Almighty painter

Chapter 955 Gu Weijing's Watercolor
(Oh, the last sentence was a plot note I jotted down, and I forgot to delete it, so... it looks disjointed. Please refresh the page.)
During the painting process, Gu Weijing began to think about his own watercolor style.

Before this.

Whether you draw a single flower or a bouquet of flowers, it doesn't matter.

His only watercolor style is simply the objective reproduction of real-world scenes.

Gu Weijing started his timeline from 0018 AD and quickly skipped over the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, leaving Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael completely out of his mind, only pausing briefly in 1818, after 1800.

Joseph William Turner.

In 1818, Turner was also seriously considering organizing a watercolor exhibition.

Watercolor painting is a very, very, very ancient painting technique, much older than oil painting. There is still some debate about whether Jan van Eyck, who is considered on par with Rembrandt and Van Gogh in Dutch history books for his contribution to the invention of oil painting.

but.

Scholars generally believe that modern oil painting evolved from early tempera painting around the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance, a history of about five hundred years.

in other words.

Around the time of the fall of Constantinople, while the Roman zealots were busy raging on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, weeping on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and storming Venice on Sundays to hang the Doge of Venice, on the other side of the European continent, oil painting was invented in a flash.

It will soon become popular in Italy, spreading to Rome, Florence, and Venice.

The first independent watercolor painting appeared around the same time. However, for watercolor to truly meet the image of the Venetian Doge with his outstretched neck, sticking out his tongue, and baring his teeth on the bridges of Venice, it needed some time to develop and mature.

Come on, take a deep breath, take a deep breath, hang in there a little longer, Governor.

Looking at the calendar, you'll need to hold on for about another 400 years.

Watercolor is not a traditional European painting style. As early as the 10th century BC, the rudiments of watercolor painting had already appeared in the Nile River Valley of ancient Egypt. Later, the painter Dürer gradually developed this style, but early watercolors were still classified as drawings, belonging to the category of colored drawings.

Further back.

Because of the convenience, short painting time, and the vivid colors and precise shapes of watercolors… the British, on the other hand, mainly used them to draw military maps. During World War II, British spies might have secretly gone to France, taken a few photos, and then developed them in a dark room at night. A few centuries ago, the British probably sent a painter to France, who would crane his neck and peer around along the Seine, then go home at night and hide in a dark room, painting watercolors.

Until Turner came along.

Turner enjoyed experimenting with all sorts of colors on watercolor canvases.

Gu Weijing also began experimenting with colors on his roses.

He attempted to create the texture of color gradients in a rose field. Due to the differences in the chemical properties of pigments, watercolor painting cannot be done with a palette knife to apply large areas of pressure and paint as it can with oil painting.

He used a relatively dry brush to wipe the painting while the paint was not completely dry.

Gu Weijing was polishing his work, polishing his paints.

The originally smooth jade-like petals are polished to be rougher, creating a mottled texture that adds a touch of life.

Jade is not polished.

Otherwise, they will not amount to anything.

Miss Elena's sharp tongue taught Gu Weijing how to paint with a sharper perspective.

Professor Samuel Kertzens taught in a way that almost destroyed students' self-confidence, and this kind of violent education did indeed teach Gu Weijing a lot.

The world outside the frame is Newton's world.

But in the painting... Newton had to listen attentively to the painter.

Samuel Kertzens never allowed his classroom to be subject to any single law of art, or even any law of physics.

Sometimes when Kozens was lecturing, he would go for half an hour without saying a word, just letting all the students observe the apples he had just brought from the school cafeteria that he had taken a few bites of.

Then wait for the exposed flesh of the apple to gradually oxidize in the air.

He tossed the apple into a transparent fish tank filled with clear water on the podium and remained there without saying a word for another half hour.

Then get out of class ended.

The class assignment was for each student to submit a watercolor painting.

Then, in the next class, he would talk non-stop for a full hour, making all the students who didn't like his classwork cry, until the tears he collected seemed enough to fill an empty fish tank.

