Almighty painter

Chapter 679 Master First Level

Gu Weijing chose a small candle blessed by the Muse.

A row of plus signs immediately appeared behind his skill bar on the system panel.

【Painting Techniques——】

[Oil Painting Technique: Level 6 Professional Level 2136 (50000/)] +
[Sketch Technique: Level 6 Professional Level 10167 (50000/)] +
【Chinese painting techniques: ……】

Gu Weijing first clicked the plus sign behind oil painting techniques.

A corresponding prompt immediately popped up on the system panel.

"Do you want to activate the blessed candle of the Muse and upgrade your oil painting skills to: Lv.7 Master Painter, Level 1 (100000/458)? [Note: With the current option, the skill can last for (3.5) seconds. If you continue to light the candle beyond the usage time, free experience points will be deducted per second.]"

458 seconds.

About seven or eight minutes.

Gu Weijing remembered that when using the small candle to upgrade the Lv.4 first-level professional skills to the Lv.5 second-level professional skills, if it was used overtime, 1.5 free experience points would be deducted per second. When upgrading the Lv.5 skills to Lv.6, if it was used overtime, an additional 2 free experience points would be deducted per second.

He was also hoping that with every additional level he reached, the amount of free experience points consumed per second would increase by 0.5 points.

As a result, the method of calculating the usage time of this small candle is obviously not an arithmetic progression.

The difference between Lv.6 Professional Stage 7 and Lv.0.5 Master Stage 1.5 should be a fundamental change in which quantitative change leads to qualitative change. The extra experience points consumed almost tripled, from a difference of points to points.

just now.

After the Muse's little candle burned out.

Every extra second that it is kept lit will deduct 3.5 points of free experience points from Gu Weijing's reserve.

"If you grit your teeth, you can still use it."

Gu Weijing was not in a hurry to light the candle immediately.

He also clicked on the plus sign behind the sketching technique experience bar.

As a result, there was one more line of prompts on the panel, which became——

"Would you like to activate the blessed candle of the Muse and upgrade your sketching and oil painting skills to: Lv.7 Master Painter, Level 1 (100000/236)? [Note: With the current option, the skill can last for (7) seconds. If you continue to light the candle beyond the usage time, () free experience points will be deducted per second.]"

Improve two skills at the same time.

The duration of the Goddess's Blessing Candle was immediately cut almost in half.

The free experience points deducted per second also doubled to seven points.

Taking into account various depreciations, nearly a hundred dollars is burned per second.

Gu Weijing did a simple mental calculation and found that each small candle could burn for about four minutes, and the seven small candles together could last about half an hour.

Add to that the tens of thousands of free experience points he had, and it would last for more than an hour.

It all adds up.

A painting in the Impressionist style using thick painting techniques without complicated glazing can be done if done quickly.

Gu Weijing stood in front of the easel.

He looked at the white linen canvas in front of him.

The past scenes flashed across his face like projections: the bald man who came to the door with a fruit basket, his grandfather telling him about the life of a painter who earned from five dollars to five hundred dollars, the encounter with Mr. Cao and Shengzi's family at the Shwedagon Pagoda, the phone calls from Mona, Koko, and Haoge, Koko dancing for him, and the silent sound of falling into the water...

Face after face.

A pair of eyes.

Superimposed together.

Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, greed, resentment, ignorance, and resentment all overlap and overlap, and in the end, it is no longer possible to tell what kind of expression is contained in the eyes.

Not happy, not sad, not angry, not mournful.

Just confronting the endless time with endless calmness.

His eyes were compassionate and seemed to contain some meaning.

……

Silence does not arise, freedom is unfettered. What you do is unimpeded, and going and staying are both peaceful.

——Zen Master Fazong of the Tang Dynasty.

……

Gu Weijing initially thought that before he picked up the brush to paint, he thought of the eyes of the four-faced Buddha with shining golden light that he had seen in Brother Hao’s study last night.

After a moment, he felt that what he saw was more like the gaze of the Buddha and the Bodhisattva in Mr. Cao's painting "Worshiping Buddha and Protecting the Dharma" on the wall.

Myanmar is a pure traditional Buddhist country, with more than 90% of the population believing in Buddhism.

Gu Weijing and his family belong to exactly that 10 percent.

He had no faith since childhood.

I don't believe in Buddhism, Huang-Lao, Jesus or the Messiah.

What unites Chinese families like theirs is kinship and love, not religious piety.

When the monks in the temple asked him why he didn't try to believe that Buddha would bring happiness to people, Gu Weijing just smiled and replied that he felt that Buddha would only make people accept everything quietly.

He doesn't like this.

