Completed In Full Swing

[Lyra Nix]

The 12th of Winter 520

Lyra arrived at Tain’s Studio with her backpack in tow, having left her house with ample enough time to make the walk there now that she lived on a separate Peak. It had been several days in her own home now but the thought still seemed so foreign to her when it came to mind. Entering the Studio, Lyra called out greetings to anyone who was within earshot, namely Nat and Tain as she made her way through the Studio. Each greeted her in turn in their own way, Tain without looking up from the pottery piece he was working on, and Nat by telling her that her commission for the day was on the table in her area. Smiling to herself, Lyra approached said table and set down her backpack with her kit, eyeing a note of instructions waiting for her there. However, upon reading the instructions, Lyra was left a bit disoriented.

See the instructions fully explained what the customer wanted for their piece, specific enough to get Lyra started, but open to enough of her own interpretation that she was allotted some liberties in the way she would get it done. Ideal for a commissioned piece really, but then why did Lyra feel so strange about it? It was the subject matter that was throwing her off. The customer wanted a painting of The Swing. Having grown up in Lhavit, Lyra of course knew of The Swing. She thought she did anyway. A memory of a tree by a cliff came to mind, fuzzy and out of focus, but nonetheless it was there, triggered by the mention of it in the note she held in her hand. Staring at the words on the page, Lyra racked her brain for more information on The Swing, desperately trying to recall it’s location. Sharai Peak kept coming to mind, and Lyra was vaguely sure it was out past the Okomo Estates somewhere. Why she couldn’t explicitly remember was beyond her, but regardless, the customer would get what they asked for.

Going over the note once again, Lyra took care to make sure she understood exactly what was expected of her for this piece as well as what she was free to paint as she saw fit. The customer wanted the point of view of the painting to be from the side of the swing. They wanted the color palette, if any, to be minimal. And they wanted the overall piece to be marginally simplistic. The rest was left to Lyra to interpret in her own way, a few ideas already swirling around in the artist’s head. Lyra liked to believe she did an alright job of striving for at least some degree of uniqueness and individuality in her pieces, and she especially wanted to do right by this customer in honor of the freedoms they'd so generously allotted her. So visualizing in her head what she would need, Lyra began gathering the needed materials for the journey back to Sharai.


Word Count: 500

[Lyra Nix]

The first thing she did was grab an easel and a canvas. She selected a midsized canvas, for it was the prefect blend of room to work with without being too difficult to carry since she’d be traveling with it. Setting those items on the table with her instructions, Lyra next grabbed a bucket and went to where the paint was stored. Her ideas for this piece meant she only needed three colors: black, white, and blue. The best part of how she planned to paint this piece, was that the minimal colors also meant minimal brush usage, which in turn meant she could do without having to carry water with her. One less item to cart out to the location, especially something as heavy as water, made her task that much easier to accomplish. Colors gathered and placed in the bucket for ease of transport, Lyra returned to the table. Tucking her instructions into her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder, she gathered the canvas under one arm, grabbed the bucket of paint with the same hand, and picked up the easel with the other arm. Materials in hand, Lyra set out for Sharai Peak.

Dreadfully careful not to bump into anyone along the way, Lyra made her way along the paths and bridges between Peaks, taking an ample amount of rest stops as needed. While she was strong enough to carry her materials with relative ease, carrying them far and for long proved to be strenuous without breaks. If she hoped to be able to paint once she arrived, she couldn't risk taxing her arms and hands more than what a few chimes rest could remedy. Eventually Lyra reached the edge of the Okomo Estates, marking her most of the way to her destination. There she rested again, going back over her instructions to stay on task. She was headed to The Swing. That fuzzy memory taunted her mind again, refusing still to give her anything but vague details to go by. Past the Estates by a cliff, she reminded herself. Got to keep moving. Picking everything up again, Lyra started down the path in front of her, the one that would lead her out on the other side.

Passing by her own house and plenty of others, Lyra could finally see the beginning of the slopes on the outskirts of the land claimed for the Estates. Following them would lead her, at some point, to the upper cliff where The Swing hung waiting. Resting by the edge of the Estates a moment, Lyra once again picked up her belongings and trekked on, her excitement for this commission driving her onward. She walked for what felt like forever to her weary-growing limbs, but finally The Swing came into view.

