Almighty painter

Chapter 809: Little Guzi repaints the old church, and the cat king wants to beat the detective dog (Part )

“Woof, woof ...…”

——Awang.
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Six neat metallic trills came from the towering bell tower, startling a flock of white pigeons on the lawn.

The fat cat scratched the cat leash hanging around its neck, glanced at the box of chicken breast for midnight snack packed from the cafe in the disposable lunch box in front of it, and then looked at the fat pigeon that flew away with its feathers almost touching the tip of the grass leaf.

Meow.

It barked its fangs and let out a roar, which actually contained a hint of compassion.

Forget it.

Mr. Cat was in a good mood today. He was well fed by Sister Sakai and was too lazy to kill any animals, so he didn't bother with these ignorant stupid pigeons.

It turned its head and looked at the easel tied to the other end of the cat leash.

The young man was standing behind the easel, on a paint box that was temporarily used as a small table. He was mixing paint with thinner while looking up at the white bell tower of the Gothic church in the sunset.

Awang thought for a moment.

It thought that with this guy's slow temper, he would not be able to finish the work after working for a long time, so it was not time for King Awang to take Xiao Guzi away.

The tabby cat lay down in front of its lunch box, switching smoothly from the sleep-after-eating mode to the eat-after-sleeping mode.

"Before I knew it, I had already finished painting until 6pm."

Gu Weijing listened to the church bells in the distance. On the drawing board in front of him, a picture of an old church at night was gradually taking shape.

After parting with Miss Katsuko at noon, he was not in a hurry to return to the hotel.

It was the first time in Gu Weijing's life that he came to a top international metropolis like Singapore, and he wanted to take a good look at this city.

He remembered seeing the oil painting "Water Village" in the morning.

Gu Weijing took a taxi and went straight to the National Gallery Singapore. He first found a pet store to keep Awang, and then looked at all the works of Wu Guanzhong in the museum's collection. He kept thinking about Cui Xiaoming's theory of the combination of points, lines and surfaces, and benefited a lot from it.

Those dots have the shadow of Western pointillism techniques, and the smudge characteristics of Chinese freehand ink painting. As for the lines, in addition to the traditional sketch-style precise brushstrokes, do the lines in Mr. Wu's works have the shadow of traditional Chinese calligraphy?
Besides points and lines, what about surfaces?

Points are connected to form lines, and lines are connected to form surfaces.

Compared with dots, lines and planes, which are more grand and stylized, the planes in Wu Guanzhong's works seem to exist for a certain form of beauty, combining the lightness and moistness of ink and the thickness and delicacy of oil paint, and the painting method is also very innovative.

Katsuko Sakai suggested using fingers as paintbrushes and introduced the finger painting method into Gu Weijing's painting process for the exhibition.

Gu Weijing thought it was very bold.

After a careful tour of the National Gallery in the afternoon, he found that the masters before him were bolder and went further than them.

It's more than just using your fingers.

Almost all conceivable creative media are introduced into the works, without being restricted by form.

Some of the brush strokes on the rice paper look like they were drawn with a hard pen.

Gu Weijing feels that the texture of some of the oil paintings on canvas are more like they were "written" with a Dongxia-style brush than "paintings". The strokes are strong and powerful, and some of the rock textures even look like they were copied with hard objects, adding a sense of elastic hardness.

Gu Weijing could only make some guesses as to how the above-mentioned visual effects were achieved, and even with the techniques of calligraphy and painting authentication, he could not say for sure.

but.

Based on his legendary knife painting technique.

However, Gu Weijing clearly recognized that there was a painting of rivers in Wu Guanzhong's works. At first glance, it looked like the traditional ink splashing method, but in fact it was the use of oil painting knives to apply colors flatly, creating this kind of river with waves after waves and stacked layers of colors.

Some of the techniques I used when I was illustrating "The Little Prince" and painting the surging sea of ​​sand are different in content, but very similar.

Gu Weijing once felt proud of his own brilliant ideas.

In fact, he was just repeating a path that his predecessors had taken. Those predecessors were always very pioneering.

While thinking about these questions, Gu Weijing walked out of the south exit of the National Gallery Singapore.

As soon as you go out.

He saw the towering white Gothic church across the street.

The afternoon sun was melted into rainbow-colored mist by the colorful carved glass windows on the window eaves.

