Almighty painter

Chapter 674+9327
“What’s important is not who you are painting for, what’s important is for whom, and what’s important is not whether the painting has meaning… The painting itself is the meaning.”

——Gu Weijing——
The clear sounds of the piano and string orchestra echoed across the silent lake.

Melodious and sad.

The pencil glides across the surface of the watercolor paper, as lightly as a bow brushing across a guitar string.

The lighting conditions at night are not good.

Although the moonlight is bright, it is far inferior to the lighting conditions in the daytime in the deep night. The only thing that can illuminate the sketchboard in front of Gu Weijing is the street lamp behind him.

The texture of watercolor paper is very grainy.

The light was yellow and turbid, shining on the tip of the pen, and Gu Weijing was like painting on the sand.

A small wooden pier stands on the lake.

The night was clear and the lake was swaying. The moon in the sky illuminated the black night sky, and the moon in the water illuminated the black lake surface.

There are two shining galaxies in the sky and on the ground.

The girls seemed to be dancing in the water.

Gu Weijing used to like the Impressionist painting style very much, because in many senses, the emergence of Impressionism is an important node like a great revolution in the field of art in the entire history of human painting.

It refreshed people's understanding of light and all previous art theories.

It refreshes the way people look at paintings, and also refreshes the way painters paint.

From the pen, to the environment, to everything related to it.

Before the emergence of French Impressionism or Russian Critical Realism, academic painters in the traditional sense rarely adopted the method of outdoor field painting.

now.

Art students can always be seen sitting in a row with their drawing boards, collecting inspiration, beside various scenic buildings, ancient bridges and flowing water.

Two hundred years ago, anyone who did this would definitely be laughed at by his peers for being unprofessional and amateurish.

He would sit on a small stool on the street, and when he saw a gentleman getting off an open carriage, he would rush up and shout, "Sir, sir, buy a painting for your female companion. Two shillings for a small sketch, three shillings for a large sketch. If you are willing to pay five shillings, you can get a watercolor with a small frame." - This is something only street painters who are not presentable would do.

It's so low.

True masters of art in the upper class will always paint in their own professional studios.

If they want to paint a landscape, they would rather remember the spatial structure in their heads, or simply make a small sketch, and then go back to the studio to start from scratch.

At that time, art schools would also offer special courses and training in this area.

It is not necessarily the case that all the artists at that time were like the delicate Princess and the Pea, who could not stand the slightest wind or sun.

The most important reason was the definition of painting in the art world at that time.

Whether a painting is elegant or kitsch, highbrow or lowbrow, an outstanding work of art or just a piece of colored paper - the most important difference lies in who the painting is for and who is viewing it.

If you feel that what you write is kitsch, tacky, and without any ambition, then naturally there is nothing to say.

If the painter thinks he is a fucking "upper class person", what he paints is fucking "upper class art" and a work of art.

Naturally, then it must be treated as a work of art.

High-end works of art should definitely be seen by high-end people.

And when upper-class gentlemen and ladies look at paintings, they certainly cannot just put their hands on their hips and stare with wide eyes in the sun.

shameful.

True works of art should be displayed in a castle, in the living room of a manor, in a study, or on the display rack of an art gallery. You can enjoy them slowly indoors with a glass of red wine.

Therefore, professional artists should naturally have high demands on themselves. During the entire creative process, they should try their best to ensure that they are in an environment similar to that of the big buyers who pay for their paintings, and paint under indoor light sources.

Similar lighting environment, similar lighting method, similar color temperature——

In this way, the colors created by the painter with the tip of the brush when painting and the colors that the employers see when they put them in their home to appreciate are exactly the same.

Only in this way can it be considered sophisticated enough.

Only works that can be displayed in aristocratic manors, monasteries of senior clergy or exhibition shelves in art galleries are truly meaningful works, and are truly gold and crystal.

The rest.

It's all mud, sand and debris.

The works of the Rococo school also emphasize the delicate, fine, and intricate brushwork, and the delicate expression of the female body with colors.

Watteau, Boucher, and Fragonard painted for the upper class, and their buyers were aristocrats, counts, and Madame Pompadour, so they were all respected masters of art and celebrities.

