An Artist's Touch: The Colors of Passion

By Lizzie Vega

Mira is focused on restarting her art career, but when Ryan, the new male model in art class, strikes up a conversation, her concentration turns to him.
He sees more than a budding new artist, more than a beautiful love interest. She has untold power and he can unleash it
Can she learn to control her abilities before an unseen force takes it from her?
Can she discard her past and push her talent to another level?
Is the mysterious new woman in Ryan’s life, a competitor or a confidant?
A journey of personal strength and seduction, An Artist’s Touch explores the often dark paths of creativity and art as they intersect with the worlds of magic and the supernatural.
Contains Adult Content

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lizzie Vega
• Release date: Jun 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533737526

Book preview

An Artist’s Touch: 

The Colors of Passion 

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Introduction

Mira was talented from the beginning.  As a child she could pick up a crayon, later a pencil or pastels, and create a personal masterpiece.  A great eye combined with a steady hand and her canvases would come alive.  Her creativity was clean and unbridled. It flowed like music.

Her promising art career took a nosedive when her mother chose to trade her father in for a new boy toy. Her mother’s actions destroyed the family but Mira remained strong...at least in the beginning.  She did what she could to help her little brother.  Mom had pretty much ditched them. Dad did his best but it wouldn’t be enough.

Then, in what seemed like slow motion, she snapped.

She took it hard. Her art got dark. It got angry. It was no longer alive.  It was something very different indeed.  The damage, the pressure, everyone was a critic. She boiled over.

She cut up more than her canvas.

Her physical recovery was quick. She was smart and strong.  The emotional recovery would take far longer.

Chapter 1

Today would be a new start.  She stood in art department doorway at the local community college and looked around the room.  The musty smell of clay and gesso made her smile as she passed by other students sitting by their drawing easels all arranged around a center riser, ready to begin the day’s assignments.  There seemed to be a lot of first year students.  Mira realized she was easily the oldest person in the room. 

She found an open easel and started settling in.  As she opened her supplies case, she stopped for a moment.  Mira had purchased all of the items required for the class, but even after all the years that passed, the first thing she pulled out was an old graphite pencil from a set that her brother Michael had given her for a birthday long ago.

She started to put it back but caught herself in the moment.  No, she thought, this will be perfect.

She looked around the room.  The young men and women were adjusting their easels and getting ready for the start of class.  There was a bit of conversation and a couple of the young women next to Mira were whispering about the subject matter for this particular section of the semester.  It wasn’t exactly a whisper. She caught the phrase live models from the little redhead and watched the two giggle and roll their eyes.  At the oldest, they were eighteen.

Jeez, she thought.  Am I ready for this?  I feel like a den mother already, and rolled her blue eyes as well.

She snickered a little when one of the girls asked her if she was the instructor.

Me? Mira responded.  Oh, heavens no, just one of the students like you two, she laughed.

Oh, said the blonde one, You’re an OTA then.

OTA? Mira repeated.

‘Older Than Average...’ as in student," the blonde replied with a grin.

Oh, I see, said Mira with maybe half a smile... I’ll just kill her later she mused to herself.

OIC? inquired the blonde.  What’s that stand for?  There was a brief moment before the redhead bust out laughing. God Tiff, you are so dumb.  It means she ‘understands’ or do I have to spell it out for you?

Mira couldn’t help but laugh.  Ah...revenge cancelled, she thought and savored the moment.

It’s ok, you guys, I’m still in my twenties..ok.. late twenties, and she reached out her hand.  She could have laughed so much harder.

I’m Mira..  You’re Tiff? she asked trying to draw them out.

Tiffany, the little blond countered, "and I feel sort of stupid right now, thanks’ SO much Amber...God."

I know, right? The pretty redhead reached over Tiffany to shake Mira’s hand, I’m gonna tell this story for weeks.

"And she will, Mira, just watch, you’ll be famous and I’ll be a goat," Amber winked at Mira as she settled back on her perch.

Tiffany’s a little nervous, she’s only done this kind of drawing a few times before, said Amber as she elbowed Tiffany in the ribs with a smirk.

Amber, c’mon, Tiffany said in a scolding tone, Fess up.

Yeah, Ok, said Amber sheepishly, This is my first time drawing naked people, period.

