, a lady in regal red dress waits for her turn. She amuses herself with a piece of square wood on her lap and her right hand carving away. “Lady Evienne?” I call out, the chips of wood sliding off of her velvet gown as she stands.
She is royal in title and seems to prove it so in portraiture with crossed hands and a straight posture, but I often try to strip the formality with small talk. A few conversations later, a resounding voice, deep and fearsome as a queen, grows in the air. Embers form and land on her shoulder. She introduces her red raven, feathers brimming with fire and terrifying like a dragon’s breath. Not the formality, but it was this sight that almost made me reverent.
Evienne Tenescue, played by @JoliSpringborn.
Eyes darting all around, up and down, side to side. She scans every corner of my studio in all its cluster of wood, cloth, and colourful chaos. Her excitement cannot be hidden. I’d ask her to stay still for a moment, but every movement added character. I was determined to capture it. She cannot wait to see the final result, but it seems it will take some time.
Giddily, she says. “I saw your paintings at a Hawkwinter’s manor a while back, and I was eager to get something like that for myself.” How odd. I do not remember the House Hawkwinter holding a banquet recently….
Vala Dex, played by @RHilliar.