But if we take away the philosophical aspect and analyze the sculpture art purely from an artistic perspective, Gu Weijing has loved it since he was a child.

Scriptures, paintings, and architecture.

From the pagodas and murals of Bagan, the City of a Thousand Buddhas, to the mosaic tiles on the minarets of the Islamic academies in Central Asia, to the solemn Temple of Heaven in Dongxia and the magnificent super-cathedrals in Europe, whose construction often took centuries.

In the ancient stage of human history.

The origins of many art forms are related to sacrifice.

It is about people's beliefs, and concerns morality, culture, astrology, climate, views on life and death, and ghosts and gods.

Religion is a combination of these factors.

The art history teacher said that according to Aristotle's point of view, art is an appendage of religion, and all religions are appendages of nature.

Therefore, the underlying meaning of those religious paintings has always been about how people understand the world and all things in nature.

So for these artworks.

Gu Weijing usually couldn't understand what he read very well, but he always enjoyed reading it.

Even if he didn't understand, he liked to quietly look at the gods, ghosts and bodhisattvas on the murals, Apollo on the solar war and the savior on the altar.

There is often an indescribable rhythm contained in these works.

They are about morality, about order, and about the initial throbbing in the hearts of the ancients when they looked up at the starry sky.

Fitz International School organizes study tours and summer camps around the world every year, every semester, and every winter and summer vacation.

The destinations for study tours are usually nothing more than going to Spain to see the Sagrada Familia, going to London to see Westminster Abbey, going to Egypt to see the Valley of the Kings and the Pharaohs' Tombs, and going to Istanbul to see the mosques and so on.

Gu Weijing had actually always wanted to go and have a look, but the registration fee was about six or seven thousand US dollars each time, and if he and Gu Lin were included, it would cost more than ten thousand US dollars in about a week.

So his grandfather never wanted to let it go.

One year.

Mona went to Egypt with a study tour group. When she came back and told him about her experience, various local vendors rushed out to put a small bracelet on her and asked her for "Five dollars", rushed out to take a photo with her with a big camel that shook its head and asked for "Five dollars", stuffed pomegranate juice into her hands and asked her for "Five dollars"... in addition to the countless shouts of "dollars" that were hard to guard against, what also left a deep impression on Gu Weijing was that it seemed that all kinds of vendors there would tell stories about the "Curse of the Pharaoh" in a vivid way.

Something like "Whoever disturbs Pharaoh's sleep, death will descend on his head with spread wings", and "Whoever enters the grave with an impure heart, I will strangle him by the throat like a bird."

This caused the uncles and aunts from the European tour group nearby to shout "Ohhhh!"

Gu Weijing believed it.

The passing of those archaeologists was just a coincidence.

But he also believes that when those old men and women sigh "Ohhhh", the curiosity, amazement, or excitement in their hearts are real.

When they pulled out their wallets and took out five dollars to buy the "lucky charm" at the stall, the money they took out was real.

The "Curse of the Pharaoh" does not really exist in the material world.

But it blossoms and bears fruit in this way in the cultural field.

Religion, those myths, those legends, those depictions and imaginations of the unknown world in those paintings are people's mysterious conjectures about the unknowable, uncheckable, and unsolvable mysterious realm.

Some people believe it.

Some people don't believe it.

Some people do good deeds in the name of it.

Some people also do evil things in its name.

But whether you believe it or not, one day, people will collide head-on with the unknown world. At the moment before death, they will review their lives and the meaning of their existence...

The final judgment.

Regardless of whether you believe it or not.

Different people can gain spiritual experiences that can shock and influence them from a good painting.

The monks in the temple said that they saw the Buddha's intention and the Buddha's heart in the painting of "Worshiping Buddha and Protecting the Dharma".

However, Gu Weijing said that he saw the "hope" contained in it.

On the blank canvas in front of him, Gu Weijing seemed to see the changing and flowing light and shadows in a trance.

He began to think of Bodhisattvas and the thousand faces of Buddha, but later, he calmed down enough.

Gu Weijing said:

“This is the hustle and bustle of life.”

then.

He activated the little blessing candle.

The flame suddenly ignited, not the magnificent, brilliant, world-shaking fire, but a floating, faint light.

The canvas was illuminated by this little light, and golden light flowed on the white canvas, as if it was a match lit by the little girl on Christmas Eve.

Flowing in the light is the light of poetic dreams.

Level 6, third-order profession, only allowed Gu Weijing to stand at the door of the Master's Hall, and let him lie down in front of the door, looking through the crack of the door like looking at flowers in the fog at the blurred faces of the great painters in the hall, and sniffing the ethereal aroma wafting out of the door from the famous banquets, imagining what kind of delicious food was on the table.