“St. Thomas’ Church.”

Gu Weijing had heard of its name.

Unless it is a pet-friendly museum, most art galleries and museums do not allow pets to enter. Gu Weijing was afraid that Awang would be bored staying in the Mirochor Hotel, so he planned to take the cat for a walk in the afternoon and evening, so he did not make a special trip to send Awang back to the hotel.

When searching Google Maps for nearby stores that could temporarily take care of pets, Gu Weijing noticed a church on the map that was just across the street from the side entrance of the National Gallery.

The moment unfolds before our eyes.

Gu Weijing then realized that although all the churches were built by the British in the 19th century, their styles and ages were similar.

This church is far more magnificent than the Good Luck Orphanage.

The church spire, at least twenty stories high, soars into the sky. The white exterior walls are spotless, and each large curved window frame is inlaid with intricate stained glass and decorated with carvings.

Gu Weijing strolled with Awang and walked around the church like a tourist, then retreated from a small door at the back and asked the church staff if he could find a secluded spot in the back yard to paint a picture.

Gu Weijing does not have any religious beliefs and has no intention of having one for the time being.

He looked at the church entirely from the perspective of artistic aesthetics.

Churches and palaces are almost the buildings that best represent the European classical masonry aesthetics. When Gu Weijing looks at a church, it is as if he is looking at a piece of history sealed in the amber of time.

Few European oil painting masters could avoid painting themes related to churches.

In his works, Monet dissolved the religious symbol of the church into the natural and changeable light, transformed religious emotions into natural emotions, hid the rich and angular Gothic architectural details in the atmosphere at sunrise or dusk, and made the cold and hard stone full of lightness and elasticity like air.

The colorful stained glass windows in the church?
Instead, the Impressionist masters simply used a few spots of blue, yellow, and rose to hint at their existence, and that was enough.

Gu Weijing often compared and examined Ms. Carroll's "Old Church on a Thunderstorm" and Mr. Monet's "Rouen Cathedral" together.

It's like he's playing a game of "find the similarities, find the differences".

The more similarities in techniques you find, the closer the two people's artistic contexts are.

The more differences in temperament he found, the clearer Gu Weijing's understanding of their artistic styles became.

Like Monet, Carroll focused on capturing the momentary light and shadow, liked to use fragmented brushstrokes, and transformed the traditional, old-fashioned and solemn "religious scenes" into novel experiments in color and light on the easel.

They used dynamic brushstrokes to dispel the heaviness of the church, and used their inner emotions to construct the sublime.

the difference is.

Monet focused more on the instantaneous changes in light and dark, sunlight and shadow in buildings, while Ms. Carroll's works focus on expressing subjective emotional sighs through such changes.

The stained glass windows that look like wild flowers dotted on the "Rouen Cathedral" have turned into colorful candlelight in the "Old Cathedral on a Thunderstorm".

The main building of the church is countless times larger than this candlelight. However, the tiny candlelight is the core of the picture.

It is the location of the "chi" on the color flag.

Therefore.

Compared with the strong religious atmosphere in the church, it was the architectural structure outside that attracted Gu Weijing's attention more.

He remembered that he had also promised to donate to the organizing committee of the Biennale during the exhibition a painting of "Old Church in a Thunderstorm" copied by himself, the discoverer and paper writer of Carroll.

It is better to choose a day than to hit it.

Gu Weijing calculated the time. It was still early afternoon, and there were still a few hours before the sun set and could no longer provide enough light. There were naturally no shortage of cultural and creative stores and art supply stores around the art museum.

Gu Weijing simply went to an art supply store on the street and bought a set of pens, inks, paints, and an easel with a white canvas. He walked around the Filipino foreign workers who were holding a book club on the lawn outside the church, found a secluded spot under the shade of a tree where no one would disturb him, and began to paint quietly.

The Good Luck Orphanage is old and dilapidated, and its appearance has changed drastically.

St. Andrew's Church, which has been specially repaired and maintained, looks as good as new.

From its white exterior wall, Gu Weijing could vaguely see what the building looked like to Ms. Carroll one hundred and fifty years ago.

Gu Weijing spent several hours on this painting.

The Awang in the painting has eaten and slept, and then eaten for several rounds.

Gu Weijing is painting peacefully and the cat is sleeping peacefully.