A painter like Jean-François Millet, who painted for the emerging bourgeois nouveau riche on the streets of France, was described by French critics as "a painter who can paint nothing but low-class, vulgar, and obscene nudes."

Gu Weijing's dream is to become a great artist.

In his best imagination, his works would be displayed in collection rooms and art galleries, where people would crowd around, gather around, stand on tiptoe, and stretch their heads to look at them.

Every soldier dreams of becoming a general.

Every painter hopes that his or her work will be treated seriously. If he or she can enjoy the same treatment as "Mona Lisa", it would be great, isn't it?
Undoubtedly, in this era, there is no longer any such saying that painters collecting materials on the streets are low-level painters, while painters creating works in the studio are high-level painters.

Almost all art students paint both indoors and outdoors.

Artificial light sources can imitate almost any color temperature and hue. If you want, you can have a windowless studio lit with "sunlight" 24 hours a day.

and so.

In fact, Gu Weijing often never thought about who some of his works were painted for over the years.

Painting for someone and painting for whom, these two concepts seem to be highly similar, but when you think about it deeply... it seems that they are a little bit different.

As an illustrator, your work should naturally be drawn for your employer.

As a contestant in an art exhibition, you should naturally draw your work for the judges.

As for the former, the answer has always been an obvious one.

As for the latter - some of them were clear to Gu Weijing, but some of them were also vague to him.

The drawings drawn by Detective Cat were obviously drawn for the Scholastic Publishing Group.

Gu Weijing’s painting, “Good Luck Orphanage in the Sunlight”, was supposed to be dedicated to the “2023·Human Noise th Singapore International Biennale”.

But if his drawings of the Little Prince and the fiery world were made for a publishing house, and his drawings of the fusion painting based on Lang Shining's new style were made for the "Singapore Biennale Jury"... it seems a bit utilitarian and a bit strange.

Is it painted for the audience?

This answer is a bit too general and vague.

All works of art created by all artists throughout the ages can be said to be painted "for the audience."

Because this answer can cover all problems, it loses its meaning.

For whom is the painting for? This should be an extremely clear and precise answer.

It is the anchor of the work and the root of the brush.

An anchor cannot be driven into an empty concept, and roots cannot sprout in the soil of nothingness. The painter should have a deep understanding of what it is that forces him to pick up the brush. Only when you truly understand it, or at least... you feel that you understand "it", can you wedge the brush into its center.

You can-

A sword pierces the heart.

"The so-called Impressionism is nothing more than the pursuit of inner emotions and pure visual enjoyment. We do not portray gods, we just record the sun and air. We do not follow old-fashioned dogmas, because beautiful things will remain, and pain will eventually pass away."

Gu Weijing recalled the self-complaint from Reno that he had heard in his mind.

He smiled softly.

He got it!

"We don't depict gods, we only record the sun and air." Gu Weijing said in his heart.

Impressionism is a school of painting that focuses on painting light. Gu Weijing has always believed that the so-called recording of sunlight and air refers to the brushwork style pioneered by Impressionist painters on canvas, which uses small, short brushstrokes to express air vibrations and sunlight flowing like honey.

now.

Under the dim street lights, looking at the mottled light on the sketch board.

Gu Weijing suddenly realized...it turned out that for so long, he had been mistaking the relationship between cause and effect.

It was the sunlight and air that first moved the Impressionist painters. They suddenly realized that they were not painting for the sake of academic selection, nor were they painting to be selected for the official Paris Autumn Salon.

They simply wanted to write for the flowing sunshine and the vibrating air.

They will walk into the morning light along the Seine without hesitation and paint day after day.

Because the good stuff is there.

Because what makes their hearts beat is right there.

These are enough reasons for the painter to start painting.

All the remaining changes in brushwork and all the great innovations in painting techniques are nothing more than results on the canvas, and are merely "servants" serving this goal.

Not just Impressionism.

Jean-François Millet, the Rococo street painter.

He made a lot of money by painting naked girls for the nouveau riche and the strong god of war Ares and nymphs in Greek mythology making love in bed.

But suddenly one day.

He got tired of it, threw away his paintbrushes, abruptly closed his studio, and turned down all appointments and business orders for his works.

He walked into the wilderness.

Never come back.

When Gu Weijing was studying art history, for a long time he did not understand what forced Miller to make such a major decision.

