[Letter 2: Negative Space] Art is....

[Perdita Westcott]

Negative Space.

15th Cylus, 721

erdita would like it, very much, if the ground would simply open up and swallow her whole. It could eat her up, like the monsters in stories told to children for all that she cared - as long as it took her away from here.

Here, of course, being a lecture hall in the University.

The issues was, Perdita had expected to be able to be in a small group, in which she would be completely anonymous by virtue of hiding behind her easel. She could hide behind an easel, that was not a problem. There were easels here, but there were twenty of them. Twenty. That meant nineteen other students and there was no where to hide. The best she could hope for, Perdita realised, was that her professor had been snowed in, caught in a blizzard or in some other way inconvenienced to the point of non attendance. The other students were chatting, introducing themselves and so on. Perdita said hello, of course, and was always polite, but her cheeks were burning bright red and she was doing her very best to just disappear.

Alas.

Just at that moment, the door to the lecture room opened and in walked a woman. Since the woman in question carried a whole range of items and paraphernalia, Perdita assumed it was their professor. The woman was rather short, but that wasn't what Perdita - or any of the students - noticed. By far the most immediately noticeable thing was the fact that their Professor's hair was multicoloured. Perdita raised an eyebrow and felt an immediate warmth to the woman.

"Hello all!" The Professor said, and moved over to the chalk board where she wrote a name. Salv'i'na Smixenbite. Perdita had her note book open next to her, and she carefully wrote the name. Perdita was careful to write Professor Smixenbite's name in a clear script and she put a border around it, leaving some space so she could add in any nicknames or "DO NOT"s needed.

"We're going to start this trial by looking at space," Professor Smixenbite said. Perdita was surprised at that, she'd read about things like edges and shading, but not space. What did the professor mean? "Specifically, negative space," Perdita made notes - writing the words Negative Space and waiting to see what exactly it meant.

"The space in between items on the canvas. I want you to focus on it." Professor Smixenbite walked to the middle of the room, where there was a table to place things on. There, she placed a jug with a large curled handle. There was also a statue of a woman, lifting her hands upwards, and a bowl which would normally house fruit but was, currently, empty.

"Pick one item, two, or all three. I want you to consider the space between."

The space between what and what, Perdita wondered and then Professor Smixenbite answered the question Perdita was thinking. "You may use any medium or surface you wish. I want to see where you are in terms of your skill and I want you to show me what you understand by Negative Space."

Perdita understood it, she thought. Negative Space was the space in the giant gaping hole which she wanted to open up and swallow her. But, with a sigh, she hid behind her easel and got started.

Art is Art.
Everything else is everything else.

[Perdita Westcott]

Negative Space.

15th Cylus, 721

egative space? The professor kept putting items down, Perdita took a moment to look at them - albeit from the safety of behind her easel. By the time Professor Smixenbite had finished putting everything down, Perdita had decided that she was going to look at the jugs. Looking at the handles, specifically, she realised that of the three jugs that were there, each of the handles had beautiful space, a wonderful shape.

The first thing she did was to sketch the first jar . Perdita frowned as she did, using the pencils. Originally, she'd thought she might use the charcoal, but Perdita realised quickly that she wanted to have the sharp edges of a pencil. It allowed more contrast and gave a much more clear demarcation of light and dark.

The light shone on the glass, and Perdita looked at that first jar and tried to consider the light and dark in more detail. That was what created the space, after all. There was shadow on the top of the jar, and she considered it. For the very same reason that she had not chosen the charcoal, Perdita did not want to smudge the pencil in order to demonstrate the shadow. Instead, she thought, she'd give it a try by using lines. Lines, she thought, would work.

"Good!" The voice behind her exclaimed and Perdita near to jumped out of her skin. How could someone with brightly coloured multi-coloured hair be so silent.

"I like these lines," Salv'i'na said and Perdita blushed. "Tell me, tell me about the space?"

"I.. it's here," she said, pointing to the area between the jug and the handle. Salv'i'na nodded, and then asked further, encouragingly. "You've used lines here, why?"

Perdita was pleased - on the one hand - that her teacher had noticed that. However, the young woman was deeply prone to over thinking and she worried that Professor Smixenbite was asking her why she'd used those lines when, in fact, it was a really bad idea. But, Perdita had made the decision and so she explained. "They... it's shadow." Perdita spoke softly. "It's... shade is space in between darkness and light." Her professor smiled.

"And why did you use vertical lines on the top? You've brought in horizontal and angled lines towards the bottom. Why?"