Water has the magic to change colors.

Gu Weijing had a slight liking for Professor Kozens, partly because the latter admired Goethe.

Germans' fondness for Goethe is as common as the British's fondness for Shakespeare. What is unusual is that Kozens's love for Goethe has extended into the realm of science... or rather, pseudoscience.

People in the arts and culture circles back then were all very talented.

Newton believed that color is a product of the refraction and decomposition of white light, a purely physical phenomenon determined by different wavelengths.

Goethe believed that color is a complex sensory product—it cannot be measured, only described. It cannot be broken down, only felt; hence, it is ineffable. Thinking about it, it's surprisingly quite Cthulhu-esque.

Perhaps when Goethe walked into a flower field and looked at the colorful flowers, he felt much like an investigator standing on the side of a ship, gazing at the octopus and starfish beneath the sea.

Air and water are the most magical things in the world.

They can turn stone into gold.

When colors pass through air and water, they resonate strongly with the observer's psychology, continuously blurring and spreading, forming different color boundaries, and causing changes in color saturation.

If this were a 21st-century optics class, and the professor puts fruit in a fish tank, asks the students to observe it, and concludes that there is no spectrum in the world and that color is a subjective and indescribable psychological feeling, then don't hesitate, rush over and shove the professor's head into the fish tank right now to give him a good wake-up call and wash his brain.

But this is a watercolor art class.

Goethe called Newton a "tyrant of color".

So, do you know who happens to be the tyrant in the classroom? That's right, it's Samuel Kertzens.

He always instructed his students to paint in a gruff and rude manner, yet he spoke of color in a tone that could be described as pious, as if he were talking about his kind and gentle grandmother.

Rather than instructing students to paint specific colors precisely, he often guides them to paint a vague color that evokes a particular feeling.

Do you know who liked to paint like this two hundred years ago?

Turner.

And knowing that two hundred years from now, who would want to incorporate such complex feelings into their watercolor paintings?

he.

Gu Weijing.
-
For three consecutive days.

Gu Weijing hardly ever stepped out of his room; he had no social interaction, no rest, and almost no electronic devices.

In a rented room in a bustling downtown area, Gu Wei lived a life of isolation, as if he had disappeared from school.

If this were some chaotic area, people might think he had been kidnapped.

Things are fine now.

It's summer vacation now, and Gu Wei has been living a peaceful and low-key life on campus for the past year. Except for Victor, who might be worried that Gu is out partying day and night, unable to sleep, and perhaps indulging in excessive sexual activity.

He lived undisturbed.

When hungry, eat the food and bread that are pre-packaged in the refrigerator; when thirsty, drink water; when tired, get a good night's sleep.

There is a bed in the bedroom, but no bedding.

The landlady left behind only a spring-loaded Simmons mattress. Whenever Gu Weijing felt too sleepy to close his eyes, he would lie down on the mattress fully clothed and take a nap.

He poured all his energy into the two easels in the room.

and so.

Gu Weijing slept very well.

The reason I say he almost never uses electronic products is because he still handles some matters related to Detective Cat.

Aside from things like temporarily dealing with fairy tale-related matters.

Normally, Gu Weijing would send Mr. Sloth a work email every morning at a set time. If he had written it the night before, he would send it on time.

The reason I say he almost never went out is because by the evening of the second day, Gu Weijing still had to go out again to buy paints. Gu Weijing had made ample preparations before renting the house, but because he painted for almost fourteen hours a day, his commonly used colors were quickly used up.

……

"Sir, sir?"

Gu Weijing rested his head on the rear window of an old Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan, and heard the driver calling out to him.

He awoke from a deep sleep.

In the morning light outside the window, the old-fashioned farm on the outskirts of Hamburg came into view.

"We've arrived."

The Uber driver said.

"Is this your home?" he asked curiously. "It's not common to see Asians running farms."