None of them noticed.

Not long ago, two black cars stopped in front of the main entrance on the other side of the church. The butler got out of the car with a parasol in one hand and a young woman in the other.

In the big car at the back.

The secretary opened the car door and a big dog stuck its head out.
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"It's already six o'clock."

Anna sat on the first row of benches in St. Andrew's Church, listening to the six neat metallic bells coming from the church bell tower above.

Some staff are lighting candles on the candlesticks.

Today, candles are no longer needed to fulfill their ancient duty of illuminating the darkness, but they still exist to represent believers' devotion and gratitude to the gods.

Anna knew that there was a stone monument just to the west of St. Andrew's Church.

"To the Glorious Dead."

"1914-1918"

"1939-1945"

There is a war memorial not far from the church.

Like the Raffles Hotel where Anna stayed, this church was also built by Sir Stamford Raffles.

The memorial was originally erected to commemorate the Commonwealth soldiers who died in World War I. During World War II, in the early stages of the war, it was used as a hospital to treat the wounded. However, soon after, Singapore became a Japanese-occupied area. According to some rumors, St. Andrew's Church was used by the Japanese occupation forces as a temporary concentration camp for Allied prisoners of war and any local people who dared to resist the Japanese invaders.

If this is true.

This solid building, contrary to its builders’ intention, became a cage that bound the soul.

If it's not true.

This place is not far from Changi Prison, which must be the largest prisoner-of-war camp established by the Japanese in all of Southeast Asia.

I think it was probably in these places at that time.

People were tortured.

People were tortured.

People die.

Countless of the most violent, cruel and barbaric things happened here.

Even the missing corner of the letter R in the word "Glorious" was caused by the bored Japanese soldiers using the Type 2 rifle bayonet that came with their Type 38 rifle.

Oh, by the way, the irony is that the same bayonet stained with people’s blood is still on display in some so-called shrines in Japan as so-called “heroic relics.”

Anna remembered her words -

"Maybe many people don't remember that Austria has been downplaying the impact of World War II over the years. We no longer mention that history and say that we are victims of the war. Yes, Austria had brave resistance organizations during World War II. But I have to recall it again on behalf of many people who cheered and applauded Sir Brown. On March 1938, 3, on this land, tens of thousands of Viennese citizens gathered together. They were cheering and applauding like you are now for Sir Brown, raising their arms high and saluting."

"They raised their arms and shouted Hi, Hitler."

Just because of this sentence.

Irina Estate has received death threats from far-right political groups across Europe.

History allows the dead to help the living.

Many people have forgotten history.

Therefore, not only are they unable to hear the mournful cries of the countless bones in the dust of history.

They also laughed loudly above the bones.

It was part of the religious power system during the colonial era of the old empire, and later became a historical note and eternal evidence of the bloody and cruel acts of Japanese soldiers.

Countless different images are superimposed on this small piece of land, and finally converge into a complex image that cannot be represented by the simple word "church".

She couldn't explain it, she could only feel it.

"To the Glorious Dead."

Anna read the words softly, looking at the long, tilted candle in the priest's hand and a drop of wax flowed out.

The woman's pupils reflected the dancing flame on the candlestick, and her mind was thinking of the bean-sized colorful candlelight in "The Old Church on a Thunderstorm".

One hundred and fifty years ago.

What was going through Grandma Kara's mind when she stood in front of another church? What did she see when she stared at the tiny candlelight in the church?

"Trapped."

A young man said this.

Miss Elena thought that Grandma Kara was trapped by fate, but in front of the old church, in front of this magnificent building, she felt the call of fate and the call of sacred beauty, so she used her paintbrush to break out of the trap.

just now.

Anna had a completely different idea.

Perhaps the image of the church itself carries a certain meaning of restraint. The candlelight pierces the seal on the building's exterior and also pierces the "cage" that imprisons her.

that moment.

Standing in front of the church, what she felt was not the call of fate, but the awakening of self.

……

"Wang."

Outside the church door, a large black and white spotted dog was staring at the ground in a daze.

"Wang Wang!"

It cursed in the dog's language.

Why is it always this smell?

August rubbed his nose against the ground and sniffed hard.

That's right.

That’s the taste, that’s the feeling.

Still fresh and hot.

(End of this chapter)