Almighty painter

Chapter 971 Painting Porcelain
one day.

Gu Weijing's car stopped at an arts and culture center in Hamburg.

The back door opened, and the little girl got out of the car, holding a chubby ginger cat in her arms. She stood there and looked back. Gu Weijing got out of the passenger seat.

He didn't leave immediately.

Gu Weijing, holding the car door with one hand, bent down and asked, "Are you really not coming along? It should be a lot of fun; there are special parent-child classes."

The driver shook his head and pointed to the digital clock above the radio.

"I'll come back at 6:30, sir."

Gu Weijing said goodbye to the driver, closed the car door, and shrugged at the little girl. "You see, I just don't think I have the ability to persuade him. You can try again next time."

"Let's go."

He reached out and patted Awang's belly.

Awang meowed and twitched its tail slightly, as if trying to pat him.

Be good.

The little girl tightened her fingertips slightly as she criticized.

So Awang's tail drooped down again, and he lay down obediently.

Brine is used to curdle tofu; one thing subdues another.

Awang can be chased all over the room by Anna, chased all over the room by August, and scratched until Teacher Yang screams. But when it encounters an energetic human child, it immediately transforms into a cat-like toy under the claws of a wicked demon.

Gu Weijing led Jasmine up the steps and into the art center in front of them.

A while ago, Uncle Alai, as Gu Weijing's assistant, went to Abu Dhabi with Miss Elena. After Anna returned, Alai stayed there for a few weeks to coordinate some logistical details with the art museum, and only just returned this week. Uncle Alai is now Jasmine's guardian, and since Jasmine's school is on a long Christmas holiday, she's been spending these past few days at Anna's ranch playing with the cats, or rather, having the cat king play with her.

It is said.

After reviewing Awang's living conditions, Miss Elena was deeply moved and highly praised Jasmine's performance.

God is really wise!

This cat is taking advantage of her bad leg. Look how fast Jasmine is running! Finally, someone can teach this fat cat a lesson.

Gu Weijing carried Jasmine, who was holding a cat. The two of them and the cat wandered around the art center together, nodding to people they recognized from time to time.

This art center includes an art workshop that offers art courses such as sculpture, flower arranging, and pottery to the public. It was here that Gu Weijing began his spare-time porcelain painting.

later.

For convenience, he also added an electric kiln to his studio. Today was mainly a day off, but to spend time with the little girl, the two of them went to this larger art center.

"Gu, your passion for handicrafts is truly unmatched."

They were greeted by a short-haired woman at the art center.

"Hello, I was a little worried when I contacted you because the place is closed for Christmas. This is Jasmine. She's a relative's child, and they came to play together today. The cat she's holding is Awang, my pet cat."

Gu Weijing introduced the two parties to Jasmine.

She is an art teacher here, teaching pottery and porcelain. Gu Weijing's initial related courses were taught by her.

"Was that litter box made for it?"

The art teacher was drawn to King Awang and glanced at him a few more times.

"Yes Yes."

Jasmine hugged the cat, holding Awang's paw. "We're going to make you another one today, aren't you happy?"

"If it's done well, it'll be a cat food bowl; if it's not done well," the little girl pondered.

“It’s… a pair of litter boxes,” Gu Weijing added.

The cat in the little girl's arms showed no joy whatsoever; its eyes were squinted listlessly as it stared at the ceiling, its long whiskers trembling.
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"Press down with your thumb to make an opening... Yes, let the fingers of both hands work together, and as the turntable rotates, lift the clay to shape it."

The art of porcelain making originated in China and is one of the most classic and enduring artistic symbols of the East. In the hands of skilled artisans, fine porcelain can be so exquisite that it seems to freeze time itself.

Inside the workshop.

The tabby cat lay on the windowsill, basking in the sun.

The two, one older and one younger, were happily playing with clay at the workbench. Gu Wei had attended many complete porcelain art classes over the past year and a half and had practical experience, so the two of them worked very quickly.

Gu Weijing kneaded the clay like dough, occasionally pounding it to remove air bubbles from the kaolin, so that the clay would burst open during baking.

While kneading the clay, he and the teacher guided the little girl Jasmine as she hand-throws the potter's wheel.

Professional porcelain making is very complex and requires a great deal of experience.

The craftsmanship of Jingdezhen porcelain—thin as paper, clear as a mirror, with a faint metallic sound when struck, and so transparent it seems to shimmer when viewed against the sky—is considered a marvel of art. It involves dozens of steps, each embodying the life's work of a porcelain artisan.

We must consider the soil quality, the air in the soil layer, the moisture content of the porcelain blank, and the temperature of each step in the firing process.

What Gu Weijing and Jasmine did was more about "playing," and its nature was more similar to the interest experience classes you see in department stores, so there weren't many rules to follow.

That's about it.

It would be best if it could be burned out, but if it explodes, we'll see. Even if it explodes, it's still usable; we can just glue it back together.

With the teacher guiding him, Gu Weijing mixed the clay and jasmine tried to pull the potter's wheel. After repeated failures, he finally succeeded in pulling out the shape of a basin.

Even if the mission is accomplished.

Gu Weijing and Jasmine stared at each other, looking at the "big, clumsy pot" that was slightly asymmetrical in shape and tilted at the front and back.

"Big Ben" is what Gu Weijing calls himself.

Let alone being as thin as paper or as clear as a mirror, even a clay figure looks rather crude and clumsy.