Perdita looked at the drawing, and she realised that her teacher was right. She had. She wasn't sure at first, but then, she realised. "It's the shape," she said. Salv'i'na nodded her head, again encouraging the young student who was blushing furiously. "The top," Perdita stammered. "It's straight. The vertical lines show height. The horizontal and angled are shaping. Curves."

Salv'i'na smiled. "Straight lines to show curves? That's good. That's very good. I want you to look at the inside of that handle. Look at it. Consider it." Can you do that?

Perdita nodded, her cheeks a deep red. She really wanted her teacher not to be here and not to be talking to her. Possibly sensing that, Salv'i'na chuckled and moved away. Perdita realised that she'd been holding her breath and she breathed out.

Art is.....
the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings..

[Perdita Westcott]

Negative Space.

15th Cylus, 721

s she looked at the jug sketch she had made, Perdita wondered how she looked at the space in the handle. How did she do that? She could shade in there, she thought, and that might be quite an interesting thing to do, but on the other hand, she felt that the space was defined by the lines around it. That was an interesting thought and she jotted it down in her notebook.

No, Perdita decided that she was going to spend her time, now, in looking at what she had done and how it could be helped or hindered. First, she thought, what she'd do is to try it out by making it more dense. Drawing the lines more thickly, more closely packed together.

Again, she started to draw. This time, she used a pencil with a slightly less sharp nib and she got started. Perdita wanted to make sure that she duplicated the original image of hers - as simple as it was - to the best of her ability, so she focused on that. First of all she copied it and then, she started adding in lines. Thicker dark lines made over the thin ones, each time with the intention of this being darker, thicker, more contrast.

As she continued with the same technique as she had used previously, Perdita decided that the best thing to do was to start where it was most feint and delicate and work up to that. In doing so, she saw that, in the darkest part of the jug - the top bit of it just near the handle, it seemed to become so dark that it was almost solid. Yet, still, there were hints of lines there and they made a difference.

"Interesting isn't it!" Professor Smixenbite said and Perdita once again jumped a little. Did her professor have a side-job as a sneaky person, she wondered. But she kept quiet while Professor Smixenbite looked at her work. "What have you learned?" Her teacher asked and Perdita thought about it for a moment or two. "The lines," she said. "They have space, between them. Even here," she pointed to the most densely filled in area. Salv'i'na nodded "And?"

Perdita frowned, looking at it. "It gives depth," she said. "That seems solid," she said, pointing to the area in question. "But the space suggests light. This looks light," Now she pointed to the area which had the least amount of pencil marks. "But it is light because of the space. You look at this, and think it's glass." Professor Smixenbite nodded. "It is glass, and metal," she said. "And, somehow, you've captured that with one pencil. Well done."

Of course, Perdita's reaction to that was to blush. Professor Smixenbite looked down at her notebook and nodded. "Nice work, Perdita Westcott," she said. "If you want an extension activity, when we're done here, before our next class? Use a different medium altogether, and try a splash of colour." Perdita nodded, keenly.

"Alright, good work everyone," the Professor addressed the class now. "Take your notebooks home after this class. Put your sketches and notes in them, and then submit them one trial before our next class. To the reception desk, please. Any questions?" There were none and so, Perdita started to write furiously, as the Professor wrote on the board showing what they needed to submit, and by when. There were other things there, too, ideas and thoughts and Perdita decided, then and there, that she was going to do as much of this as she could.

So, she closed up her notebook and did what could only be described as scurrying out.

Art is, in itself
a desire to bring order out of chaos.

[Jackalope]

Experience: 10 no magic xp

Knowledge:
Drawing: Using a pencil to sketch a jar / jug
Drawing: A sharp pencil produces very fine lines
Drawing: Using lines can denote shape in a simple sketch
Writing: Leave space to fill in information.
Writing: How to lay out a notebook
Writing: Noting down your homework in a list.

Renown: -
Skill Usage: Appropriate to level.
Loot/Losses:
Injuries/Conditions: none
Consequences:

Comments:

Oh, Perdita. So adorably shy and jumpy. I like the part where she blushed. :p

This wasn’t a boring thread at all. In particular, including drawings in the posts added a lot of value; it made Perdita’s actions seem vivid rather than abstract. Also, I like how you realize Perdita’s personality: she isn’t just a one-dimensional shrinking violet; although not an extrovert, she is intent and assured about the task she’s focused on, even if she is quiet and easily startled by rainbow-haired professors. It’s striking that you focused on her being a good note-taker. I wonder if that will be significant later on…

Enjoy your rewards!