Originally Posted by Magical Soul (Post 11105181)

Louisa's suspicious look turned into an amused one. She couldn't help the surprise about this man being alive... with his twenty self still talking and being this energetic. But... did the mister say he was in his "seventies" on purpose? DID IT SHOW ON HER?! That she kinda maybe possibly liked the man's portrait? Sweetnibblets!!!
"I like h- it," Louisa disagreed smiling at the man in the portrait still. What? Even if the real-him was seventy or so, it didn't mean that she didn't like his sense of... something.

Ahem.

Back to the lesson...



The Prefect wrote down whatever she found useful, peeking glances at the mister showing them the dried flowers and the items. While Alyssa hurried over to get them, Louisa continued to work on her parchment...



...mhhmmm? Louisa looked up at Alyssa and shrugged one shoulder, "I like green originally. We can choose the Bloody Red Rose petals and..." the Ravenclaw peered over checking the others out, ".. the fleabane. This will make a lovely purple color." Moving her parchment to the side, she brought closer the mortar and the pestle.

First, she took a small amount of the dried bloody red rose petals with her two fingers and into the mortar. Then she took one of the fleabane, carefully chucking a piece off and throwing it into the mortar. With the pestle, she started crushing them. "This reminds me a bit of potions," Louisa mused, keeping her gaze onto the mortar. "I wonder if we should divide the base paint to make different colored ones." She looked down at the mortar and lifted the pestle, "I think this is enough. Would you like to mix it with the base paint?" She offered the mortar over to Alyssa with an encouraging nod.

Originally Posted by jujune29th (Post 11104305)

Mix. Mix. Mix. Her arm was already getting tired... and Mordred watching her kinda made her nervous. Not a good combination if you wanted something to go right. Baking? I... don't know, really." She eyed him, but never putting down the ladle. She had never really baked for real, so she really didn't know whether she liked it or not. "Why? Do you?"

Mixiiing. Meehh! Get gooey already, thing!! She was about to mix the stuff even faster when Mordred got a hold of the bowl AND her hand. Blink. Blink. :3 Could she flail about now?

"I don't know!" Sophie said looking at the mixture. What she thought it was gooey might not be what the professor thought it was. She had no idea, really.

So he wanted HER to add the water now? Butbutbut what if she put too much?? That would ruin the paint! And they would have to start all over again and Mordred might get mad at her and might not talk to her ever again and maybe he woud even think she was a failure and didn't know how to do anything right and didn't know spells and and and

"Okay." She said simply as she held the cup and watched him pull the bowl closer to himself. "Aguamenti." She let the water come out from her wand, but not filling the cup all the way up. Um... now? She looked up at him and waited for the instructions. He was such a good leader!

Pouring the water liiiiiittle by liiiiittle - maybe too little - as he was telling her, she was careful enough not to make a mess around their workstation. They wouldn't want to waste any paint, now would theey?



After she was done adding the water, Sophie placed the cup on the table next to her wand and watched Mordred go on with the work. She gave the room a quit glance again and noticed professor Cutter calling for the Slytherin boy. Her attention was now divided between the handsome boy next to her and the little dude in front of the class, probably doing something he shouldn't...

Originally Posted by Jacob Cutter (Post 11104564)

He wasn't-

Cutter held up a hand, mouth opening to tell the boy to stop, but he was too late. The sheet was already sliding off, revealing the portrait it had hidden. The portrait that was very happy to finally be freed.

The man in the frame threw his hands up in the air in victory as the class came into view, a cocky grin on his face. Cutter closed his eyes and immediately began rubbing the bridge of his nose, waiting for the verbal onslaught that was about to begin.

"Greetings, ladies and germs," he began, looking out at all the students. "Pardon my lateness but big brilliant Professor Jake there apparently forgot to uncover me. Ponce, he is." He turned to West. "Thanks for the help kid... you can go back to readin' comics or whatever it is you were doin' instead of listening to Jake be booooooooring."

Cutter sighed.

"Kids... this is Truman. He was painted in 2024, and I can't for the life of me remember why I ever brought him along with me."

"Because I'm hilarious and the kids will love me more than your boring lecture on paint and pigments."

"So I could leave you here, more like," Cutter muttered under his breath before gesturing to Odessa. "Your milk overcurdled... you can use mine, please catch up quickly."

Couldn't really punish the kid... he hadn't done anything really wrong, and Truman was probably more at fault for his actions. With a flick of his wand, he levitated his curds to Odessa's table; he then briefly considered covering the portrait up again. However, he knew it would be futile. Truman had seen the kids, and if Cutter covered him again, he'd just raise a racket and cause the professor a headache. Cutter moved back to the desk in the front and gave Truman a look.

"You stay quiet or I'll have you hung up in a public lavatory." He cleared his throat as Truman stared at him, clearly concerned by the threat. "Does anyone need any help before we move on? If you've followed all the steps, you should have your paint base; we'll be adding pigment to it next, to create colours, and then you'll all have a chance to actually paint."