Millet is different from Manet, Degas and others, who generally came from wealthy families.

Old Countess Elena did not allow her daughter to become a painter because they were born at the top of the upper class. They were the ones who truly stood at the center of the European stage. Their position was too high, so naturally they looked down on the painters, poets, socialites and other "secondary upper classes" who surrounded them and served them.

However, bean buns cannot be considered as dry food.

Whether they are called the lower upper class or the semi-upper class, at least they still have the title of half of the "upper class".

Gu Tongxiang was once very proud of the fact that his ancestors were court painters with official rank. He felt that the family conditions of those European painters were miserable, far worse than his own, and they were all poor.

This is a typical case of half-knowledge. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether it is the 21st century or the 19th century.

Generally speaking, the family conditions of families that can send their children to study art are not particularly bad.

Manet was the son of the chief judge of the Ministry of the Interior, Degas's father was a stock trader, and Menzel's family ran a lithography factory.

Compared with Elena's family, these people are all beggars, all kneeling on the ground begging for food.

But compared to the ordinary people in European society at that time, they could all be considered rich second-generations and the masters of Paris. When eating old Italian pizza with sausage, they would ask for a double portion and eat one and throw away another.

Calling someone a poor bastard.

Really lived in that era.

I'm going to make classmate Gu die of greed.

Millet was different. He was really poor. He was born in a peasant family and never went to school. By chance, he received a scholarship from the city council, which enabled him to study painting in a studio in Paris. However, his classmates in the studio looked down on him and everyone called him "the rustic mountain man" behind his back.

Gu Weijing never understood.

Such a man, a young man from the provinces, after so many years of struggle, finally lived a middle-class life in Paris, where he could afford to ride in a carriage and listen to symphonies. Finally, this most important city in Western Europe had gained a foothold, and he had realized his dream!

How could he suddenly abandon everything and leave?

How could he leave without any regrets?
Fitz's history textbook only said that this was "an important turning point in the painter's career." When Gu Weijing read such a description, he often only had a vague impression, just like a piece of raw spaghetti, which would snap and break apart when it was mentioned as a turning point.

just now.

In the night of Yangon, Gu Weijing suddenly understood.

Maybe.

Every important painter in history, those masters who were able to leave their names in art textbooks, had a process of realizing who they were painting for, or "what" they were painting for.

Renoir realized that he was painting for the sun and air, so he walked out of the studio and came to the sparkling Seine River in Paris.

Miller realized that he could not paint for the upper class because they would never accept him, and he could not find resonance in depicting the picturesque eyebrows and delicate skin of those delicate girls.

The students in the studio are right.

He is just a rustic mountain man, and it is through the sweat on the farmer's face and the sun-tanned and mottled skin that he can make his brush truly come alive again.

and so--

He understood and then left.

As a teenager, he tried his best to move from the fields in the provinces to Paris.

In middle age, Miller turned around and walked back from Paris to the fields and villages of Barbizon.

then.

He then painted what may be the most amazing painting in France and Europe in the first half of the 19th century - "The Gleaners".

In the great Paris, the prosperous Paris, the glamorous Paris, Millet was just a notorious pornographic painter among countless erotic Rococo paintings.

And in the vast fields, he became the first and most important peasant painter in the entire history of France.

That's it.

Miller went from obscurity to greatness.
-
Any master of painting probably needs to go through a process of realizing “who” he is painting for.

Any truly outstanding work probably requires the painter to use his brush to truly penetrate into the heart of "someone".

Maybe it's your own.

Maybe it's someone else's.

Maybe both.

When Gu Weijing was dancing with little girl Jasmine under the tree, he truly felt the power of "empathy" for the first time.

He sensed Jasmine's desire for companionship, and he painted his first "felt" painting in his life.

In the cover painting of "The Little Prince", with the help of the small candle blessed by the Muse, he seemed to have experienced countless rising and setting of the sun in the book in just a short moment.

He painted that cover for Saint-Exupéry, or rather, for "The Little Prince".

As for the draft of the Blazing World, he did not draw it for the publishing house or the audience in a broad sense, but for Miss Elena.

Including the painting of Wisteria Flowers.

