The Q Continuum

A Place to Call Home

Added 2024-11-02 14:17:07 +0000 UTC

This piece was commissioned by my dear friend @tawnyontumblr for HER dear friend @saretton to accompany a WONDERFUL fic that Tawny wrote for Saretton's birthday!

The fic is A Place to Call Home (Explicit, on AO3), a Human AU set in the Late Victorian/1890s and featuring Portrait Painter!Aziraphale and Stage Actor!Crowley as his artistic muse. I am in love with this concept.

Crowley's voice was almost too soft to hear. It nearly faded amidst the sweep of Aziraphale’s brush over canvas, the carriage rattling past outside—another layer of stimuli amidst the light, and the smell of linseed oil and turpentine. The way the fabric Crowley wore hissed gently over his skin as he slowly, minutely shifted position and then moved back.

He half sat half reclined on a Louis XVI armchair that Aziraphale had picked up in an estate sale. His legs were crossed, and the emerald banyan, embroidered with gold, slid from one shoulder. Aziraphale had been staring at that curve of lightly freckled skin while he'd been mixing rose madder and Chinese white, letting the brush sweep over the damp canvas as he sought to give voice to the hunger he felt.

The idea here was for me to paint the portrait of Crowley that Aziraphale is painting in the story.

Tawny asked me to paint with John Singer Sargent vibes, who is quite possibly my favorite artist of all time, and one of, if not the greatest, portrait painters of the 19th century. It's quite a tall order to try to imitate his style, so I settled for something Sargentesque!

She also specified that "I want I am both painting and fucking him vibes. Intimate. That's the word." And I hope I delivered.

This one is also in the print shop, should you desire.