When Gu Weijing opened the door of his small studio, he was already prepared, but he was still stunned for a moment.
On the cost of learning,
Among related fields for art students, playing classical music is actually the most expensive.
Not to mention the unpopular professions such as church pipe organs, where the cost is calculated based on small targets.
A better mid-to-high-end grand piano does not need high-end brands such as Steinway and Bechstein. It can be easily replaced by a semi-factory piano mass-produced by Yamaha. It can be replaced by an A-class Mercedes-Benz. In terms of rent, you really have to play a good piano for a few weeks. No matter how cheap it is, it is still more than half a month's salary for an ordinary person in a small county in Dongxia.
The art industry,
It belongs to the method of playing the poor and the poor, and the painting method of the rich and the rich.
The bulk of the expenditure for art students learning to paint is actually consumables, as well as the cost of higher-end flights to art galleries around the world to visit art galleries.
There are not many restrictions on the venue.
The conditions of the studios vary from good to bad, some are expensive beyond imagination, and some are cheap beyond imagination.
In the south of France, where traditional big artists gather like Provence, those artist studios that cost dozens or millions of dollars just to decorate are all places where aesthetic needs are higher than practical needs. The main thing is that if I am rich, I feel happy.
You can paint in high-end studios with bright and clean windows. You can set up a small pony under the overpass on the roadside and build a wooden frame. As long as you are not afraid of noise and have the psychological quality to withstand the onlookers of passers-by, you can naturally paint.
In fact, most of the public art studios open to the public make money from education and training.
Many simply rent a 100-square-meter apartment as a venue, put up a few plaster statues and easels and that's it.
Gu Weijing originally lived a makeshift life in the studio of the Lucky Orphanage. The only lighting tools were the tungsten emergency lights that Uncle Alai ordered from the construction team.
In just a few days,
When he came here again after a short vacation.
The room had become completely unrecognizable to him.
The dark teak floor was illuminated, and the warm and soft light and the sunlight falling outside the window were cleverly integrated into one, making it difficult for him to tell where the light was and where the sunlight was.
Two Honeywell ion oxygen-enriched air purifiers operate silently and efficiently, without any pungent odor left after the renovation.
The moment you push the door open and take a breath,
Gu Weijing had the illusion of walking into the forest.
Next to the wall are two or three Nordic minimalist-style fabric sofas, a barrel water dispenser, and bracket-type reflective fill lights used to light painted mannequins.
What's even more outrageous is that
There is even a small capsule coffee machine!
Gu Weijing never believed that there was any connection between the artist's painting level and the hardware conditions of the studio.
But a good environment,
It can indeed easily affect a person's mental state when creating.
After walking into the completely new room, he felt refreshed.
"In 1874, the Impressionist painters who were not recognized by the mainstream art world and had just participated in the Salon of the Outcasts gathered on the banks of the Seine River in France and began to collectively create a large number of paintings. Jasmine, look at this painting. The artist Manet tried to Breaking away from the traditional painting method of fixed colors, using blue fragment-like brushwork to depict the water waves on the lake, focusing on presenting the feeling of instant light and color to the audience..."
Two figures, one large and one small, were leaning against the window in the sunlight, whispering to the images on the iPad.
Today is the first day of school after the holiday.
As usual, Sakai Katsuko was quite free. She skipped class in the afternoon and came to the newly renovated studio of herself and Gu Weijing.
Miss Katsuko is very serious about her work.
After looking around, I felt that there was no big problem, and I remembered that I had promised Jasmine that I would teach her to appreciate art.
So he caught Jasmine, who was being picked up by Uncle Alai from Baixiang Elementary School in the afternoon, and took her to the window to teach the little girl an art history appreciation class.
Katsuko Sakai’s class focuses on concentration.
She didn't hear the footsteps behind her, and she lowered her head and pointed at the bearded man in a white shirt holding a paintbrush in the oil painting on her tablet, gazing at the sparkling lake.
"Another famous thing about this painting is that our protagonist, the model sitting on the boat, is also an art master. He is a friend of Manet, and his paintings are among the works we have appreciated. Tell Sister, can you guess who this person is?"
Sakai Katsuko took Jasmine's little hand and glanced at the face of the man sitting cross-legged on the bow of the fishing boat on the screen.