A huge oak tree stood by the cliff’s edge, leaning and looming over the expanse below. It stood as watchman and surveyor, trickster and taunter, to anyone brave enough to lounge so close to danger as to feel the branch's shade. The swing itself was basic, made up of a wide plank and some heavy rope, hanging still and untouched from the outstretched bough of the tree. Making her way to the cliff’s flatter topside, Lyra gently set down her materials and took in the view from a safe distance from the edge. One could see the rest of Lhavit from where she stood and even for someone who's never seen anywhere else, the city was breathtakingly beautiful below. Pride for her city swelled within the artist, replacing some of the fatigue of the journey there.


Word Count: 598

[Lyra Nix]

Lyra closed her eyes for a few chimes, enjoying the open air and light breeze tickling the hairs on her skin. Reminding herself she was there to work and not to lounge, the artist reluctantly pulled herself away from her vantage point and returned to her materials. Grabbing the easel and canvas, Lyra walked around the area near The Swing, looking for the best place to setup for her painting. Eventually she found the perfect spot for the visual in her mind and placed her equipment there. Grabbing her backpack and bucket of paints, Lyra stood before the easel, going over her idea in her mind once more before grabbing her charcoal to begin.

Pulling out a medium sized piece, Lyra began at the bottom of the canvas, about a third of the way in from the left, and lightly drew the silhouette shape of the oak tree. At this stage, she only drew a few light straggly lines to represent the roots, the inside edge of the trunk, and near the top of the canvas, the lines branched out in a few places, the guiding lines for the detailed branch work she would add in later. Once that was done, Lyra drew two haphazard lines diagonally from the tree trunk. These would be the guides for the swing itself, in full swing. Around the bottom of the trunk in a bit of a zigzag shape, Lyra drew the shape of the cliff edge. The whole right half of the canvas remained blank. It would serve its own purpose later. For now, she was ready to start painting.

Guidelines sketched in place, Lyra returned her charcoal to her kit, and pulled out her brushes. She’d need her large brush as well as her tiny detail brush to pull off the vision she had in her head. Placing four bowls from her kit near the easel, Lyra retrieved the paint she’d brought from the bucket she’d carried it in. One at a time, she poured just a little bit of each color into its own bowl, starting with black, followed by blue, and finally white. The last bowl remained empty, as it would become a mixing bowl when the time came. Tucking the paints safely back inside the bucket, Lyra finagled her medium brush in hand and picked up a reasonable amount of black paint.

Moving to the canvas, Lyra began at the bottom, much in the same way she’d begun when drawing the guidelines, and started painting the tree. She began just above the roots, those would be filled in later with her smaller brush, and worked her way upwards towards the branches, again saving those details for a little later. It looked a little funny at first, basically a large black rectangle for now, but Lyra pressed on. Setting her medium brush down, Lyra took the bowl of white paint and the bowl of blue paint and poured just a little of each into the empty bowl she had left. Next, she used her large brush to mix those colors together to make a beautiful light blue, the shade of the sky above her. Once the color was thoroughly mixed, Lyra picked up a good amount of it and returned to the canvas.


Word Count: 544

[Lyra Nix]

Beginning again at the bottom and working her way up, Lyra painted the whole right half of the canvas blue, following her guidelines and avoiding the areas on the left she still had to fill in. The blue finished, Lyra moved on to her next task. Taking up her small brush, Lyra dipped it once again into the black paint. With this, she began painting the roots of the tree, free handing their shape and direction at the base of the trunk. When she was satisfied with those, she moved to the top of the canvas and did the same for the branches. Most went up and off the canvas, but several went towards the right side, with a large bough outstretching above the blue expanse. From that bough, Lyra painted two diagonal lines, following the guides she placed earlier, to represent the ropes of the swing. A moment later she painted a rectangle between those lines, the seat of the swing taking its place in the painting.