And now.

The moment the small candle is lit with the blessing of the Muse.

The door burst open.

[Sketch Technique: Level 7 Master Painter, Level 1 (100000/) Note: Temporary]

[Oil Painting Technique: Level 7 Master Painter, Level 1 (100000/) Note: Temporary]

The originally blue experience value progress bar on the system panel suddenly shattered and turned into a golden red color like the rising sun outside the window not long ago.

I have a pearl.

It can illuminate thousands of mountains and rivers.
-
『Time: 2023.6.27 morning』

"Time remaining until departure of flight to Singapore: +84 hours, 39 minutes and 06 seconds"

Gu Weijing spent a total of nineteen minutes painting.

Remaining Muse's Blessing Candles: 6

Remaining free experience points: 30057 points. …

……

『Time: Early morning of June 2023.6.28, 』

"Time remaining until departure of flight to Singapore: +46 hours, 39 minutes and 06 seconds"

Gu Weijing spent a total of thirty-five minutes painting.

Remaining Muse's Blessing Candles: 4

Remaining free experience points: 25789 points.

……

……

『Time: Afternoon of June 2023.6.30, 』

"Time remaining until departure of flight to Singapore: +17 hours, 39 minutes and 06 seconds"

Gu Weijing painted for 57 minutes.

Remaining Muse's Blessing Candles: 1

Remaining free experience points: 20789 points.
-
"The only thing left is the last little blessing candle."

three days later.

Gu Weijing glanced at the system panel inventory, and saw the reminder of the remaining number of Muse's Blessing Candles*1. He said to himself in his heart.

In the past, when Gu Weijing used the system skills to draw, he would often finish the entire painting from beginning to end in one go.

In order to achieve the goal of "finishing a painting in one go", he would even stay up until midnight, combining two days of free use of the "real world" to try to finish a painting in one go.

This is also a helpless move to achieve the best painting effect in a limited time.

For freehand Chinese painting, and some watercolor painting techniques, which require waiting for the paper to be half wet and half dry to a very subtle angle before secondary glazing in a short time window.

This theory is correct.

But for oil painting, this painting method has great limitations.

First of all, the time spent on large-scale ink-splashing or watercolor sketches is equivalent to the time spent on sprinting in track and field.

One hundred meters, once you start the watch, once you stop it, you've reached the finish line.

Most paintings, on the other hand, fall into the category of long-distance running.

Painters get tired.

Many painters can only maintain the state of being at the peak of their energy and fully committed for a short while before their painting state continues to drop from the high point. They need sufficient rest to recover their energy.

It's like running a 42-kilometer marathon in one go versus running it in 42 small sections of one kilometer each, resting after each section and then running again. The final average speed will definitely be different.

and.

There are oil paintings that are super long and super large.

Not to mention those church dome paintings that took three, five, ten or twenty years to paint.

Some people can finish a two-meter-wide ink painting in just three minutes if they are fast.

It is very common for a normal person to take ten days or half a month to finish an oil painting that is two meters wide. Even if you beat him to death, it would be difficult for him to finish it in one breath.

of course.

A two-meter-wide oil painting will be much larger than a two-meter-wide horizontal scroll Chinese painting.

Gu Weijing was working on a half-finished thick oil painting in his studio. He estimated that with the help of his master's first-level painting skills, he should be able to finish it in about an hour.

It can be considered a super sprint in oil painting.

It's not impossible to draw from beginning to end in one go.

But on the one hand, Gu Weijing hopes that during the painting process, he will be at the peak of his emotions every moment and every minute.

Secondly, some of the glazing techniques he used on the canvas required that the underlying pigment fully penetrate the plant fibers of the canvas and the pigment surface solidify to form a film before making secondary modifications on top, which would give the picture a greater sense of volume.

The color combination will also appear more rounded and soft.

Raphael, Rubens and Velázquez all liked to use this color processing method in their thick paintings.

Gu Weijing has seven small candles in stock.

So he divided the painting into different levels. Every day when he felt he was in the best condition, he would devote himself to painting for a while. And for the rest of the time, he would wait for the painting to dry while walking with Koko in the huge Xihe Guild Hall.

It seems that Chen Shenglin really admires Koko's character.

He never restricted Koko's freedom.

But Koko didn't leave by herself.

Gu Weijing didn’t know how Koko explained to her family.

Except for the fact that she went back home and picked up some clothes to change, the girl stayed in the Xihe Guild Hall the whole time.

This was originally the "membership-based gentlemen's lunch club" where Boss Chen entertained his guests. In the club's connected buildings, there were tennis courts, a billiard hall, an extremely sophisticated private cinema, an independent archery range... and even Koko's favorite dance studio.

these days.

