Gold is Rare But Jade is Priceless

Part 9

In two years' time, I managed to graduate senior year with an art portfolio and acceptance into New York's AAA (Academic Art Academy.) I told my parents who were overjoyed by me finding my passion as they finally were able to brag to their colleagues that they had an artist of the house. Of course, they rather wanted me to go into medicine or other jobs but they didn't say anything to ruin something I was so passionate about for two years and that had brought my grades up.  My sister was very encouraging as she helped me pack up my stuff and even had my parents pay for my plane ticket there. 

Ciel and Nick had gotten married a month before I left New York and I congratulated them at their pink polka-dotted wedding. It was probably the weirdest event I had been to since it had taken place at a drag bar and I had more people hit on me than I did in my entire lifetime. They were currently honeymooning up in some cabin in Vermont and when I asked them why Nick said they wanted to explore each other's bodies in a place that was rural and surrounded by wilderness along with adding a very x-rated description of finding out each other's kinks. Therefore I did not ask any more questions and waved goodbye telling them to not send me a postcard. 

I had taken two years of classes learning more about different art styles as I deeply became interested in using acrylic paint and the anatomy of the human body. I realized over time that abstract was less of my thing as I leaned more towards the artistic side of realism and finally came to the conclusion that hyperrealism portraits were my passion. 

I had a couple of friends I had met on my journey through art school and one pointed out that an internship opportunity was open at one of the new museums that were opening and they wanted volunteers to donate a collection of their artwork to get people interested in attendings the art museums classes. I was hesitant about sending mine in but with the encouragement of my friends they picked four pieces that were their favorite and I submitted them just for fun. 

I was surprised when mine was picked as I had a meeting with the studio manager and he asked me if I wanted to be an assistant art teacher at the museum. It was indeed an opportunity of a lifetime as I accepted the position and was now an assistant helper. It felt weird watching people of all ages coming in. During introductions, people had shared that some wanted to pick up the hobby or had some downtime and thought this would be fun. I admired their wanting to do art for fun. I did art for fun too but it was not the fun of the painting itself, instead, it was the fun of connecting with her through my paintings. 

One time I thought I had seen her on the subway train and I chased her down the roads only to catch up to her and see that it wasn't her but instead her face had glasses and the wrong colored eyes. I occasionally had moments where I thought I would hear her name being called and look around or see an image of her in my peripheral vision but there ended up being nothing there and when I did see a person like Jade they weren't perfect like Jade was. 

After I had graduated from the AAA with a degree in Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management with a minor in Art Studies I bought a studio behind buildings where a narrow street was the only way to get in through. It was a bit of a hazard but I liked it because the side buildings blocked out the noise of the busy city. I practically lived there while teaching classes at the museum, doing commissions, and building my collection of artwork every several months to have something to contribute to the museum's walls. The studio manager had said each of my portraits produced a human emotion undescribable to words. Internally I called her crazy but I accepted the compliment and at the same time knew what she meant. 

It wasn't a human emotion that was embodied in the painting but rather a part of Jade that resonated inside of me and through that, I was able to express the details in my work. Even when I drew portraits of male humans the anatomy below the head was what they wanted but it was the face and most importantly the eyes. The eyes were everything and when working with colors I made sure to enhance the importance of the eyes because they are the soul of the body. Occasionally I spent more time drawing out the eyes than I did the entire body because if the eyes were not perfect I would not be satisfied with the entire piece.