Gu Weijing stared at the news announcements on the mobile phone art forum in front of him.
There are report links posted by netizens who forwarded the news on the forum. Click on them to see the official shortlist announcement from the Scholastic Group's official website homepage and official tweets.
There are twelve candidates in total.
Seven writers, five illustrators.
Each one comes with a big photo of a suit and leather shoes, except for the [THE DETECTIVE CAT] column, which is a cartoon.
Naturally, it was impossible for the publisher's official announcement to post his online store address, so the cover of "The Little Prince" was used instead.
“I was actually nominated for an award.”
Should it be said that it is reasonable and expected?
After guessing that Mr. Sloth's true identity was most likely a senior executive of the Scholastic Group, Gu Weijing used various hints in recent communications and asked him to prepare to submit a drawing to the magazine.
Although it has not been explicitly confirmed.
Gu Weijing had already made some preparations in his mind.
He immediately checked his work email.
as expected.
I saw an official email from the publisher that I had received yesterday morning, officially notifying me that I had been nominated for an award.
In the email, the other party invited him to go to the United States to attend an awards ceremony in June.
Uncle Sam's art awards are fundamentally different from those high-profile European awards.
What they do is all about entertainment and eye-catching effect.
Nowadays, this kind of art awards event is almost the same as the Oscars.
There must be a red carpet with celebrities, a live TV broadcast, and a talk show actor as the warm-up host.
Sometimes dignitaries from the education sector are also present.
There were several sessions in the early years.
In order to increase the ratings and the influence of the awards, Scholastic Group also directly invited the then president, Ao Guanhai himself, as a guest to present the awards, and personally announced the winners of the youth and children's category.
In the email Gu Weijing received, the publishing group was very generous.
Their publishing house will use public funds to bear the first-class air tickets for the artist himself, the business-class air tickets for three or less of his family members, relatives and friends who are accompanying him, as well as all the expenses for hotel accommodation and meals for the group during the award period.
Gu Weijing finished reading the email and exited the mailbox.
It's not like Fan Jin was overjoyed and yelled when he won the exam.
But he still felt the fulfilling and peaceful feeling of joy that a farmer uncle felt when he saw autumn ears finally covering the branches.
[Writing and Art Master Award] - The same award that Andy Warhol, Stephen King, and J.K. Rowling have all won.
Whether or not you can win the award is put aside for now.
Can get nominated.
Even if you just accompany him for a while, it might not be a huge improvement in your professional status.
An Internet celebrity illustrator with high sales who is simply loved by people, and a famous illustrator who has been shortlisted for important awards.
Maybe it’s in terms of how much money you can make by supplying articles to publishing houses.
The difference between the two may not be that big.
But this kind of award provides a possibility of "breaking boundaries".
If anyone wants to go up the chain of artistic contempt and cross the vague boundary between illustrators and artists.
Becoming Van Doorn, Jane Arnold or even KAWS, Andy Warhol is the most powerful figure in the entire art circle.
Do you have such qualifications?
The difference between the two is not necessarily small.
Among those who paint fairy tales, whether they are "fooling children" or "engaging in serious art", there are many who can play with things and talk about them.
Luxury goods like Van Doorn that play cross-border fashion, Andy Warhol, the godfather of pop art, KAWS, co-branded fashion items that sell tens of millions of dollars every three days...
This group of people all started their careers working for publishing houses and illustrating for Disney.
However, in their promotional content, it is rare to see people calling themselves “illustrators”, but they are all called painters or artists.
The reason why your reputation as an illustrator seems so weak is largely because critics think you are not elegant and serious enough.
How to make yourself elegant and serious?
Just go get a big prize.
This is the most direct way and also the most difficult way.
When time comes, heaven and earth all work together.
Since he opened a "Detective Cat Art Museum", Gu Weijing's luck seems to have improved a lot.
Not only was he nominated for a major award, he also made gratifying progress in watercolor painting.
The underwriting of his soft pen is already there.
Watercolor brushes are exactly the kind of brushes that are halfway between the soft brushes used in traditional Chinese painting and the harder bristle brushes used in oil painting.
These three have a certain degree of similarity in their brush-using techniques.
