Painting Working Group, Mural No. 9.
"Tch, if I had known better, I wouldn't have come with my father. Even a painter can do this miserable job."
Tsunamasa Sakai put down the tray and paint in his hand, yawned widely through his mask, lowered his head and said to his companions under the ladder.
"Hey...who is that? Aren't you bored?"
Gu Weijing just raised his head, glanced at the other person, and shook his head.
"Not at all, and I don't think your sister would ask such a question if she were here."
This is already the second day of the mural restoration project.
Although the official name of this project is called [Shwedagon Pagoda Fresco restoration] Master Project, it can be simply translated as "Shwedagon Pagoda Fresco Restoration" project.
But in detail, it is actually a very complicated task.
First of all, Shwedagon Pagoda is just a general concept.
Myanmar has been known as the land of a thousand pagodas since the Bagan Dynasty in the eighth century AD. It is also home to one of the largest Buddhist murals in Southeast Asia.
This project includes the Shwedagon Pagoda itself, the Chinese-style Fuhui Temple on the left side of the Shwedagon Pagoda, which was built with donations from local overseas Chinese businessmen during the Guangxu period, and a series of related historic sites.
Secondly, mural restoration is also a very complex category, and can even be completely independent of the painting system.
It includes pigment analysis, disease classification statistics, retention of original data, protection of the on-site environment, etc.
The knowledge in a specific professional field can be written into a large textbook with hundreds of pages, which can take days and nights to finish.
all in all.
For this kind of ancient temple murals, repair is the main task, supplementing is the supplement, and repainting is the last step.
For those walls that are not severely weathered and cracked, they can basically retain their original appearance and monuments. Injection molding and other processes are generally used. This is similar to the practice of carefully adding a layer of glue between the wall embryo and the mural to fix it, and then having a specialized cultural relic restorer smooth out all traces of wind erosion through powder filling and other processes.
The work that approximates the restoration of broken porcelain is carried out by a professional working group specializing in cultural relics protection. It is a parallel line with painters like them and has little to do with it.
The work projects hosted by Mr. Cao are mainly divided into two categories.
First, there was the painting of the new mural.
Some of Yangon's ancient monuments are more than 2,000 years old.
Dynasties change through the ages, and there are wind, frost, rain and snow. In modern times, foreign colonial invasions such as the British, French, and RBs came and went like a revolving door.
Many of the original murals have been lost in the long river of history.
This part of the work mainly focuses on those murals that have been recorded in history but have disappeared, so that they can reappear in the world by re-painting them in their original locations based on ancient book materials.
Secondly, for some damaged murals that have been partially lost due to various reasons, they should be repaired without destroying the original appearance.
The secondary restoration of the murals will destroy the original state if not careful, resulting in the visual effect of "taking over the spotlight".
This is also the reason why the Myanmar government has insisted on inviting so many internationally renowned masters and artists this time.
One is to enhance international influence, and the other is that local painters do not have the confidence.
The real test of painting skills will definitely not be done by young people like Gu Weijing and Sakai Tsunamasa.
Gu Weijing's current task is to carefully paint the wall with pink Chinese painting paint according to the manuscripts and templates given by others - to repair a lotus on the wall numbered No. 9.
"Color a simple pattern."
This was the job assigned to young painters like him and Sakai Tsunamasa.
After the walls have been painted white, the painting of the mural is divided into three major steps: drafting, inking, and coloring.
Usually these three steps can also be used to clearly divide the work and level of each artist in the work group.
The so-called first draft is also called a pink draft or a score.
This part is the easiest and most difficult.
It is the simplest because it requires the least physical effort to operate. It is just a normal Chinese painting on paper.
It is said to be the most difficult because this step is the foundation of everything. It determines what should be painted in the mural, how to paint it, and what the spatial layout is.
Making drafts and blueprints on drawing paper is also the most challenging place for an artist to test his skills.
The person in charge of this work is Mr. Cao, Kazunari Sakai, Lin Tao and other respected old artists.
The second step is inking. The painter needs to use charcoal to completely draw the mural on the wall on the paper basket that has been created. After confirming that it is correct, use black ink lines to outline the outline of the mural.
This step is the work of ordinary painters like Gu Weijing's grandfather Gu Tongxiang.
The third step, which is also the most demanding part, is coloring.
Old painters will confirm what color should be painted on the manuscript, such as (beige) yellow, (light) cyan, and each color number has a special mark.
After the marking is completed, in order to reduce the workload, the young students will be responsible for painting the colors.
After experiencing Mr. Cao's words "I won't tolerate him", every painter is now very hard-working and does every step personally for fear that he might hit Mr. Cao's gun.
Works such as the facial makeup of characters, the shapes of animals, and the body of the Buddha, which require high color requirements, are simply not in the hands of young painters.
They can only draw lotus flowers, apply background colors, and trace the prayer flags in the hands of monks, which are not complicated structures.
Tired and unfulfilling, this is something Tsunamasa Sakai can accomplish by hiring a painter.
"Hmph, it sounds like my sister is very familiar with you."
Sakai Tsunamasa was even more unhappy.
He originally wanted to join a working group with his sister Katsuko, but he discovered a problem after arriving at the Shwedagon Pagoda.
Due to religious customs, many temples can only be entered by barefoot men and monks.
For example, the group of the mural No. 9 belongs to.
Sakai Katsuko could only go to the project where Fuqing Temple was located, and the one who was in the group with Sakai Tsunamasa in the Shwedagon Pagoda became Gu Weijing.
[Chinese Painting: Introduction (74/100)]
Gu Weijing carefully controlled the movement of the pen tip.
Today is already the second day of the project. There are less than thirty hours left before the deadline for the panel reward task, so there is not much time.
He hadn't had a moment's rest since morning. Gu Weijing had to seize every opportunity to improve his proficiency.
Copying the works of masters is the only way to improve your art skills.
After the Middle Ages, almost every famous art master started by copying the works of other masters.
On the manuscript notebook in his hand, every drawing embodies the hard work of the old artists.
Even by simply coloring, you can learn a lot.
So he didn't have the impatience of Sakai Tsunamasa at all.
Gu Weijing gently held the pen and drew the petals of the lotus along the black ink line.
Watching the proficiency experience value on the panel change to [Chinese Painting: Getting Started (75/100]].
