~Chapter 18: Back to Basics~
A couple of weeks passed after Spurspark went to see the princesses in Canterlot, and they deemed him worthy to reside in Equestria. I continued with my work, and he soon got a job working with Twilight at the library, taking a bit of the load off of Spike's shoulders. This was beneficial for him as well, in that it allowed Twilight to easily teach him how to control and direct his magic. I continued my work at Sweet Apple Acres, and now that we finished loading the loft with bushels of apples we moved on to loading the barn's basement.
However, it is currently my day off. And after Chroma and I happened upon Zecora in the market, I decided it would be a good idea to meet her. We talked for a bit, and then I asked her about earrings. The two mares were somewhat taken aback by my question, but Zecora was willing to pierce mine. We are now returning to Chroma's place, and I bore a wooden spiral earring in my left ear, but it bucking hurt. I have a lot of nerve endings in my ears, unfortunately.
"Stop touching it! It will only cause more pain, and do you want an infection?" Chroma scolded me.
I sighed and lowered my wing. "Sorry, I can't help it. Once it heals it will be fine."
She huffed and shook her head. "Why in Equestria would you want that, anyway?"
I thought for a second, wondering how to word it. I had one for the longest time as a human. "I always wanted to have one. I thought they looked cool."
She sighed, shaking her head once again. "Confound you, colt! You're crazy!" We shared a quick laugh, and walked up the steps to the house. I unlocked the door, Chroma now trusting me to my own key, and I let her in first like a gentlecolt. She smiled and gave a single slow nod in appreciation, closing her eyes in appreciation. I followed suit and we approached the kitchen. She walked into the pantry and grabbed a few potatoes - she has fallen in love with my fries - and I sat on one of the dining room chairs, looking towards the kitchen and watching her prepare a quick snack.
I broke the silence first. "So, after having a quick bite, do you mind teaching me to draw again? It's been about five weeks now. I would love to start using those supplies I bought." I grinned.
She let out a quick peal of laughter. "Of course. It would be very relaxing for us to begin working on art together." We ate and chatted, about nothing too particular, and I did the dishes after, allowing her a few moments to sit and relax. Upon finishing the cleaning we left the kitchen, the jade mare holding the front. I stopped at my room and grabbed my tray of utensils, balancing it on my back with my wings. I nodded to her after leaving the room and we continued down the hall to what was presumably her studio. We stopped at a deep violet door, starkly contrasting with the red walls. She opened it up and I gasped.
The studio was just as large as her living room, the walls bleach white, and there was a smooth white tile floor. Everywhere I looked there were finished or incomplete paintings, unused canvas, easels, buckets of paint, opened and new, brushes, everything. There was a rail around the ceiling with a ladder off it, also connecting with a track in the floor. This allowed the ladder to roll around the room so you could hang art up high when completed to dry and display. It was truly a marvel.
After a few moments I snapped back to attention and looked at the grinning pony in front of me. "Like what you see?" I could only nod dumbly, jaw slack. This amused her greatly. She moseyed into the middle of the room, pausing to drag a hoof across one of her paintings in development. She sighed contentedly. "I have never been more at peace then when I am painting. To simply tune out the rest of the world and focus on the direction, pressure, and colour of your stoke, and then to look at your finished work. . . it is a magical feeling all on it's own."
I finally pulled myself together and strode up to her, looking at the art she was working on. The canvas was roughly as wide as the length of a pony, nose to flank, and just as tall. The entire outside, or 'negative space' as I learned to call it, where there was no solid subject matter or no focal point, was completed in pastel colours ranging from violet to cool green, blended smoothly. The centre, however, was blank. I turned to the mare at my side. "What will you do to finish it?"
She closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't know. The inspiration hasn't hit me yet to finish this piece. I know the colours I wish to use, but I don't know what I will paint in those colours. I have been working on others in the meanwhile, but I need to finish this piece soon. I have a deadline."
I nodded, understanding the feeling. We turned back into the middle of the room and walked the rest of the way. She trotted up to one of her tables and retrieved a few of her own pencils, obviously rarely used, and grabbed a sheet of paper and a couple of cork boards. She leaned the boards against two of her easels, and pinned her paper to one. She gestured for me to do the same.