Looking for the right method.
After several days of flat application practice with watercolor paint, and careful consideration of the color brightness cards.
Gu Weijing's watercolor technique has almost filled the semi-professional level experience bar.
Judging from his past sketch breakthrough experience.
The bottleneck between semi-professional and professional painters, as the entry ticket to the bottom of professional painters, is far less about the mental state and talent than the threshold between level 4 and 5 in the field of professional painters.
God will always give a way out to stupid children who are willing to work hard.
This step is more about pure practice over time.
Depending on the situation, a breakthrough in watercolor techniques will most likely be what's happening right in front of you.
Double happiness.
Gu Weijing has been in a very happy mood recently.
That Miss Elena is really his little lucky star.
She even bought her grandfather’s paintings!
Speaking of which.
Gu Weijing opened Whatsapp and switched to Detective Cat’s work WeChat.
He discovered that there was already a contact with the oil painting head of a black and white spotted dog on his contact list - [Anna Elena].
In theory.
My boss, Gu Tongxiang, has the contact information of the other party.
But there was no way or reason for him to let his grandfather push her best friend to him.
So I made a big detour and asked Mr. Sloth for help.
The other party replied that he could try it.
Gu Weijing was still thinking about whether he could leave a message on Twitter, send a private message, add a friend, etc. if there was no other way.
Mr. Sloth is indeed the universal Tinker Bell of people broadcasting.
Just this morning, he pushed Miss Elena's friend account over.
"The level is... average. I think it's young and cute."
Gu Weijing first clicked on the other person's profile picture, looked at the big black and white spotted dog on Anna's homepage, and spent a few seconds making comments.
The green and cute thing is talking about the painting quality of this oil painting, not the black and white hunting dog.
As a loyal supporter of the Cat Party.
Gu Weijing thought that although the dog was big and very impressive, it was still not as impressive as his own Ngawang.
As for the painting method.
This skill level is not worthy of his use of calligraphy and painting appraisal skills.
The resolution of the photos on social profile pictures is not too high.
Gu Weijing glanced at it casually and judged that it only looked like a mid-range Level 3 semi-professional.
Among Dulwich students, this level is considered very good.
But as the head of the Elena family, her taste can be used as a private social avatar.
To be honest, he wouldn't be surprised by how good the painting is, how high the technique is, and how expensive it is.
On the contrary, Gu Weijing was slightly surprised by this kind of painting, which was neither a famous painting nor one whose technique was obviously childish.
"Hello? Miss Elena."
Gu Weijing didn't dwell too much on this matter. He opened the chat box and took the initiative to say hello.
"Hello, nice to meet you, Ms. Detective Cat."
He replied almost instantly, but only with a short sentence.
There was silence between the two sides for a few seconds.
They seemed to be hesitating on how to speak. This strange pair of familiar yet unfamiliar men and women were testing the boundaries of their chat.
Gu Weijing thought he should be the first to speak and sent a message to thank him.
"Thank you very much!"
“Merci mille fois (French, thank you)!”
An unexpected coincidence occurred.
Miss Elena also sent a thank you almost at the same time.
Gu Weijing did not understand German at all.
Although Detective Cat has been pretending to be a French-speaking country online, Myanmar is not a former French colony like Vietnam, and the popularity of French is not high. His daily school life environment is mainly in English.
In addition, in order to take care of Miss Elena's language habits, he has always spoken in English that he is more accustomed to.
And Mademoiselle Irene seems to speak French.
In order to accommodate his language habits, I sent my thanks in French.
"Thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you have done. Miss Irina."
"I am truly touched by the painting you created, Ms. Detective Cat."
Almost at the same second, two new messages appeared on the screen.
Not only did the two people speak with the same voice.
What's even more subtle is that this time Gu Weijing switched back to French in order to maintain his vest persona.
Miss Elena switched to English.
"I'm a fan of yours."
"I'm a fan of yours."
Languages were exchanged again.
This time.
Neither of them spoke.
Gu Weijing stared at Miss Anna's head in trance.
He felt a strange "misunderstanding" full of tacit understanding echoing between the two of them.
It was as if two people met on the narrow road between the green corridors of the campus.
