Gu Weijing looked at the sky.
Feeling that today's collection of materials was almost complete, he moved the position of the drawing board in the yard, fixed a piece of capital sketch paper, and began to design the draft of the exhibition work.
Oil painting artists have different painting habits.
Some people like a rigorous and tedious process. They first draw a small sketch draft of 5:1 or 8:1 on sketch paper or linen canvas, and then enlarge it and copy it on a formal canvas to determine the overall lines. modeling.
Then based on this shape, a preliminary base map and preliminary paint color relationship are drawn, and finally the formal painting is completed.
There are also some bold and unrestrained painters who do not even draw lines and shapes, but just use a brush dipped in oil or acrylic to start painting on the canvas.
There is no difference between the two options.
It is more determined by personal usage habits and painting style.
Based on the standards of works participating in the Lion City Art Exhibition, professional painters are considered entry-level. Gu Weijing didn't dare to overestimate it, but still hoped to come up with ideas bit by bit in the most basic and simple way.
He stared at the courtyard of the old church for a moment, then used a pencil to mark three reference points, one up, two down, on the paper, forming a triangle on the draft.
Triangular composition method,
This is a very common composition method in oil paintings. The main high point of the picture and the boundaries of the two low points form a pyramid-like triangle.
Famous paintings such as Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa", Eugène Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People" and Géricault's "The Raft of the Medusa" all have this composition.
Gu Weijing's previous painting "Good Luck Orphanage Under the Sun" was simply an attempt to experiment with painting techniques, without so much emphasis.
If you want to participate in an art exhibition, you need to put some thought into the composition.
He planned to use the dilapidated but still tall statue of the Virgin in the church yard as the background of the picture and the apex of the triangular composition.
The lower points on the left and right are children playing in the yard.
The transition between the triangle's vertex and base corners was filled with taller adult volunteers.
The whole painting is a group portrait, there will be about seven or eight main characters, including about two or three adult volunteers and five or six children.
"The space here is the statue of the Virgin Mary. The light comes from the top of the statue. On the right is the big locust tree... Well, on the left is the image of the caretaker Uncle Alai sitting on the horse and washing Jasmine's hair. Regardless of Whether it’s the relationship between the characters or the height ratio, it’s all very suitable.”
Gu Weijing simply sketched the profile of the burly janitor on the sketch paper, and only a rough outline was enough for the thumbnail draft.
He drew for twenty minutes, and the blank paper was filled with lines of various proportions.
"The triangle composition method, well, the picture is very solid." Someone said in a surprised voice.
When you paint outside, you will inevitably be surrounded by people.
However, there are many people watching the fun, but few people with professional artistic vision.
Being able to express his compositional ideas in one sentence made Gu Weijing look slightly sideways.
I don't know when there was a group of people around me.
The leader was a middle-aged gentleman who looked about forty years old. He was wearing a light palm-colored jacket with a stand-up collar. He was polite and elegant.
He seemed to be a leader who came to inspect the orphanage, followed by a secretary holding a briefcase and gold-rimmed glasses, and a government official wearing the shirt uniform of a high-ranking police officer.
At the very back of the crowd, the headmistress of the orphanage followed cautiously behind her.
His expression was reserved and ingratiating.
"Xiao Gu. This is Chen Linsheng, Mr. Chen. He just took over as the chairman of the Myanmar Charity Chamber of Commerce last year. He is also the investor and entrepreneur of the largest automobile factory in Yangon's Layyada District, which is a joint venture with Toyota."
The female dean turned her head and introduced to the middle-aged man: "Xiao Gu is our volunteer here. He studies painting. He is a very outstanding young man."
"Mr. Chen knows how to draw?"
Gu Weijing asked. He had a vague impression of this name that had often appeared in Yangon newspapers in the past two years.
"I have studied. I thought about becoming an artist when I was young. Unfortunately, Southeast Asia at that time was an alkali soil, and there was no environment for being an artist due to the chaos of war. Instead, I made a name for myself in business."
Entrepreneurs seem to be in a state of despair.
"Sorry, uncle, I want to paint quietly now." Gu Weijing nodded as a greeting.
It is true that Mr. Chen is a big entrepreneur, but he has no desire or desire for the other person, so he has no intention of making acquaintances to please him.
