Post by Admin on Jul 29, 2021 18:39:54 GMT
"Most of this stuff is crap!" tall, muscular, dark-haired Donna Sparks made a sweeping gesture with her arm to include the dozens of famous and valuable paintings exhibited in the 'Neo-Impressionist Room' in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "They look like they're done by 5 year olds. Everything YOU do is better!"
"Everything I've done is 'realistic', not nearly as artistic as any of this stuff," her almost as tall, much thinner blonde friend replied with a smile. "Most of my work closely resembles photographs more than art. These are supposed to evoke feelings and memories, not be realistic representations of their subjects. I wish I could do evocative work like this!"
"You can, you know," Donna insisted. "Here's how you start. Pick out your favorite here today, take one of your mental snapshots, then go home, project the image on a canvas and paint over it, exactly like the original. Then choose a similar subject, and paint it so it resembles the duplicate. Use the same paint and canvas, the same colors, the same brushstrokes, the same whatever you call 'em techniques in your new painting that you did when painting the copy. Then pick a totally new subject and do it again. If a 5 year old can do it, YOU can do it!"
Alex was intrigued with the idea of creating a duplicate of one of these famous paintings. She'd used her illusion projecting power to help her create realistic sketches of people before. In fact, she'd been offered a job as a sketch artist for the San Francisco police - but she'd never tried recreating a painting before.
"That one!" she pointed to a Matisse, Woman with a Hat. "She kind of reminds me of you, ya know?"
"Geez Louise, I hope not!" Danna laughed. "She looks rich and spoiled and stern and disapproving!"
"See," Alex smiled at her friend. "You really DO get the 'evocative' part, don't you?"
Creating a painting that was just a 'copy' was far more difficult than Alex had imagined. She used her powers to project the exact image of the original onto a blank canvas in her studio, and it looked easy enough to just paint over the image. But as she examined the image of the original more closely with her zoom-in vision, it because more difficult. This painting was more than just colors on the flat surface of a canvas; the three dimensional texture of the various pigments, the twisted lines of the brush strokes, the subtle variations of line and color, all combined to produce an image that had much more life than even the best color photograph of the same subject could possibly convey. To duplicate this masterpiece would be a major challenge - but it would be fun, too! She quickly got to work.
And immediately ran into some issues - despite the wide range of pigments of different colors she already had in her studio, sometimes she couldn't mix a color to duplicate exactly the color in the image. Despite the issue, she worked until she was exhausted, carefully painting over top her own projected image, duplicating the image as closely as possible, using her zoom-in vision to insure that she even twisted her brush the same way the master had while painting the original. She was maybe a quarter finished; she'd need to buy new paints, new brushes, even a new palette before she continued. But she felt wonderful - she was learning techniques that she was sure couldn't be taught and maybe not even described in words. Even though she was making a replica, this work would be her masterpiece. 'The first of MANY!" she assured herself.
It took almost 2 months to complete. She didn't work on it full time - she had some contract work, painting murals and the like, to pay food and rent, she was house hunting, and she spent a lot of time with Donna. Several times she had to scrape portions of the canvas bare and start again, and by the time she was finished, she'd painted several layers deep over almost all the paint she'd originally laid down. And she'd sometimes had to make compromises, in color matches or texture or other, more subtle differences, but finally she was done!
Alex was nervous - it was her first showing as a professional. A small gallery in an artsy part of town, Chez Béringer, held regular shows for amateur artists, so she would be sharing space with half a dozen others. She picked what she considered to be her best paintings, and hesitated a long while over the replica Matisse. It was by far the best work she'd ever done - but it WAS a 'counterfeit', and it was very different from the rest of her works, which all more closely resembled photographs, though she was starting to work some of the new impressionistic elements she was learning into her latest paintings. And she was starting to use her imagination more in her work - what if she imagined the house she wanted to buy as a tree house in a tropical jungle, or spiffed up her portrait of Donna with armor, sword and shield as a medieval paladin, or added Jupiter looming like an 'eye in the sky' with the giant red spot staring down at the carnival roller coaster scene? She'd have some of those more imaginative works ready for the next show for sure. She finally decided that yes, she would bring the replica Lady in a Hat, but she wouldn't put it up for sale like all her other works. She wanted to keep it for inspiration in the future.
Donna had to work today, but she'd been able to borrow a police van earlier and had helped Alex move a dozen paintings across town to Chez Béringer. Corinne Béringer, the manager, greeted her warmly and then went back to work helping the amateurs set up their works in the two empty rooms she was providing them.
It was an eclectic crowd that wandered through. A well-dressed woman who Corinne told her guests was a buyer for a major gallery, a couple of men in suits, a guy totally overdoing the beatnik look who claimed to be the art critic for the San Francisco Examiner, a bunch of random people off the street. Hardly an overwhelming turnout. Maybe a dozen paintings were sold over the course of the day, two of them by Alex. She had several inquiries about the Matisse, one for a surprising amount of money, and regretfully turned them all down. Donna helped her bring her stuff home after she got off work, and Alex took the two of them to dinner to celebrate her first sales as a professional artist!
When they get back to Alex's apartment building, there are two police cars with flashing lights; somebody broke into the building and got into Alex's apartment, and all the paintings she brought back from the show have been stolen. She and Donna join the investigation; Alex uses her zoom in vision and doesn't find any fingerprints, which is confirmed by the police team. They promise to keep Alex updated.