Flash to one side at the same time, look at each other for two seconds, and flash to the other side at the same time.
Repeat several times.
In the end, they had to look at each other and smile, and both of them stood there together without moving.
To describe it, it sounds a bit silly.
But when it really happens next to you, there is an indescribable strange feeling.
It was the first time that she had close contact with this noble lady, the "Countess" with the temperament of a queen. When Gu Weijing started to send messages, he was still very cautious.
Just two sentences after the car crash.
I found that this young lady was not as imposing as I thought, she was really kind.
It was like an old friend meeting again in an afternoon.
Gu Weijing pursed his lips.
He suddenly felt that the other party knew exactly what he was thinking.
There is absolutely no need to continue with those polite and polite compliments.
"I saw the official announcement from Scholastic Group. Congratulations on being nominated for this year's [Writing and Art Masters Award]."
This time Miss Elena spoke first.
"The Scholastic Group's annual awards show will be held in early June. This year's party should be held at the Hudson Theater on Broadway. Will you attend in person?"
"Well... there is a high probability that I won't go. As an anonymous painter, it is good to maintain a sense of public mystery."
Gu Weijing answered honestly.
"I will ask my assistant to attend on my behalf."
As a child from a poor family.
In his heart, he regretted that he was given the opportunity to fly first class and travel to North America with public funds.
Large group companies are very generous to all invited overseas guests.
Just for various round-trip air tickets and accommodation, if this standard is used to invite friends, 50,000 to 60,000 US dollars is not enough.
Apart from the lack of honor, it may not be less than the winning prize itself.
His grandfather, Gu Tongxiang, procured a bag of oranges from the father-in-law's house, and he was able to enjoy himself for several days at a small advantage.
If there is such a good opportunity.
The old man will definitely take off with joy.
pity.
If you want to be like Banksy and benefit from the mystery of an anonymous painter, you have to endure this unknown loneliness.
Now the top priority is to improve my painting skills and prepare for the Singapore Art Exhibition.
Even if identity is not an issue.
It is also difficult for Gu Weijing to find time to go to the United States for a vacation.
The assistant mentioned in his message definitely did not refer to Uncle Alai.
With Alai's level of visibility, there is not much difference between the other party's attendance and his own attendance.
At that time, Brother Dyson from the Schonbrunn Office will be there to receive the award for him... provided that he is really lucky enough to win the award.
The other party is her one-to-one financial assistant, and is also responsible for attending some official occasions for Detective Cat that she insists on showing up in person.
"Alas~"
distance.
Miss Elena, who was holding the mobile phone, sighed slightly.
"Push it for me."
Anna spoke softly.
"What?"
At the coffee table, I was on a video call with a real estate agent.
With various folders spread out in front of him, two MAC computers, and an IPAD stand beside him, Secretary Elliot turned his head away from the screen.
This workplace beauty's hair is a little messy, and the hem of her Prada dress is a little wrinkled.
She looks like a well-paid female coder, more so than Miss Irina's personal secretary.
Miss Elena moved her mouth on the podium.
The secretary broke her leg.
In the past few days, Anna went to attend receptions and accept donations.
Elliot had to deal with all kinds of tedious and trivial matters, and his feet never touched the ground.
They were actually discussing at the table the location of the family museum that was being prepared.
Probably because Anna scolded them too harshly on stage, they unexpectedly received an olive branch from the German government, which was suffering from the shadow of World War II, as a gesture of kindness.
There is an ancient palace called Marin Castle in Saxony.
It covers an area of approximately 220,000 square meters.
Originally an estate belonging to the Prince of Hanover.
Unable to repair it, it was sold to the German government for one euro in 2018.
They are willing to conditionally donate the Marin Castle and the surrounding land to the Elena Family Foundation as the site for the museum.
Elliot was busy investigating whether the deal was a good deal.
The free ones are often the most expensive.
She contacted some real estate agents and calculated that the entire castle was worth about 200 million euros, but it was a protected building under the United Nations Heritage List.
Repairs are expensive.
The Prince of Hanover of this generation was almost bankrupt due to repairs on his house, so he had to sell it for a symbolic price of one euro.
(End of chapter)