The little girl's bright black eyes were wide open, a little confused, but also felt a little familiar, racking her brains to think.
"It's Monet."
Gu Weijing rubbed Jasmine's little head from behind and glanced at the screen.
In fact, there is no need to look at it.
Just by listening to Miss Sakai's description, he could easily guess that it was "Monet Painting on a Boat" painted by the Impressionist master Manet, a very famous work in the history of world art.
"Gu Jun?"
When Sakai Shengzi saw Gu Weijing coming to her side, she gave a bright smile with a slight blush on her face.
She was a little shy but naturally held her hand with the boy next to her.
"You convinced Mrs. Sakai to allow you to come here to paint?"
"You have to go back before 8:30 pm. You cannot leave the perimeter of the orphanage. If there are any other circumstances, you must communicate with your mother in advance for instructions."
Sakai Katsuko nodded and said what she and her mother had agreed upon.
"I called you before and mentioned that my mother also had her room renovated a little bit. I think it's pretty good, what about you?" The girl tilted her head.
"Of course it's good. It seems that I have taken advantage of our eldest lady Shengzi and am enjoying a soft meal." Gu Weijing glanced at the exquisitely decorated rooms around him and smiled slightly.
He cast his gaze on Jasmine next to him.
The little girl was staring at the tablet screen on the windowsill that was almost as high as herself, holding a paper cup filled with half a cup of coffee.
Coffee is a very rare thing in the orphanage.
Now it was probably Jasmine's first time drinking this kind of drink. Regardless of whether it suited her taste or not, at least it tasted quite novel.
The little girl was reluctant to drink it directly, but stuck out her tongue and licked it slowly like a puppy.
"I don't know if it is good for her to drink caffeinated drinks at her age, so I added half a spoon of saccharin and a little milk to her." Sakai Katsuko turned her face sideways and explained.
While she was making coffee for herself, the little girl didn't cry or fuss, she just looked at Shengzi longingly and hooked her fingers together.
Where did Ms. Sakai get this?
My heart melted when the little loli stared at me, so I gave it a taste to the little girl.
"Just have a drink today. You are still young. I can bring you freshly squeezed juice to drink when I come here in the future." Sakai Katsuko touched Jasmine's forehead.
Gu Weijing asked Jasmine how she felt about her recent primary school life and asked her to run around and play.
After a short conversation,
The studio fell into silence.
Gu Weijing walked aside, prepared his painting tools, and fixed a new linen canvas on the easel.
Neither he nor Katsuko Sakai was the type of couple who would spend all day together after falling in love. The two of them soon began to do business quietly.
Katsuko Sakai was preparing to finish the "Old Church" that she had stopped halfway through the copying a few days ago.
Gu Weijing began to paint his "Good Luck Orphanage in the Sun (No. 3)".
This time I still started with a pencil sketch, then used quick-drying paint to apply the base map, and then added details on the base map.
Because I have already painted it once,
Gu Weijing is well aware of the process and difficulties of painting. What he is doing now is to push through A, B, C, D... step by step, grinding bit by bit to overcome the difficulties.
sometimes,
Painting is the same as doing physics questions. It is a skilled job, and you have to answer the questions over and over again.
The only difference is that what he is doing now may be more like the national training team test questions for the Physics Olympiad.
Ordinary students, or even average academics, have not learned advanced skills and concepts, and there is a high probability that they cannot even understand the questions.
Even among students of the same age, Gu Weijing is definitely considered a "student god". When repeating this "fusion painting" test question.
Still far from simple.
Now it’s the third time to paint.
What Gu Weijing wanted was not an intact copy of the previous one.
He needs to see progress.
Can you make some details more detailed this time? Can the subtle gaps and roughness between colors be reduced?
Even if the painting technique has not fundamentally changed.
These little changes and progress add up to a lot, which can instantly make the direct look and feel of the painting much better.
Apart from anything else, if you draw a hundred pictures of the same thing, God will give you some favor, and you should be able to encounter extraordinary performance a few times by trying your luck.
When the technique is upgraded, repainting a work that the artist is already very familiar with will have a good effect of combining the best and the icing on the cake.
Since Gu Weijing wanted to see changes, the painting process was still far from easy this time.