You two are adorable. It’s not as weird as you think, said Mira trying to calm their nerves.  You’ll get used to it, she said that out loud but in her head it was, It’s way weirder than you think.

Chapter 2

The class quieted down as the clock ticked a few minutes past the scheduled start time. Some of the students fidgeted nervously. Mira found herself among them.  I can do this, she thought,  I can ease back in and be normal again. She had to admit to herself she was nervous as well.  Nervous, no...she was terrified.  Her hand was shaking holding the pencil.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the classroom door bursting open and disheveled older man strode in with an armload of books and drawing pads.

Hey, rookies, I guess we should get started.  He didn’t seem very enthused on this first day of class.

I’m Anderson, Let’s get started.   We’re just going to get your arms limbered up, let’s do some warm ups on your drawing pads.  Large circles, use the whole sheet, go big or go home right?, he said with a resigned sigh. 

For all the movement he was calling for, Mira thought the almost droning monotone of his voice didn’t quite fit the mood.  She caught herself, Hey, this is my day.

Whatever his inflection, it didn’t matter. Mira started with her pencil and then stopped suddenly.  She had waited for this moment.  Unsteady or not, she wanted to enjoy it.  She started again and as her hand arced across the sheet, she rolled the pencil slightly and watched the texture change.

It felt good.

Anderson continued Vary your pressure...light pressure means light lines...with heavy pressure we get dark lines.  This is easy.  Three year olds can do this

Get your arms moving, get your shoulders involved. Lean in, move back and forth, back and forth

He interrupted himself.  His tone suddenly brighter Oh sorry, kids, I’m not suggesting that you actually hump the drawings, and then laughed at his own comment.

Mira paused again briefly. This time she was caught by his comment.  Things have changed since my last college experience, she thought and then continued with the exercise.

Amber leaned over to Tiffany and, again in a much too loud whisper, said, Can you believe he said that?

Jeez, Not cool.

Comments, ladies? he asked.  Amber froze. Tiffany rescued her, Nope, all good here.

Don’t worry, he continued staring right at Amber. We’ll have plenty of opportunities to critique today.

With that comment, Mira’s pencil came to slow, ragged stop.

Her tension was interrupted when the classroom door across from the girls opened and a young man walked in.  He was tall with a wave of dark hair and he was carrying a small gym bag.  Mira’s first thought is that he might have gotten lost on the way to the gym.  By the looks of his physique, he had to have spent a lot of time there.

Hi, he said. Sorry I’m late. He flashed a smile and wave at the teacher as he ducked into a small office in the back of the room.

Anderson barked after him, Jesus, Ryan, get your ass out here, we don’t have all day. and he turned back to the class.

He visually surveyed the young class, For those of you that have never participated in an art class using live models, this will be a big day for you, he said with an odd gleam in his eye.

Ok kids, new sheets. Let’s get this first part over with. He walked over to a small desktop computer and the room was filled with some low volume EDM.

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Anderson turned and called toward the office, Ryan!  Mount up!

With that, the young man walked out of the office.  He wore a robe loosely cinched at the waist but Mira knew right away that the robe would be temporary.  She had taken human figure drawing before so this was really nothing new for her.  The young man walked straight out to the model’s pedestal in the center of the room. He took a step up on the elevated platform and, as he did so, he let the robe fall to the floor.

It was a pin drop moment. Only the quiet pulse of the music provided a brief buffer to the silence.

Well, Mira thought to herself, this is sort of new, she smiled to herself.  She had never had a class with a male model with this level of muscle development before.

Quite a presentation, she thought. This will be fun.

Mira slowly turned her head to the left to get a glimpse of Tiffany and Amber’s reactions.

She had to quickly cover her mouth to stop from laughing.  Both girls just stared at the young man. Mouths hanging open. It was priceless.

On their behalf, Mira tried to interject, Ehem...ladies? Amber broke off her gaze but Tiffany remained transfixed.

Amber looked over at Mira and mouthed, he’s gorgeous.  Mira nodded back to her in agreement and they both looked at Tiffany.  The blonde took a deep breath and said quietly I want him.

No way, Tiff, said Amber, He’s mine.

Don’t get all possessive Amber, I’d be willing to share him.

Shhh... hissed Amber, "That’s supposed to be a private thing...overshare!"