He stopped talking to the other person, lowered his head and continued to study the composition of the picture on the paper.
Gu Weijing always feels that the current structural design is not perfect yet.
The secretary holding the briefcase looked unhappy.
The relationship between politics and business in Myanmar is complicated, but when doing business to the extent of Boss Chen, both gangsters and white gangsters have to hold it in their hands, and even a little money exposed from the cracks of their hands can bring about great changes in the economy of a region.
This young man is so ignorant.
"Where did this student come from? Where are his parents?" The secretary frowned and looked at the female dean beside him.
"Ah... Xiao Gu is a good boy, but his personality is a little quieter. Don't be surprised." The headmistress helped cover it up with some worry.
This traveler has a long way to go.
The king of hell is better than the troublesome kid. Boss Chen doesn't need to express anything. If his secretary is unhappy, it's enough to make an ordinary family drink.
"Okay, okay, why worry about children? This is the temperament of an artist. Like us, if you fall into the eyes of money, your wisdom and intelligence will have been worn away by the smell of money."
Mr. Chen was not surprised, but admired Gu Weijing's character.
He looked Gu Weijing up and down and looked at the school badge on his clothes.
"So you are a student of Dulwich College. I even had dinner with your principal." Mr. Chen recognized the best art middle school in Yangon and turned to look at the police inspector beside him. "Brother, I remember Your daughter is also studying painting at Dulwich, right?”
The police officer was obviously stunned for a moment, with a smile on his serious face, and nodded slightly: "Yes, Mr. Chen is right, he is indeed studying at Dulwich."
He turned to look at the boy in front of the easel and thought for a moment: "Xiao Gu, are you... Gu Weijing?"
"Huh? Who are you, uncle?"
Gu Weijing was puzzled. He didn't expect to meet someone who knew him here.
"Koko is my daughter."
The police officer stared at Gu Weijing with a scrutinizing gaze, "She mentioned you several times at home."
"Oh, it turns out you are the Kou Kou..."
Gu Weijing shut up in time so that he could not subconsciously spit out the "feudal old-fashioned" comment that Kou Kou often talked about.
"So we're all a family... Huh?"
Seeing Gu Weijing seemed to remind him of the years when he was studying art when he was young, and Mr. Chen was very interested in him.
He stood next to Gu Weijing and looked at the other person's easel for a moment. His eyes fell on the folder unfolded on one side and he let out a light sigh.
The secretary who is good at observing words and emotions has already picked up the folder for the boss.
Mr. Chen flipped through a few pages of pen drawings sandwiched between them, and his expression became more serious: "Awesome, the level of young people nowadays is really amazing."
"How amazing is that?" Kou Kou's father approached curiously.
High-end wealthy businessmen like to play with art, which is a common rule in any country throughout the ages.
Kou Kou's father knew better that Chen Shenglin was different from those nouveau riche who took home collections just for the sake of being arty.
He is a true expert.
He even has his own private small art gallery in Europe, which houses a collection of famous paintings worth millions to tens of millions of dollars.
The artistic vision is unquestionable.
This is the case in Southeast Asia such as Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia, or in many African countries.
The poor are extremely poor, and the rich are rich beyond imagination. For such a big entrepreneur, everyone in the Yangon government must fawn over him from top to bottom.
He has been accompanying Boss Chen on investment inspections for so long, and it is rare to see him show such interest in a person.
"At this age, I must have worked very hard with my pen. The painting method combines the characteristics of Eastern Xia line drawing and European sketch. I am very ambitious and can draw better."
Chen Shenglin touched his chin and commented: "What's even more rare is that several of these paintings have gods."
"Is there a god?"
Koko's father nodded in understanding: "Not to mention, some of them do look like they are alive."
"It's great. Seeing such talented young people always makes me feel old. But young man... your sketches are good, and the draft of this large painting can be said."
Chen Shenglin did not explain too much, but raised his head and stared at the draft in Gu Weijing's hand.
"How to say?"
Gu Weijing thought for a moment and then asked.
He also found that Mr. Chen beside him was indeed an expert.
Not only can the other party see that his pen sketches combine both line drawing and sketching techniques.
What’s even more rare is that I can express the essence of my works that are “feeling from my heart”. Ordinary people can be like Kou Kou's father, simply feeling beautiful but unable to explain why.