"Sorry, my German isn't very good."

Gu Weijing nodded and then shook his head. He paid the bill on his phone, got out of the car with his sketchbook on his back, walked to the front door, and rang the doorbell.

Ding dong.

Gu Weijing stared at the security camera at the door.

half an hour.

Nothing happens.

So he sighed, entered the password himself, and opened the door.

The room was quiet and seemed very lonely.

The once continuous piano music, the lingering notes and scale reverberations, still linger in this room, but there is no echo.

It happened overnight.

The room here has lost all traces of life, as if it were dead.

"Hello?"

Gu Weijing closed the door and greeted them.

"Hello, Guten Morgen?"

As Gu Weijing walked into the house, he casually pushed open one or two doors in the corridor, only to find no one behind them.

He followed the path upstairs.

On the second floor was Gu Weijing's private studio. He placed the sketchbook he was carrying on the table in the studio and continued upwards until he stopped in front of Miss Elena's study.

He knocked on the door.

no respond.

I pushed the door, but it was locked.

Gu Weijing glanced into the depths of the corridor. Further in, what used to be the top-floor guest rooms of the guesthouse was now Miss Elena's living area.

He usually doesn't go in.

Even without going in, Gu Weijing could guess that the place was deserted; there wasn't a single person in the entire front building.

Gu Weijing turned around and went downstairs again, returning to the main hall of the room.

He sat down next to the upright piano, its lid now closed. He saw the documents on the table, all crumpled and wrinkled, as if some had been thrown in the trash, others crumpled into balls, and finally… probably picked up again by the kind Secretary Elliott, unfolded, and stapled together.

but now.

It was probably Gu Weijing's disappearance that made Anna lose her last bit of patience.

Even Elliott's secretary isn't here anymore.

This time, no one responded, which had nothing to do with what he said or whether he said "Hello"; it was simply because no one was there.

His initial feeling when he pushed the door open was correct.

When a dwelling lacks the atmosphere of human life, it is not even necessary to describe it as "as if" a dead house.

Gu Weijing took out his phone, but instead of contacting Elliott, he dialed a number.

"Hey?"

A farm naturally includes not only houses, but also fields and farmland.

The outskirts of Hamburg are typical German rural areas. Behind this farm, next to the river, is a small pasture. When it was used as a bed and breakfast, it was used to allow guests living in the city to get close to nature and drink organic milk.

now.

Anna bought it.

Besides allowing August to take a stroll, the ranch itself is still in commercial operation.

Gu Weijing called the ranch manager and learned that Anna and the others had arrived a day and a half earlier. The butler said that Miss Elena wanted to have some peace and quiet for a while.

The management was shocked that Gu Weijing was unaware of this matter.

After thanking him, Gu Weijing hung up the phone.

Gu Weijing looked at the nail board on the wall of the room, which was covered with schedules pinned with thumbtacks.

A year ago in Singapore, Anna casually tossed her review of "Oil Painting" all over the place like a shower of flowers, then came over and told him that she had resigned.

one year later.

Anna threw the documents in her hand away again.

She once said that it took Balzac eighteen years to win Baroness Hanska's trust. Their first contract was for three years, and they would see how things went when Gu Weijing was about to graduate from university.

It won't take three years.

In just twelve months.

The first art exhibition hasn't even opened yet.

Significant conflicts had already arisen in the relationship between the artist and his agent.

Gu Weijing shook his head.

He stood up, walked to the board, and forcefully stabbed a blank sticky note into Deckard Anlen's face with a thumbtack, just like an assassin about to commit murder.

Today is August 10, 2018.

"How far is the art exhibition from here—"

Gu Weijing thought about it.

He drew a big question mark.

"?"

he does not know.

Gu Weijing then wrote below.

"Life is a bullfight, and every time, I will bravely charge forward—Mr. Gu."

Gu Weijing looked at the note he had written to himself.

He put down his pen.

Keep drawing.

(End of this chapter)