Originally Posted by Jacob Cutter (Post 11104902)

"You have no idea," Cutter muttered when he heard one of the children's opinions.



Blink. Blink.

"I'm sorry?" Cutter looked at Truman, who was staring at the girl and looking way too amused. "Nnnnoooo, portraits can't step out of their 'world', so to speak. They're stuck there."

Pause.

"And yes, what Odessa says is true. Portraits are essentially trapped in time. No matter how much they work out or try to change, nothing can change for them."



This kid. Cutter shook his head in amusement and pointed at the board to remind him that he had a few quick steps to catch up on before he was up to speed with everyone else.

"Yeah yeah, I'll see what I can do," Truman mumbled, stretching in his frame and eyeing the kid.

If Cutter had heard the threat of defenestration, he probably would have allowed it to actually happen.



"Nice to see you too, sweetheart!" Truman called back at the pretty young girl. Cutter glared at him, and Truman heaved a heavy sigh. "She did it first!"

The professor's hand twitched toward the sheet.

"He is a real man." Cutter started moving some of the plastic containers to the desk he'd set his things up on. "This portrait was painted in 2024, when Truman was in his mid twenties. His real-life model is now in his seventies. He found the portrait too annoying, apparently, and left it behind when he moved... I moved into his old house several years ago and 'inherited' it."

Truman made a sound, as if to protest his being annoying, but Cutter was plunging ahead before he could say anything, and all the portrait managed was a reproachful look.

"What you have now, as I said, is the base of the paint. It's like what they use when you go into a Muggle store to have a custom colour mixed. To create the colours, you have to mix in pigments."

He opened a container and scooped up a handful of dried yellow flower petals, holding them forward to show the class.

"Now, almost anything in nature can be used to create pigment. Think of any of the million things you can find on the grounds; if you dry it, you can grind it into pigment to be added to this base. For this class, I pre-dried some things for you guys... some come from more dangerous plants, but as I said, you can use anything. You can even use mundane things, but they tend to not work as well when it comes to the 'animation' stage."



"Secondary colours like purple, green, and orange can also be made in this way, but it's usually just easier to mix some of the primary colours together."



"Supplies are up here in the containers, and mortars and pestles can be found on the side table there." Which was Cutter's way of saying 'be free, kidlings, create colours!'.

eta ooc: the small porcelain dishes on your tables are there for you to mix your paints, guys. :)

Originally Posted by Jacob Cutter (Post 11104902)

<snip>
"He is a real man." Cutter started moving some of the plastic containers to the desk he'd set his things up on. "This portrait was painted in 2024, when Truman was in his mid twenties. His real-life model is now in his seventies. He found the portrait too annoying, apparently, and left it behind when he moved... I moved into his old house several years ago and 'inherited' it."

Truman made a sound, as if to protest his being annoying, but Cutter was plunging ahead before he could say anything, and all the portrait managed was a reproachful look.

"What you have now, as I said, is the base of the paint. It's like what they use when you go into a Muggle store to have a custom colour mixed. To create the colours, you have to mix in pigments."

He opened a container and scooped up a handful of dried yellow flower petals, holding them forward to show the class.

"Now, almost anything in nature can be used to create pigment. Think of any of the million things you can find on the grounds; if you dry it, you can grind it into pigment to be added to this base. For this class, I pre-dried some things for you guys... some come from more dangerous plants, but as I said, you can use anything. You can even use mundane things, but they tend to not work as well when it comes to the 'animation' stage."


"Secondary colours like purple, green, and orange can also be made in this way, but it's usually just easier to mix some of the primary colours together."



"Supplies are up here in the containers, and mortars and pestles can be found on the side table there." Which was Cutter's way of saying 'be free, kidlings, create colours!'.

eta ooc: the small porcelain dishes on your tables are there for you to mix your paints, guys. :)

Originally Posted by Steelsheen (Post 11104571)

It was a man....

Vickers shifted in his seat again, trying to avoid all the heads blocking his view of seeing the entire canvass. Then the portrait started to speak, knocking the Instructor and his methodology. The Ravenclaw looked sympathetically at the dark haired man and shook his head, he was doing just fine as far as he was concerned.

But eyes goes back to the painting. He was as his grandmother would say, a smartypants kinda fellow, the kind that would likely clash badly with her. But as this was an art class he suddenly had a depressing thought. Leaning towards Gwen he whispered "Do you think you'll be able to paint a portrait of him?"

Originally Posted by Steelsheen (Post 11105531)

His eyes shifted between Louisa and Truman, curious? amused? at the exchange between them. When the Professor said the real Truman would be in his 70s Vickers' brows went up-- he'd be as old as his grandmother. He had to wonder if he was still a smartypants fellow or he has mellowed out. In any case this Ravenclaw can only admire the confidence by which the younger portrait conducted himself. Something his grandmother would highly disapprove of if she saw them in him unfortunately. Sighs for life.

