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Quenton adored studio time more than anything in the world. Sculpture had limitations on getting to use the general studio loft - it all depended on the process chosen and the stage of the given sculpture. Thankfully he'd chosen to work in bronze. It meant that he could use the general space without making noisy chiseling on stone, use of power tools, or arc welding. And he was at the master pattern stage, working on a clay version that would key the wax molds.

A few other students had been coming and going over the past march of hours, but there was another youth that was constant as he himself was,even though they were on opposing sides of the wide room: painting kept more near the ventilation so that everyone wasn't suffocated by the turpentine.

It had been more than four hours, and it looked like the other was taking a step back to check his progress, so Quenton got up and walked across the small gulf to take a place conversationally near, "You've been at it for a long while. You know..."

"I've found that after so many hours just standing back from something isn't enough of a breather to get fresh eyes and keep the whole in perspective instead of just the details that have bothered me. Your blood sugar's probably low, too. No good, that. We've both been here since morning, no lunch, and its getting on to dinner. Would you like to join me? I'll buy. "

"Are you trying to avoid impasto? If not, there's always the Bob Ross palette knife drag to give a quick initial texture and shape. I mean, the man could paint, whatever anyone had to say about the fact that it was a formulaic method. Not much different than techniques saying to start with grey and build light and dark from there, or putting the lightest light next to darkest dark. Methodology and formulas. "

"Take it all with a grain of salt though. You can tell just by what side of the room I'm on that painting isn't my specialization. Put a brush in my hand and I'm as like to assume its for my hair and not a canvas, " He smiled tentatively, trying to lighten mood at his own expense. "Quenton Marinus."

Mathias wasn't in any of his classes, and he didn't see him around the other sections, so the other was likely an upper level student. Fortune favours the bold, Quenton. Its good to make acquaintances of all echelons. Besides, he looks like he could use a relax. Even JUST relaxing will help him paint better when we get him back to it. Tensing up does awful things for creativity.

"Expense on the account of good company is hardly any expense at all, " Quenton reassured. He doubted many of them were rich. Artists rarely were. But forewarning was enough. Both having full stomachs and clear heads was worth more than wasting money on fashion (it woudl just get ruined by wearing it to work in), or video games (which he didn't much play since his time needed to be elsewhere). "We're all at that stage, though, I think. the open-pit stage of growth. "

" I can remember birthday parties as a child where a single piece of pizza was enough to fulfill. I think I could manage a whole pizza now if I bought one."

"Giger? Well now, that is an artist that has a share of fame and controversy. I'm not sure that qualifies as abstract though does it? I mean....his works are still figural. Non sequitur, but ....well, I thought he was a surrealist. Like illusion of the invisible reality of ....dreams or Other. Abstract was removed from that? Departure from reality in was that are at least conspicuous in form of color or shape? i suppose it might be like rectangles and squares - all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares. Surrealism is a breed of abstraction. What is it for you? "

"Oh, and what would you like to eat? There's a couple different places just a block or two on the drag. Everything from burgers to vegan curry." One never knew what sort of dietary restrictions other artists ascribed to.

"There's a really posh, environment and safety savvy place went in. mod-bikerbar decor- called Burgatory. Have you been? They have pretty insane options and selections for shakes, too." Quenton led out, holding the door to the stairs as they ushered along together.

"I've heard it argued that literally anything not real, even realism paintings and such, are already one step of abstraction by the virtue of not being the original object. Relational to the filter of how something is perceived by one being filtering what they see or represent as different from both the original and from how any other person exactly perceives the subject. "

"I take it you like Pollock? Rothko? We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. While I do like studies of color and shape, that sort of singular reliance on random chance and serendipity is not how I prefer to experience art. Surrealism though...I could get on that boat with you. I rather like Los Elefantes."

"Abstraction really can capture moments...single breaths of a whole life immortalized. Like Degas. I love the roughness, like constant continual motion, in his sculpture. Like the ballerina might at any moment prove to be alive and just in the middle of her turn, accounting for the blur of the solid form. "

Quenton was comfortable with periods of silence, letting their footsteps and strides keep them company a little as they made their way to Burgatory without any trouble. He'd been before to prove the superiority of their coffee milkshake to his cousin, so it was known to him. Getting seated wasn't much of a wait either, though the place was decently busy.

They were there at an odd time.

Once seated, it was comfortable and appropriate to practice the art of conversation more. "Do you usually use oils? If you like abstraction, it seems more likely your personal work would trend to 'everything including the kitchen sink'? Oils allow for a good deal of that at least. Like found art collage?"

The waiter came and gave them menus, asked about drinks, "Oh, tea, unsweetened please."

"Honestly? Marble. If you have ever had a chance to go to europe....the Capitoline Museums in Italy, actually. The statue was really a greek piece, they think in bronze, and the one that exists a roman copy as is sort of the general tradition, but....if you've ever seen it in person. It has such pathos. And marble statues of any kind done well. If you see them in real life the way light can bounce and scatter into the surface of the stone is so like living flesh. The statues seem to breathe even. "

"But marble for sculpting is so expensive....and its more or less impossible for me to pay to transport any from a quarry. Not in any quantity. Not for statues of that sort of grandeur. I've done small stuff, like coffee cup sized, but that was about it. And I'd need to practice a hell of a lot more. The sheer detail the old masters managed with a hammer and chisel .....I'd mess up on a large piece at least a hand's count of tens of times, and you really can't afford to do that once you're working on the marble itself and not a practice piece."

"So mostly I've worked in casting and pouring sort of media ....like metal or resins. Waaaaaay cheaper. "

"The only spray painting I've ever done was using white to spray the base wood faux architecture 3d pieces we had to make for Dimensional Design Freshmen studies. Would you use a lot of stencils, or do you work all freehand? "

"I think maybe it was Michelangelo that talked about what was in the stone already being there, and he just had to see it and free it. I could be wrong. The studies get a little muddled together, I'll have to look it all up again."

When the staffer brought their drinks and took orders Quenton's was pretty classic and basic. "Cheeseburger, all on it as menu. No fries."

That much starch would just sit there feeling heavy in his stomach and get in the way of getting back to work when they got back to the studio.

Pentagon and 'stationed' ? Well, that begged a simple assumption, "Military family? Mine's medical and ...insurances? But they're back in Michigan. I have a cousin that's local. She's in restoration, which is helpful. Are you local to the greater metro Destiny City? "