Dramatic Visualism (Jane Eyre, Casual)

[LING LING DONGFENG]

Ling Ling loved the style of her traditional paintings, but that didn't mean she didn't appreciate other styles and mediums. In fact, she loved using other mediums to shake it up a bit sometimes. Charcoal and pastels were a joy to work with, as we toning paper, but the problem with other mediums were they cost money. Money that, if it was going to be spend on art supplies, usually had to be spent on canvases, watercolour paper and good paints and brushes. When it came down to it, she rarely got to experiment with other mediums, which was a shame.

She had been telling Susan this one day when the woman mentioned the community centre offering fairly cheep classes of all different types, including different art classes. Until now, she'd forgotten about them, but she'd dropped by the community centre to give a file to one of her clients who worked in the building and decided to snoop around while she was there, remembering Susan's suggestion.

Walking down the halls, she could see a lot of things were going on. Quite a few of the doors were shut, so she couldn't tell what they were doing, but a lot of them were open, and Ling Ling could see things like art classes, but also classes for other activities for children, like engineering and maths, language, tutoring programs, and for some small children, something like remedial zoology. There were also a few classes that seemed to be made up of adults, which was interesting to her. Finally, she reached an open door where she saw through open door, a pretty young woman cleaning up what had obviously been an art class. Ling Ling stood in the hallway admiring the works on the walls, no doubt by the woman's students or the woman herself. It was stunning.

Quietly, she walked to stand in the doorway and rapped with her knuckles against the doorframe to politely gain the other woman's attention.

"Ah, hello," Ling Ling said, trying to look friendly and not like an invader. "I was noticing the art on your walls and it's really, really nice." Her words were earnest, truthful; she was immediately impressed with the various other works she'd also seen once she'd stepped in the doorway to get a better look at the room.

[JANE EYRE]

As much as Jane liked to teach younger children, she simply adored her adult classes. Where she could have a lot of innocent fun with the kids, Jane could have wonderful conversations with the adults and they could work with more mature or complicated themes in the class. They had a nude model a few weeks ago, this week was oil painting with turpentine for a thinner.

She couldn't do that with anyone under 18. Legal issues and all that. But with the adult classes, they could cover all the truly interesting things.

Her last class of the week had gone very well. The class had hung up all their pieces, just to showcase how great they had done. Everything made had been so brilliant, Jane couldn't help but show them off. She hung up her own piece as well, but not as a focal point. Some of the students were so much better than her and she really wanted to show them off.

There were almost no accidents in that class but today a tub of linseed oil had been spilled. Jane had to stay after longer than normal to clean it up. She hadn't expected anyone to drop by and visit.

"Ah, hello. I was noticing the art on your walls and it's really, really nice."

Jane turned, mop in hand and smiled. "Oh, thank you. It's the student's work. I think it's very important to showcase their talent in their own learning environment."

[LING LING DONGFENG]

“Oh, thank you,” the woman turned from mopping, smiling. She had a kind smile, and kind eyes; kind was a good character to have, Ling Ling thought. “It’s the student’s work. I think it’s very important to showcase their talent in their own learning environment.”

Ling Ling nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. It was why painters hung their own unsold works in their home. Perhaps they were proud of them, and perhaps they wanted others to see them – compliment them – but it was also a source of being. Painting in an area where everything was too empty just wasn’t right. “Good idea,” she replied, and tentatively stepped further into the room. She held her hands clenched behind her back, slowly walking around the walls of the room, staring at the art with awe.

“Oil, is it?” She asked curiously. “I always are enjoy that medium.” They were very nice paintings too; some were of animals, some of flowers, but all fanciful in their originality. She looked back at the woman, smiling. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m being rude, intruding like this. I’m Ling Ling Dongfeng.” She stepped closer to the woman, smiling.

_{OOC: Sorry for such shortness…}

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[JANE EYRE]

"Yes, oil. We've only just started with it but I am very impressed with what the students can do."Jane smiled and looked at the paintings also, leaning the mop against a table. She herself liked oil well enough but she was a messy painter. Jane liked acrylic best because she could make a right mess with it and still be able to clean it up. Oil didn't have that luxury; once oil got on clothing or carpet, it's doomed. Which was why Jane never painted on carpet and always wore an old smock.

But it never did do a good job of keeping the paint off her face or out of her hair.

"I prefer acrylic or watercolors to oil, but nothing beats how smoothly oil blends." Jane shrugged and turned to the woman, holding out her hand in greeting. "It''s no intrusion. Pleasure to meet you Ling Ling, I'm Jane Eyre."

((ooc: Totes fine. Mine's short too))

[LING LING DONGFENG]

The other woman smiled and confirmed that Ling Ling was looking at oil painting. She had to agree, and nodded eagerly, when the woman confessed liking acrylic and watercolors more. They were what Ling Ling mainly used, after all, but it was simply fact that oil blended so nicely, that the medium was irreplaceable with any other sort. She’d for a small amount of time experimented with oil paints, but the mess and cost had sent her back to water color quite quickly. Still, if she ever had the money, she’d very much like to tamper in the medium again.