"It's a little dull and lacks energy."
Mr. Chen commented as a senior art collector.
"This is indeed a shortcoming of the triangle composition method." Faced with the problem pointed out by the other party, Gu Weijing admitted honestly.
In physics, the triangle is the most stable shape.
The same theory applies to visual arts. Oil paintings using the triangle composition method are smooth and stable, and there are almost no major mistakes.
But mediocrity often means not being outstanding in all aspects.
Success is stable and failure is stable. If the picture is too stable, the picture will lose its dynamic and vitality and look very old-fashioned.
Therefore, this composition method is also used more in portraits of people.
"Do you have any good insights?"
"Move the Madonna statue slightly to the right, and form a diagonal line with the big locust tree that is lower on the left and higher on the right. The equilateral triangle becomes an oblique triangle, and the picture will be much more vivid."
Mr. Chen was thinking: "Young man, I looked at your draft mark and thought that the idea of using the Madonna as the center point and the direction of the light was influenced by religious paintings. I would like to ask, are you a Christian?"
"It was influenced by religious paintings, but I'm not a religious person."
Gu Weijing shook his head.
Myanmar is a Buddhist country, and more than 90% of the total population are Buddhist believers.
The Gu family still maintains the tradition of ancestor worship in the Eastern Xia culture, but otherwise has no specific religious beliefs.
Gu Weijing is not a Buddhist, nor does he believe in Catholicism or Protestantism.
But people are right. The composition of the picture designed by Gu Weijing was indeed heavily influenced by religious paintings.
In the field of art, religious paintings have always occupied half of the field of serious paintings such as oil paintings.
Needless to say, there was no mention of the tempera painting era before the Renaissance. Basically, except for aristocratic portraits and religious paintings, there was almost no third type of painting content.
Until probably the 20th century, religious painting was a very mainstream painting method.
Many painters of the retro painting schools, such as the prosperous Pre-Raphaelites, which emphasize the pursuit of purity of soul, specialize in religious and moralistic paintings.
The statue of the Virgin Mary is a very representative symbol.
A very classic composition of an oil painting is that a beam of light from the window shines from the statue of the Virgin placed beside the bed in the bedroom.
It is reflected on the faces of mistresses, prostitutes, gamblers, robbers and other similar characters who are kept by wealthy children.
So she (he) suddenly realized her moral corruption in the holy light, burst into tears, and prayed hurriedly.
Gu Weijing's composition was not originally intended to promote the universal European and American concept of God's love for the world.
He just saw too many works like this and has formed enough thinking inertia.
The composition of the scenery in front of me at this time includes classic oil painting elements such as the Madonna, which are used like a conditioned reflection of mathematical formulas.
"It's too old-fashioned and too mediocre. It has no new ideas, and the composition has no soul of its own. It's just an imitation of European and American painters."
Mr. Chen looked at Gu Weijing's draft and said calmly.
"If I were a collector, I would not pay for such an ingenious composition. One cannot deny one's origin. Young man, even if you can't wait to become a European, the European and American art circles will not Accept you."
This sentence is a bit ugly to say.
Gu Weijing was not angry at all.
Mr. Chen is not hostile, he is simply stating the facts.
"Is there anything you can teach me?" Gu Weijing has always been very respectful when facing people who really have high artistic literacy.
There are also many senior collectors from all over the world on the jury of the Singapore Art Exhibition.
What Mr. Chen is thinking is probably what they are thinking.
"Light, if I were you..."
Collector Chen Shenglin looked at the picture and clicked on the sketch paper, "If I were you, I would like to illuminate the picture from the opposite direction of the Madonna statue on the right side. Completely reverse the light and dark tones so that the Madonna statue is completely hidden. In the shadows."
"so?"
Gu Weijing was thinking.
Playing with color relationships like this would probably end up being burned on the rack in the Middle Ages, but modern art is generally quite tolerant.
There are many things that are more "rebellious and cynical" than this kind of artistic creativity.
As long as the ideological spectrum is not very conservative, the risk of political correctness at the Singapore Art Exhibition is actually not great.
But in pursuit of a novel composition, would this be a bit too bold?
"Young man, have you ever thought about what Yangon is like in the eyes of foreigners?" Mr. Chen seemed to be deep in thought.
(End of chapter)