Not when I'm painting.

Koko accompanied him, and he also accompanied Koko.

They swam in the lake (Koko really worked hard to train him to hug people in the water), walked in the fields, played tennis, shot a few arrows in the archery hall (Koko was really amazing and could do everything), and watched some movies in the cinema to kill time.

Gu Weijing originally wanted to go through The Godfather trilogy.

Koko shook her hair and complained, no, no, she didn't want to spend such good time watching the movie that Haoge liked.

"Yes! We should choose movies we like." Koko said, hugging his arm.

The girl suggested that they each choose a movie that the other should like.

Each of you chooses a movie, and then you watch it together.

Test the level of tacit understanding.

Of course, John Travolta's movies cannot be chosen, the girl looked into Gu Weijing's eyes and said with a smile, after all, I told you, this is cheating.

After much deliberation, Gu Weijing finally chose the 1970 Oscar-winning Best Picture "Love Story".

This is also an open-book answer.

In the car that night, Koko hummed the theme song of the movie "Love Story" to her.

And Koko...what was beyond Gu Weijing's expectations was.

Miss Koko actually chose a fantasy movie that was considered very unpopular but very familiar to Gu Weijing——

It turned out to be the 2015 French version of the fantasy animated film "The Little Prince".

Gu Weijing always felt that when watching this movie, there was deep meaning in the look that Koko gave him.

Maybe Koko really knew something.

Maybe it's just an illusion.

But Gu Weijing didn't ask.

Koko didn't say anything either.

They also danced together in the ballroom. Gu Weijing once opened a knowledge card about "French Court Dance" in the treasure chest. He had some theoretical knowledge about dance, but it would be too difficult for him to dance ballet given his athletic ability.

Koko taught Gu Weijing a little disco. She said disco was not difficult at all. The key point was improvisation. If you really didn't know how, you could just dance along with the music.

Gu Weijing felt that his dancing was at best just twisting around.

But Koko didn't care.

He also felt very happy.

How weird.

This is not a place to be happy, nor is it a time to be happy.

But Gu Weijing was very happy.

His happiness is like a Picasso painting, the kind of infatuation with lavender purple and a hint of melancholy blue as the background.

He only spent a short period of time in the studio several times a day. He didn't paint for long, but he was exhausted by it.

It’s like the boxing champion, in the short three minutes when the bell rings, turns all his physical strength, all his emotions, and all his burning anger into a powerful punch.

And for the rest of the day.

He just doesn't think about anything.

He no longer thought about the future, no longer thought about Brother Hao, no longer thought about the things that made him suffer and sad. It didn't matter whether the world would end tomorrow.

What matters is the time that is ticking away second by second.

Just like what Chen Shenglin said to him on the phone - "Tick, tick, tick, time is flowing."

And Koko is the kind of girl who, as long as she is by your side, will be so lively and cute that every second that passes by her and every ticking of the alarm clock will make you feel happy.

More often than not.

Koko danced for him.

He drew pictures for Koko to see.

Gu Weijing paints in various fields, including watercolor, sketch and oil painting.

These paintings are different from the one that is gradually being completed in the studio. They will not drain Gu Weijing's emotions, they will only make him feel relaxed.

Koko once said that when the gunshots rang out in the bar that day, she didn't care about anything.

He imagined them wandering together in a strange city on the Thai coast.

Gu Weijing is a down-and-out painter painting for others to see, Koko is a wandering singer on the roadside, singing for others to listen to -

"I know you have a very good future, and I know you have someone you love very much. This kind of fate is unfair to you. But at that moment, this poor imagination made me feel full of tranquil happiness. I even feel a little grateful to Brother Hao, not much, but really a little bit. Because I feel that in such a world, no one knows our names. At that moment, I only have you, and you only have me."

Gu Weijing now also experiences this vast sense of happiness.

In this clubhouse that seemed to have everything, Gu Weijing felt like he was walking in a foggy wilderness.

The wall of Xihe Guild Hall was like a silent fog, covering everything and isolating everything.

You don't have to worry about anything.

You don't have to care about anything.

Except for each other in front of us.

……

Gu Weijing stood up from the picnic mat and shook off the grass roots and leaves that were stuck on his body.

Surrounding it was a large field of lavender and behind it was a beautiful dark coupe.

in the morning.

Gu Weijing remembered and asked his personal butler where the flower field opposite the studio door was. The butler pointed him in the direction, but he said they wanted to go there by themselves.

The butler gave him a car key.

It was the Bentley that Brother Hao once wanted to give him, but Gu Weijing didn't want it, so he temporarily kept it in the Xihe Club.

(End of this chapter)