Art is For Everyone, Wednesday, January 4, 2023

[heroic_jawline]

Did the classroom the students walked into look a little elementary school adjacent? Maybe. It was bright, colorful, and full of smocks.

Steve wasn't wearing one. He was in a white t-shirt and a pair of khaki pants. "Hello!" he said, beaming at them as they arrived. "We're going to have so much fun this semester."

Tony was wearing one, but mostly because it was the vibe and not out of real concern for his clothing. Because so much of his casual stuff had engine grease stains or burn marks from soldering. "With art! That everyone can do," he added. "Even me."

Tony looked adorable. Well. Steve thought so. "Art is an excellent form of stress relief," he said, "as long as you don't get stuck in your head worrying about the right way to do things. This class will not be about stressing over technique. This will be about enjoying being creative."

"As such, our intro to the class will start off with fingerpainting," Tony said. "You can make whatever you like. But to fit in with the first day theme... aim for what you think expresses you best."

"Tony and I will be making art, too," Steve said with a smile, "and then before class is over, we'll all talk about our paintings."

Comments

Explain Your Art!

[heroic_jawline]

What does what you made say about you? Other than maybe you are not super-talented at fingerpainting?

Re: Explain Your Art!

[amicia_the_amazon]

Amicia was still staring at the utter mess she'd made.

"I don't know."

Re: Explain Your Art!

[heroic_jawline]

Steve smiled at her. "Did you have fun letting go like that?" he asked.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[amicia_the_amazon]

Amicia let out a soft, shuddering breath. "I don't know," she said, more plaintative.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[heroic_jawline]

"Have you ever done something like that before?" Steve asked.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[amicia_the_amazon]

"Not--"

Belatedly, Amicia remembered about the phone in her pocket. She took it out, dried-paint-spattered fingers trembling a bit as she searched for the translation app.

« I have never had paint. My mother taught me how to embroider. But-- no. Not this. »

She held the phone up so the strange little voice inside of it could give Steve the translation.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[heroic_jawline]

Steve nodded, smiling. "Paints are expensive where you're from?" he guessed.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[amicia_the_amazon]

« Very. We could not-- stick our fingers in them and draw on things, it would be much too expensive. »

The phone spoke for her, again. She was grateful. It kept her from thinking about how much Hugo would--

...

Re: Explain Your Art!

[heroic_jawline]

Steve nodded. "Have we shocked you?" he asked.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[amicia_the_amazon]

At last, Amicia looked up at his face. She let out a dry huff.

"It is very hard to shock me," she said, in slow, careful, heavily-accented English.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[heroic_jawline]

"That's good because this island will give it a try," Steve said.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[amicia_the_amazon]

Amicia released another huff, and looked back at her painting. « It can try, » she mumbled.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[heroic_jawline]

Steve smiled, then answered in French: "//You'll beat it.//"

Re: Explain Your Art!

[napking]

Gray's painting was a little messy, but it was a light blue animal of some kind that from context clues you might be able to work out was a sloth, hanging from a tree branch, with the sun in the sky above it. The sloth and the sun were both smiling.

"It's me," he said, gesturing to it proudly. He was going to make Raiden put it on his fridge.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[heroic_jawline]

"It's very well done," Steve said, grinning back. "How is it representative of you?"

Re: Explain Your Art!

[napking]

"Because the sloth is my animal," Gray explained quite seriously. "It's named after me." None of his brothers had an animal named after them. "And also they're cute, y'know, like me. And light blue is my...I guess you could call it my signature color. It's in my aura and my wings and everything."

And also he was usually pretty sunshine-y, but he didn't think to explain that part.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[heroic_jawline]

"How did the sloth get named after you?" Steve asked, looking very interested. "It's a very well done rendition of one."

In fingerpaints, at least.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[napking]

It was vaguely recognizable as an animal, at least. "I don't know," Gray said, giving the sloth a considering look. "I wasn't there. I guess because it's slow? But maybe because it's so cute." His cuteness deserved to be honored at least as much as his laziness, surely.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[kawaii_complex]

"Ano," said Sakaki, a little nervously, as she held up her painting, which featured a mostly brown and black blob with two pointed shapes on its head that might be ears and a squiggle that might be a tail, and a little green splotch that was....something?

"This is my cat Maya," she explained, and you could probably see it now, if you squinted! "I gave him a bowtie. He represents me because he means a lot to me, and also I like animals."

She was no master of art, but she was pretty good at understatement.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[heroic_jawline]

Steve smiled. "Why did Maya need a bowtie?"

Re: Explain Your Art!

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi shrugged. "I don't know, it doesn't mean anything."

Conveniently, the smock meant most of her tattoos were covered, hiding any similarities to the mess of black lines covering the page.

Re: Explain Your Art!

[heroic_jawline]

Steve smiled. "You just liked black today?"

Re: Explain Your Art!

[giveittoyoursister]

"Guess so."