He did not paint for Tang Ning, nor even to prove something like Mr. Cao. Gu Weijing painted for himself.

In this way, as soon as he put pen to paper, the flowers fell in profusion.

Oh, and there’s also “The Cat Holding a Girl”…

Some of these paintings are watercolors, some are Chinese paintings, and some are knife paintings. Their forms are different and the creation environments are not exactly similar, but without exception, they are all good paintings that can touch people's hearts.

The form, background and environment of the painting are not important.

External light is not important.

The medium that carries the work is not important.

It doesn’t matter whether the painting itself will be seen by others or displayed in an art gallery.

Even the color tone and technique of the work itself are not the most critical things in a work of art.

What's important is the excitement in your heart at the moment you start writing.

What is important is to express one's heart and spirit through painting.

This truth has always been around him. The funny thing is, Gu Weijing has always been separated from it by a layer of window paper. He vaguely felt it, but didn't really realize it.

Even Miss Koko may understand this truth.

She was dancing for him.

Koko is a cute, lively girl who likes gossip and funny things. But when she spun on her knees, the lively and funny gossipy girl disappeared.

In their place was a restrained and majestic angel.

She is so serious.

So quiet.

So sad.

And so beautiful.

She turns sideways, tilts her waist, and stares into your eyes, silently telling you - it doesn't matter whether she is dancing in the water or painting on the sand.

It doesn’t matter if those voices, smiles and appearances will disappear in the next second.

What matters is this moment.

She is still dancing.

Nothing can make Gu Weijing feel the reality in the midst of great emptiness, nothingness and fatigue better than the girl dancing for him.

There are many things in this world that make people feel painful and powerless.

Birth, old age, illness, and death.

Hatred meets, love separates, and what one desires cannot be obtained.

Beautiful actors will grow old, famous painters will one day become unpopular, princes will be separated from their loved ones, and princesses will turn into swans and float lonely on the lake for eternity.

But this does not diminish the beauty and significance of their existence.

Just like resisting against evil, if your waving fist does not look as powerless as a child's in the eyes of others, the meaning of the courage contained in the action of waving the fist will be eliminated.

Hey.

Gu Weijing.

Everything makes sense.

Even though it was so small, it looked like a pair of eyes wide open, staring directly at the tsunami that was approaching.

It also makes sense.

"Existence" - it itself is the meaning.

Every minute, every second, every brief moment, they will turn into light and fly to the end of the universe.

The ocean can turn into mulberry fields.

The sea can dry up and the rocks can rot. Perhaps in the long river of history, everything is just a fleeting moment. Even the sun will be extinguished like a flash in the empty universe.

But we existed.

Just like someone said - tens of millions of years in the future, in the depths of the universe, in a distant place tens of millions of light years away, we will be looking back at this place.

They will know.

I danced for you.

We will exist forever.

Koko reached out and lifted the hem of her skirt, turned around, stood up, and spun.

It seems that as long as the music doesn't stop, the dance won't stop.

As long as she is dancing, she is so sacred, so majestic, and her glory dominates everything, completely transcending the tedious and insignificant earthly life (note).

Gu Weijing heard the system prompt sound coming from his ear.

【Breaking Mission——】

【Sketch, from the near to the vast, from the real to the imaginary, from the pen to the emotion, from the limited to the infinite line aesthetics. It is not only about the technique, but also about the individual's perception, interest, observation, character and even outlook on life. The ultimate sketch is not a sketch drawn on paper, but a sketch drawn in the heart, which is a full expression of the painter himself, so that people can deeply understand the artist's emotions and heart. 】

[Task content: The secret of lines lies in summarizing the spirit, and the spirit flows all the time, so the lines also flow all the time. Imagine what it is like to observe the world when your heart is as cold as ice. When your mind is boiling like fire and every nerve cell is roaring and howling, what do the underlying lines that make up the world look like in your mind? Please understand this world and draw a work.

(Remarks: There is no limit to the size or form, but it needs to be related to the sketching technique, and during this period, the pointer of the emotion meter reaches the point of a wonderful pen, or continues to reach the level of hard work and perfection, for more than three minutes.)]

[Ding, your breakthrough mission has been completed. ]

[You have just entered the hole inspection state and gained 9327 sketching experience points! ]

(End of this chapter)