The cliff beneath and around the tree remained unpainted for the moment, as Lyra wasn’t ready to fill it in just yet. Tiny detail brush in hand, Lyra dipped just the tip of it into the white paint, and began at the top of the canvas this time. Using the white, Lyra began outlining everything she’d painted in black. The branches, the tree trunk, the roots, the ropes of the swing, and the swing seat. When that was finished, Lyra started adding in finer details to the painting: leaves on the branches, some bark lines along the trunk, and a few lines along the swing ropes for depth and detail in the rope itself. With the white all in place, Lyra returned to her small brush with black paint and began painting the cliff below the tree. Easily working around the base of the tree now that she could see the roots thanks to the white detailing, Lyra filled in the last remaining space on the canvas. Stepping back to admire her work, the whole piece came together before her eyes. A beautiful silhouette of the tree with the swing in motion, the cliff edge below it, and the expanse of blue sky opposite it. Lyra’s vision was complete.

It was time to let the canvas dry completely, otherwise Lyra would ruin it trying to get it back to the Studio. Gathering up her brushes, Lyra hand-flung as much of the paint out of the bristles as she could and placed the bundle of them back into her kit. She would have to clean everything when she returned to the Studio and regained access to water. Gathering up her paint bowls two at a time, Lyra carried them out near the cliff, carefully outstretching her arms to pour the excess paint over the edge. She repeated this process with the other two bowls, carefully stacking the now empty bowls and putting them back in her kit. With all her materials cleaned up, Lyra walked over and gingerly sat in the swing to give the painting ample time to dry before heading back.


Word Count: 520

[Lyra Nix]

Sitting in the swing was surreal for the artist. She didn’t dare swing out on it, she was far too afraid to even attempt it, but after a few anxious chimes of it creaking and shifting beneath her, Lyra started to settle into it a little bit. Cautiously rigid features began to relax some, though her feet remained planted firmly on the ground to prevent any motion from occurring. A light breeze tousled her hair, drawing her attention back to the jaw dropping view of Lhavit. It really was something words didn’t quite exist to accurately describe and Lyra made a mental note to get out and explore views like this more often. It was inspiring and she was always looking for new ideas and ways to grow.

Carefully standing up, Lyra checked her canvas o see if it was dry yet. As much as she was enjoying the air and the view, she needed to get back to the Studio to get things cleaned up and put back so she could go home and cuddle up with her cat. To Lyra’s relief, the painting was in fact dry, a nod to the power of natural air. Slinging her backpack back over her shoulders, Lyra gathered up the easel under one arm, grabbed the bucket of paint in the same hand, and delicately carried the finished painting in the opposite hand. Confident she had a good grip on everything, Lyra began the trek back through the Okomo Estates, down to the main area of Sharai Peak, across the bridges back to Surya Plaza, and from there back to Tain’s Studio. Heading all the way back went very much the same as it had when she’d headed out that morning, Lyra doing her best not to bump into anyone and not to bang up the finished piece.

Eventually she reentered the Studio, immediately placing the canvas with some other finished commissions along the nearby wall. Fatigued arms carried the rest of her materials to her station, dropping them onto the table with a definitive thud of weariness. Not allowing herself to stop and rest for fear she wouldn’t finish what needed done, Lyra gathered the paints she’d borrowed and returned them to their rightful place. The easel went back with the others after that, leaving Lyra’s only remaining task to be that of the cleaning of her bowls and brushes.

Gathering them all up together, Lyra carted them over to the wash basin and began one by one cleaning them. Nearby rags eased the scrubbing of the bowls once they were wet, allowing Lyra to finish them rather easily so they could dry while she moved onto the brushes. Cleaning each of them took a little more finesse and elbow grease, Lyra taking the extra time to thoroughly work the paint through and out of each of their bristles so she would have fresh and uncompromised brushes for her next project. When she was finally through with cleaning everything, the artist packed her belongings away back in her kit and eagerly set out for home for a long awaited nap with Graycie.


Word Count: 521, 2683 total

[Oralie]

grade award!

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Lyra

Skills

• Land Navigation: 1
• Observation: 2
• Planning: 1
• Drawing: 1
• Painting: 2
• Cleaning: 1

Lores

• Lhavit Location: The Swing
• Drawing: Sketching guidelines
• Painting: Mixing sky blue
• Painting: A minimalist painting

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