In addition to the slightly more familiar feeling when using the pen, pressure still surged towards him from the tip of the pen like a tide.
Time passed slowly like this.
soon,
There was a little sweat on his forehead again.
"It seems that it is a little difficult for you to use a pen like this now. Gu Jun, can I make a small suggestion?"
Once when he put the paintbrush at hand into the pen washer, Gu Weijing felt a warm and soft body pressing against his back from behind.
Miss Sakai had finished her copying and was staring at the drawing board in front of Gu Wei's hand over his shoulder.
She stared quietly for a few minutes,
I was keenly aware of Gu Weijing's strenuous feeling during the painting process.
Katsuko shook her hair.
"Of course, if you feel that I have disturbed your thinking, please tell me directly. This is normal. Everyone has different painting habits. Many people hate being disturbed by others when painting."
Sakai Katsuko smiled gently.
Shengzi is also an art student and has learned a lot from her parents' relationship since she was a child.
She knows that the smart way to get along with an art student lover is definitely not to rush up to the other person while they are painting and greet them with constant greetings.
"Darling! Come and have a drink of water!"
"You've been painting for twenty minutes, now take a rest."
"Let's start the mobile game together!"
"Let's discuss which restaurant to go to for dinner tonight."
"You damn ghost, you only know how to draw, but you don't even know how to care about me."
You think this kind of thing is showing affection and caring, but the anger in the hearts of people who are disturbed by their creative thoughts is rising.
It may not matter if you are in love.
Over time, no matter whether the person is a man or a woman, quarrels will definitely break out.
When my father, Professor Sakai, was immersed in creative ideas, he wouldn’t even eat or even go home. I sat in front of the drawing board in the studio all night, stuffing all kinds of sweets and junk food into my mouth when I was hungry.
His peak record was 29 donuts in one night.
No matter how dissatisfied Mrs. Sakai was, she would still hold her nose and say nothing.
The best he can do is wait until Professor Sakai finishes painting and wakes up before lecturing him, and then have all the donuts in the studio replaced with gluten-free and sugar-free versions.
What art creators really need is companionship for inspirational brainstorming and mutual support on the creative journey.
It would be better for her partner to help him break the mental prison than for her to pour 10,000 cups of hot tea for him.
Miss Sakai had been quietly looking at the canvas in front of her, and finally seemed to have thought of something.
While she was waiting for Gu Weijing to change his pen, she leaned forward gently and spoke.
"Katsuko, do you have any good ideas?"
Gu Weijing's eyes lit up and he wanted to turn his head: "If you need it, I can tell you about my painting methods."
"You don't have to look at me, just look at the painting with peace of mind."
Sakai Katsuko patted Gu Weijing on the shoulder,
She used a tissue from behind to wipe off a few drops of light sweat on Gu Weijing's forehead, and said softly: "You don't have to tell me the details. Sometimes, just to break out of the old way of thinking can lead to better ideas."
"When my father was creating, no one else dared to disturb him. But when I was a child, I liked to hang around him and express my own opinions. My father found that many times, it was just the gibberish of children, but sometimes , having another perspective can occasionally give him some inspiring new ideas.”
"I noticed that you seem to pay great attention to processing the edges of some highlights, hoping that they can transition more smoothly with the surrounding color blocks. Am I understanding your goal correctly?"
Sakai Katsuko asked.
"You can say that."
Gu Weijing nodded.
What he wants most is to eliminate the sense of isolation in the picture.
The unnatural sense of isolation in current works is largely caused by the conflict between the high-light contrast details that Western paintings pay attention to and the natural, fresh and shadow-free color excess pursued by Chinese paintings. These two art philosophies are conflicting.
Sakai Katsuko does not know the details of the new body painting method.
But she is also much more talented than Old Man Wu, and she is a master of painting from close range.
After watching it for a few minutes, I keenly captured the key to the problem.
"My pen is not strong enough."
Gu Weijing nodded honestly.
Castiglione could use his skillful pen control to push through these difficulties.
He doesn't have this ability yet.
That's why Gu Weijing felt that once his step-by-step sketching and Chinese painting techniques were upgraded to the next stage, perhaps this gap could be bridged.
Katsuko Sakai had different new ideas.
"Gu Jun, have you ever thought about changing painting tools?" the girl asked softly.
(End of chapter)