The woman held out her hand and introduced herself. “Please to meet you Ling Ling,” she said, and Ling Ling took her hand, shaking it firmly as was polite. “I’m Jane Eyre.”

Ling Ling spent about half a second trying to decide whether to call the woman Jane or Miss Eyre, seeing as she was both a teacher but only looked slightly older than Ling Ling herself. She decided on Jane, as Americans were so casual, after all, weren’t they? It’d be better, yes. “Nice to meet you also, Jane,” she replied pleasantly. “So do you teach… oil painting class here?”

[JANE EYRE]

“Nice to meet you also, Jane.”

Jane smiled and nodded, picking up the mop again and resuming cleaning. "I know it's rude but you'll have to pardon me, I have to get this cleaned up before it causes any damage." Turpentine could do some unwanted things to linoleum. It wasn't nearly as damaging as turpentine, but it wasn't as innocent as water either.

“So do you teach… oil painting class here?”

Jane nodded. "The unit right now is oil. I teach a lot of free art courses. The one that just got out was an advanced class for adults. I teach all ages though, all through out the week." Ever since quitting her job at the high school, Jane was teaching anywhere she could. The community center welcomed her since she wasn't going to charge anything and could host a class several times a week, unlike other art classes that were one a week, or even two weeks.

Jane doubted that she could go without teaching. It was her life since she was 15 and it's hard to break five year's of such a habit. A good habit though, a very good habit. With the charity business, Jane was having to ween herself though, unfortunately.

"What sort of art do you enjoy most, Ling Ling, if you don't mind my asking?"

[LING LING DONGFENG]

Jane politely went back to cleaning the floor, which was perfectly excusable - linseed oil could be a bit not good for anything really - and listened eagerly as Jane described how she taught many free art classes; Ling Ling thought that it was very generous of her that they were free. She briefly wondered about taking one herself, but knew that she admittedly had neither the time nor commitment for an orderly class. And even if she did, she had not been in any sort of actual organized class in a while, aside from those few week-long workshops she'd taken at NYU a couple of months ago.

"What sort of art do you most enjoy, Ling Ling, if you don't mind my asking?" Ling Ling remembered reading somewhere when she was younger that it took the average human less than ten seconds to decide if they might like someone. She liked Jane. The woman was kind, and not impatient with Ling Ling bothering her.

"Painting," she replied cheerfully. "Er, watercolors mostly, but also acrylics, and traditional inks." She wondered if she sounded like she was being annoying. She supposed Jane wasn't the type to tell someone off for that kind of thing, but she still didn't want to be bothersome. After all, it might take less than ten seconds to decide if you like someone, but the theory works the same just the other way around too.

[JANE EYRE]

"I love watercolors as well. And acrylics. I don't know about you, but art gets messy and messy gets expensive." Jane smiled, moving the mop to the rinsing bucket. She didn't rinse it right away; she had a guest. "I'm also very fond of dry mediums. Charcoals and pastels especially."

When Jane first started with art, charcoals and pastels were all she had. Lowood's art class floor was covered in tiny bits of them. Jane would scavenge for them and collect them. Most of them were small, almost useless pieces but Jane would make do with them. It was how she kept sane her first few years there under the bad management. Even though she loved painting, Jane would always prefer dry mediums.

"Were you here for a class when you saw my open door?" Jane then asked to keep the conversation going. She had a feeling that Ling Ling was ust as polite, if not more so, than Jane. She appreciated it, there being far too few polite people in New York, but she did have to admit it made conversation a bit difficult when both parties were so polite. Neither wanted to bother or offend the other.

[LING LING DONGFENG]

"I love watercolors as well. And acrylics. I don't know about you, but art gets messy and messy gets expensive. I'm also very fond of dry mediums. Charcoals and pastels especially."

Ling Ling nodded eagerly. Most people knew different kinds of mediums that were possible to create with, but as it was, the occurrence that the person truly knew what they were talkiing about was slightly rarer. It was nice to know Jane actually had good experience in different types of art. Or at least, she certainly seemed like she did.

"I love working with charcoal," Ling Ling agreed. "It makes shading a dream." She loved pastels as well, but she was usually more of a black-and-white and grey kind of person. And besides, it was cheeper in the long run to buy charcoal; pastels came in all different colors, and some colors were used so much faster than others, so she would always end up with a bunch of sour yellow and dark red and other shades she didn't often use when she was all out of blacks and whites.

"Were you here for a class when you saw my open door?" Jane asked Ling Ling.

"Oh, no, I'm not," Ling Ling said. She hesitated before admitting, "I do not really have the time, sadly." Or the money. "And anyway, I'm rubbish at times, I would never get there on the right time. Though, I might do a small workshop, do you do those kinds of things?" She finished curiously. She'd usually not ask so earnestly, but there was something charming about Jane that made Ling Ling want to see her again. She seemed... nice, Ling Ling supposed. And nice was, well, nice.