The story of this replica gets back to an art-smuggling ring, who make their livings stealing valuable paintings and selling them to private collectors. Maybe one of the show-goers is the actual bad guy, or is connected to the bad guys, or tells someone who tells someone else and the story gets back to the bad guys.
Someone breaks into Alex's place and steals the replica.
There is an incident at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Either an attempted robbery is foiled, or some paintings are stolen, or there is some vandalism. In any case, the original of Alex's replica is seemingly not touched.
In actuality, the bag guys replaced the real painting with the replica; everything else involved in the incident is just cover to prevent people from suspecting the real deal is stolen.
This story should be left hanging at this point.
"Everything I've done is 'realistic', not nearly as artistic as any of this stuff," her almost as tall, much thinner blonde friend replied with a smile. "Most of my work closely resembles photographs more than art. These are supposed to evoke feelings and memories, not be realistic representations of their subjects. I wish I could do evocative work like this!"
"You can, you know," Donna insisted. "Here's how you start. Pick out your favorite here today, take one of your mental snapshots, then go home, project the image on a canvas and paint over it, exactly like the original. Then choose a similar subject, and paint it so it resembles the duplicate. Use the same paint and canvas, the same colors, the same brushstrokes, the same whatever you call 'em techniques in your new painting that you did when painting the copy. Then pick a totally new subject and do it again. If a 5 year old can do it, YOU can do it!"
Alex was intrigued with the idea of creating a duplicate of one of these famous paintings. She'd used her illusion projecting power to help her create realistic sketches of people before. In fact, she'd been offered a job as a sketch artist for the San Francisco police - but she'd never tried recreating a painting before.
"That one!" she pointed to a Matisse, Woman with a Hat. "She kind of reminds me of you, ya know?"
"Geez Louise, I hope not!" Danna laughed. "She looks rich and spoiled and stern and disapproving!"
"See," Alex smiled at her friend. "You really DO get the 'evocative' part, don't you?"
Creating a painting that was just a 'copy' was far more difficult than Alex had imagined. She used her powers to project the exact image of the original onto a blank canvas in her studio, and it looked easy enough to just paint over the image. But as she examined the image of the original more closely with her zoom-in vision, it because more difficult. This painting was more than just colors on the flat surface of a canvas; the three dimensional texture of the various pigments, the twisted lines of the brush strokes, the subtle variations of line and color, all combined to produce an image that had much more life than even the best color photograph of the same subject could possibly convey. To duplicate this masterpiece would be a major challenge - but it would be fun, too! She quickly got to work.
And immediately ran into some issues - despite the wide range of pigments of different colors she already had in her studio, sometimes she couldn't mix a color to duplicate exactly the color in the image. Despite the issue, she worked until she was exhausted, carefully painting over top her own projected image, duplicating the image as closely as possible, using her zoom-in vision to insure that she even twisted her brush the same way the master had while painting the original. She was maybe a quarter finished; she'd need to buy new paints, new brushes, even a new palette before she continued. But she felt wonderful - she was learning techniques that she was sure couldn't be taught and maybe not even described in words. Even though she was making a replica, this work would be her masterpiece. 'The first of MANY!" she assured herself.
It took almost 2 months to complete. She didn't work on it full time - she had some contract work, painting murals and the like, to pay food and rent, she was house hunting, and she spent a lot of time with Donna. Several times she had to scrape portions of the canvas bare and start again, and by the time she was finished, she'd painted several layers deep over almost all the paint she'd originally laid down. And she'd sometimes had to make compromises, in color matches or texture or other, more subtle differences, but finally she was done!
*****
Donna had to work today, but she'd been able to borrow a police van earlier and had helped Alex move a dozen paintings across town to Chez Béringer. Corinne Béringer, the manager, greeted her warmly and then went back to work helping the amateurs set up their works in the two empty rooms she was providing them.
It was an eclectic crowd that wandered through. A well-dressed woman who Corinne told her guests was a buyer for a major gallery, a couple of men in suits, a guy totally overdoing the beatnik look who claimed to be the art critic for the San Francisco Examiner, a bunch of random people off the street. Hardly an overwhelming turnout. Maybe a dozen paintings were sold over the course of the day, two of them by Alex. She had several inquiries about the Matisse, one for a surprising amount of money, and regretfully turned them all down. Donna helped her bring her stuff home after she got off work, and Alex took the two of them to dinner to celebrate her first sales as a professional artist!
When they get back to Alex's apartment building, there are two police cars with flashing lights; somebody broke into the building and got into Alex's apartment, and all the paintings she brought back from the show have been stolen. She and Donna join the investigation; Alex uses her zoom in vision and doesn't find any fingerprints, which is confirmed by the police team. They promise to keep Alex updated.
Someone breaks into Alex's place and steals the replica.
There is an incident at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Either an attempted robbery is foiled, or some paintings are stolen, or there is some vandalism. In any case, the original of Alex's replica is seemingly not touched.
In actuality, the bag guys replaced the real painting with the replica; everything else involved in the incident is just cover to prevent people from suspecting the real deal is stolen.
This story should be left hanging at this point.