He focused back on the small dishes and took the supplies of dried flowers for each color, placing them in each of the bowl. He glanced at Gwen just as he reached out for the bowl with the White Fleabane "I'll go work on this blue pigment"

Originally Posted by Quick Quotes Quill (Post 11103830)

Well… there didn’t seem to be much left to do until they would finish preparing the paint. Hah. And then she could do the artistic part. Even though she preferred drawing or sketching to painting, Gwen couldn’t say she disliked the latter one. Not at all. But hopefully whatever they would have to paint would turn out all right.

Her thoughts were interrupted by something the other Ravenclaw said. ‘Sure’, the fourth year replied simply and started mixing the solution.

Stir. Stir. Stir.

After a while, the solution started looking a bit better. ‘Is it smooth enough?’ And yeah, gooey too? Looking back at Vickers, the girl was still mixing, trying to make sure the thing looked like it was supposed to.

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88 (Post 11105333)

Alyssa liked the way Louisa had mixed the colors together. "You know what I think that your suggestion is great. We should divide the base paint, so that we can make different colored ones. I'll divide them up and I'll mix in the pigment into one of the batches and once we're done we can crush some of the other flowers and make other colored pigments." Alyssa agreed with Louisa.

Alyssa first divided up the base paint into 4 different portions and poured them into separate containers. Then she took the pigment that Louisa had crushed and slowly mixed it in with the base paint in the first container. She stirred it with a stirrer until the pigment started to blend into the base paint and she continued stirring until there were no more lumps in the paint. Then Alyssa picked up her quill and added the steps into her journal.

"Now I think that I'm going to make a pigment color of my own, Louisa. Just to see how it works. Your idea of making other colors is brilliant." Alyssa took a small amount of Honking Daffodil and White Fleabane, tore them apart before adding them into the mortar.

Then she picked up the pestle and started crushing them together. She crushed as she twisted the pestle into them, breaking them apart. And when her right hand was tired, she switched hands and continued crushing the flowers until their colors changed to a nice greenish hue. Alyssa continued to crush the mixture, until she got the right color she wanted. Then she handed the mortar containing the pigment over to Louisa.

"Here why don't you take a turn now at mixing the pigment into the base paint. While I go and mix more pigment colors together. We have 3 more containers that I have apportioned out."

Originally Posted by Magical Soul (Post 11106624)

Louisa almost blurted out 'YES', but she caught herself as the joking tone sank in. She then smirked at the man in the portrait's protest and suggestion at the same time. "I fail to see how he's not amusing him, really." she chuckled under her breath and shook her head once. If she had a portrait to argue with, her life would be complete!



Taking turns, right. Louisa nodded at her partner and watched the younger girl divide the base paint into five different containers, one was already mixed with her purple pigment. She dragged one of the colorless ones over and started gradually adding the greenish color, that Alyssa just mixed for her, and mixing it continuously with the paint. It started off as lemon-green and then started to darken as she added more pigment to it. When she reached the shade she desired and thought wasn't "green gross", she stopped adding pigment and called it done. "Done with green.. and we have purple, what'd you have?" She peered over to Alyssa's work and saw her mixing an orange color. "Cool. I'll see what mixing other flowers will produce."

She grabbed her mortar again and stared for a second at the dried flowers that Alyssa had set for them on their table. Hmmm. Slowly Louisa threw a bunch of Bloody Red Rose petals in and then grabbed a Honking Daffloid, chucking a small piece of its dried stem and adding it to the mortar. Then she started crushing them together with the pestle, her eyes were first on the mixture but then lifted to glance at other people's work. Not that she saw much, she recognized Vickers and Gwen few tables ahead and offered a small smile at them before going back to her pigment.

"..oh. Brownish red," she made a face at the not-so-pretty color. Once the pigment felt soft under the pestle, Louisa tilted the mortar to the side a bit checking that it was really fine powder.

It was.

The Ravenclaw then started adding sprinkles of it to one of the colorless pain containers, add a sprinkle and mix with her other hand... add and mix... add and mix...

Originally Posted by Jacob Cutter (Post 11109502)

"Naw, I don't get bored. It's great most of the time, I can go into all the other paintings in the house and do anything I want. Though I wish Jake would buy some new paintings..." Truman wrinkled his nose and looked at Cutter, who was dutifully ignoring him. "He took all the ones out of his bedroom, too... it gets lonely when he hides in there. But I've got some other paintings to bother too, so..."

Cutter shot a glance at him.

"He wakes me up at night, when I'm trying to sleep. That's why there's no paintings in there anymore." He looked at few of the tables, noting they'd only made a few colours at some. "You can share paint amongst yourselves if you need to, to complete what you waant to."