I approached the wooden stand and deposited my supplies on the table next to it. Taking a sheet of my own paper I mimicked her, and grabbed my favourite pencil, the 2H (a harder lead then your standard pencil - from 2B, to B, HB, F, H, and then 2H), in my teeth, careful not to dent the paint or wood. I turned back to my companion, and she smiled. "Okay, for now, put the pencil down on the easel. I'm going to give you a few stretches, and we will see what the maneuverability of your wings is." She spread her wings straight out to the sides, and proceeded to lift them straight up into the air, completely rigid and unbending. I stepped away from my easel and started to do likewise. Straight out, and then with a bit of concentration, because the muscles weren't designed to move that way, I began to lift my wings. My joints protested mildly, a slight burn from the stretch, but the burn disappeared after a couple seconds holding them up.
"Alright, now, we will go forward." She spread to the side again, and then started tilting her wings forward. She kept all of her feathers perfectly horizontal, and had both her wings going perfectly parallel in front of her. I mimicked the movement again, and discovered again that I was very flexible. It didn't surprise me; as a human, my flexibility was always my strong point in my Martial Arts training. We proceeded to do numerous stretches, teasing out my limits and strengths. After about a half hour, with a pleasant burn in my limbs and endorphins coursing through my veins, she called a halt to the stretching.
"So, you are incredibly flexible. This is good. I can get to teaching you my methods right away, rather then take a few weeks to build up your maneuverability." We grinned in unison. "So, lets get to it on the next step." She showed me how she gripped the writing utensil with her primary feathers, and I worked to mimic. I we were both interested to note that the other was a lefty; a pair of southpaws - er, southwings, I suppose it would be - practicing art.
She showed me the how to tighten your hold of the pencil so it wouldn't slip from your wing, how to watch the pressure at which you apply it with on the paper, and general tips and tricks to making things smooth and graceful. I got into the groove of it fast; my cutie mark didn't lie, I had a talent for this.
Once we were both satisfied with my dexterity at handling the instrument, she turned to work on some of her paintings. I pulled a fresh sheet of paper, sharpened my pencil, and thought for a second about what to draw first. I thought back to one of my favourite things to draw; hearts. Not those silly cartoon ones, of course not, but full, anatomically correct, human hearts. I began by gesturing the base shape of the heart, simple sketchy lines. If you had no idea what I was drawing, it would be a complete mystery at this stage. Following this step I went and refined the contours. Then I did a general toning; basic dark areas and highlights.
I decided I would work with my pens now. I put down the pencil and grabbed my 0.3 felt pen, and went over my contours. After that I went and began toning. Now, with pens you can't do the same smooth toning you are capable of with a pencil. It simply becomes a black blob. Instead I used topographical lines; lines that followed the curve and form of your subject matter, and the darker the area, the more lines you add. To make this even more effective, I used the 0.7 pen in the darkest area, moved onto the 0.5 by overlapping the 0.7 and going further up the heart. I followed with the 0.3 and 0.1 similarly. After I felt satisfied with the toning of my subject I put the pen down and stepped back. It looked perfect; the toned black heart on the white page, and the leftover pencil in the background granted some interesting depth. I was very proud of myself. I turned to Chroma, about to ask her what she thought, but stopped.
She stood there, staring at my paper, wings dropped to the floor, paintbrush leaving a giant glob on the floor, and jaw down to her chest. I grinned sheepishly, hoping that was a good reaction. "So. . . what do you think?"
She looked to me and closed her mouth, swallowing. "Ink. . ." She croaked out, and a single tear ran down her cheek.
It was my turn to swallow now. "Is everything alright. . ?" What happened next took me by surprise.
She tackle glomped me - but that wasn't all.
She kissed me.
After a few seconds of me standing there, shocked into rigidity, she pulled back and looked in my eyes.
"That. . . Is perfect. I have never seen a better pen drawing, and I have seen a lot." She dropped her hooves from my neck and walked over to my art, slowly drawing a hoof down the page. She closed her eyes and sighed. "You can feel each pen mark. . ." She opened her eyes and looked at it again. "The pencil in the background. . ." She sighed again and stepped away from it, back to my side. I continued to stare at her stupefied. She turned to me. "You will have a very successful career in this."
My shock slowly turned into a grin. "Thank you. I really appreciate."
She smiled back. "You are very welcome. I have few connections, so I will get a few portfolios reviews set up after you have completed a few more pieces." My grin grew. "Now, as for what we do next." She looked up at me, a gleam in her eyes. "Want to go for dinner? Your skill was the last straw that made me realize how attracted I was to you."
The sudden and rather forward query caught me by surprise yet again. However, I beamed. Hearing this from her was making my heart thump hard and fast in joy; my feelings for her had been developing so much up to that point. Now it was my turn to surprise her.
I kissed her in response.
"I would be delighted to."