Mira just sat back and pondered the comment. I’ll bet there’s a story there... she thought.

As she looked around the rest of the classroom, it appeared that the reaction to Ryan’s confident disrobing was pretty universal.  The other women in the class, and a couple of the men, pretty much had the same look on their faces.  The remaining ones were trying really hard to look at everything in the room except the naked man sitting in front of them.

Anderson broke the spell, Yep, same thing every semester...let’s get to work.

Ok, he continued. First we’re going to do a fast series of whole body impressions. Use your full sheets, draw big, draw fast.  Don’t worry about any detail, that comes later. Ryan’s gonna change his pose about every minute.  Speed and movement, that’s all I’m interested in for the next hour

Begin.

Ryan’s first pose was away from where the 3 women were positioned.  Mira could see how well defined the muscles on his upper back were.  The guy has been a regular at the gym. She allowed herself to dwell on that for an enjoyable minute.  Based on his broad, well defined back, Mira guessed he was maybe a swimmer but size and definition of his quads and hamstrings suggested a heavy lifter.  It was also impossible not to notice that he had no tan lines whatsoever.

Her sheet was pretty much a series of tentatively made scribbles with a couple of stronger crossing lines to hint at his broad shoulders.

Change.

A rhythmic dance music was briefly drowned out by the collective tearing of pages off the students’ tablets.

Just toss ‘em on the floor, the instructor called out. I’m fairly sure there’s no real art happening here.

Ryan adjusted his pose to roughly a quarter turn on the pedestal.  Tiffany quickly realized where he would end up shortly and said more quietly this time.

Ok girls, roughly two minutes to the full presentation.

Mira was quick. "Yeah, roughly," she repeated and instantly regretted it Shit, she said under breath.

Amber pounced. Mira!.. Overshare? The redhead grinned both at the implication and her speed at which she caught it.  Up high Tiff, The two girls did a quick, quiet high five.

Mira just smiled. She had to admit it was a funny moment. That, plus the actual physical movement of once again, finally, putting pen to paper, it was really a good feeling. She was warming up.

Change.

The model shifted again and as Mira watched him settle she couldn’t help noticing that he appeared completely relaxed while doing this. No hesitation at all, his movements were fluid and purposeful falling naturally into a pose to maximize the drawing opportunity of the whole room.

He’s good at this, she thought.  This lateral view gave her a good look from top to bottom. The squat rack has been good to him she said to herself.  His fat percentage had to be pretty low. He wasn’t overly muscular but Mira lingered on his glutes and legs for quite a long moment. She rolled the pencil slightly as it dug a little deeper into the smooth newsprint almost tearing it.

The curve of his muscular backside was immediately mirrored on her drawing.

Tiffany must have been counting. Here it comes, ladies.

Change.

Maybe it was Mira’s imagination, but it seems as though he took his sweet time settling into his next pose.

He stood up, stretched a bit and made his turn toward Mira and the girls.

There was a bit of commotion next to Mira.  Both Tiffany and Amber exhaled simultaneously. Amber actually moaned loud enough for the guy sitting next to her to hear it.

Ryan moved into his pose and again Mira noted how relaxed and completely peaceful he seemed.

He stood facing them, tipped his thickly muscled left leg in slightly and raised his right hand up towards his shoulder. Mira got it immediately. It was Michelangelo’s David. Although this version was warm and breathing and only about 15 feet away from her.

Clever, she thought, this isn’t his first day on the job.  He must actually know something about art.

She drew herself a little closer to her easel and studied him before she began. She raised her hand to the paper to make the first position stroke and, as she did, she looked up at him.

He was looking right at her.

His beautiful pale blue eyes, framed by a dark sweep of long hair, locked onto hers.  He didn’t look away and Mira was caught off guard. She looked away and back to her drawing but she could almost feel his gaze lingering and she tried to be subtle about looking again. He, indeed, was still looking intently at her. He held for another moment before tipping his head down to complete the old master’s pose. Mira saw a brief smile cross his lips and then fade as he then froze in place.

Ok Ryan, let’s hold this one for 5 minutes, said Anderson, Let’s go for a little more detail.

Oh, bonus points, said Tiffany and she just sat there staring.

Mira smiled and continued