The teacher next to them suggested that they could try making the side walls of the vessel even thinner.

Gu Weijing shook his head.

This teacher doesn't know the ropes.

Gu Weijing was a man of great experience. His experience lay in the fact that he knew that with their combined "skills," even further repairs wouldn't be enough to fix this crooked, clumsy basin.

The fact that they could create such a vessel is a testament to their skill, without any exaggeration.

"Awang is chubby, it just likes his sturdy, chubby appearance," little Jasmine explained thoughtfully.

Gu Weijing smiled in affirmation.

Awang?

Gu Weijing is not picky, and neither is Jasmine.

An artist hand-mixes clay, a young girl handcrafts utensils—how could this be anything less than a blessing? What right does this little cat have to come around picking and choosing?

The tabby cat sleeping by the windowsill rolled over.

I wonder if it was in this sweet dream that I felt happy because I dreamed about my upcoming second luxury toilet.

……

After the porcelain is made into a blank, it needs to undergo a long air-drying process before it can be colored and fired in a kiln.

Whether it's a food bowl or a litter box.

After Gu Weijing and Jasmine finished making the embryos, they placed them in a drying box to air dry, making them easier to bake next time. Then, he took out a clean white porcelain cup from his own locker.

To make completing the task easier.

Gu Weijing specifically spent money to order a whole batch of unglazed porcelain blanks from the art teachers here. The so-called unglazed porcelain blanks refer to semi-finished products that have already been glazed and have undergone their first high-temperature bisque firing.

Once the glaze painting process is completed, the piece undergoes a second low-temperature firing in the kiln, and a vibrantly colored piece of modern art porcelain is freshly fired and finished. King Awang now has his own new, exclusive throne.

Gu Weijing asked Jasmine if she had any good suggestions. Jasmine suggested that they could give each of their friends a porcelain cup as a Christmas gift.

Gu Weijing readily agreed.

He prepared the paints and brushes.

“Draw a kitten, draw a kitten,” Jasmine suggested enthusiastically.

She jumped up.

I tiptoed to the window.

"Awang."

She cried out.

Awang's stomach twitched, but he remained motionless, pretending to be dead.

I'm asleep, don't wake me.

Jasmine stretched out a finger and persistently scratched Awang's chin.

"Get up, get up, you lazy cat, don't sleep in during the day."

The cat may have gone through a complicated internal struggle, but in the end it moved its bottom and fell into Jasmine's arms.

The young girl placed the cat on the chair next to the workbench, picked up her fine-tipped drawing brush, and began to trace its outline stroke by stroke. Gu Weijing sat beside her, occasionally erasing areas that weren't drawn well enough and offering guidance.

"His belly should be a bit rounder, after all, Ah Wang is so fat."

"Here here."

"How do I draw the ears? Give me the pen, I'll fix it..."

Gu Weijing watched as Jasmine finished sketching and began applying paint. He then picked up a modern art vase with a trumpet-shaped opening and began painting, stroke by stroke.

There are many differences between painting on porcelain and painting on paper.

Painting on paper aims to create three-dimensional images on a two-dimensional surface, while porcelain, as an art medium, is itself three-dimensional.

A porcelain vase.

Its bottle has no beginning and no end; the head connects to the tail, and the tail connects to the head, forming a perfect loop.

The unique space allows a small porcelain vase to contain the complexities of the space, easily depicting the colors of children playing and flowers and birds chasing each other.

A large-bellied bottle.

The composition is circular; during the painting process, the artist holds the brush and rotates it around the kiln. After it's removed from the kiln and placed on the floor or table, the viewer's gaze also rotates around it. The scene appears different depending on the viewing angle.

This is like a conversation between Mr. Niles and Gu Weijing.

He came to different conclusions depending on his perspective when considering this conversation.

Gu Weijing drew slowly and deliberately, stroke by stroke.

Painting porcelain may seem the most complicated task, but it was actually the one that Gu Weijing mastered the basics of the three tasks he received first.

after all.

This task is not abstract; it has clear requirements. In the end, it is simply 100 works of "simple and unpretentious" quality, with no restrictions on the type or length.

to be honest.

Very loose.

Since there's no space limit, Gu Weijing could simply pick up a pen and draw a plum blossom on the bottle.

but.

Perhaps due to the pent-up frustration he felt over the other two works, the completion progress was also much slower than he had anticipated.

"Why do you need prints? Is it because you just gained the attention of 'Oil Painting' magazine and now you want to make a fortune?"

"Why do you need to paint porcelain? Is it because the system made you do it?"

Whether it's "The Girl Who Plays the Piano" or the scenery along the Seine, they are all about Renoir's honey-colored memories of life.

Painting porcelain was the artistic enlightenment that led this Impressionist master to enlightenment.

From the age of 13 until adulthood, Renoir spent his life in a porcelain shop. As a child, his parents sent him to work as an apprentice in a porcelain shop in Paris, where he was paid by the piece.

First paint the flowers, birds, fish, and insects, then paint the portraits of people.

Each small plate contains 2 Su.

Large objects, each worth 3 Su.

During his time as an apprentice in a porcelain shop, Renoir constantly honed his painting skills, examined himself, and pursued his passion for the craft.

finally.

He developed the crystal-clear pictorial texture that later became the "Renoir-style color symbol" in his oil paintings. Many of his Impressionist techniques are considered by scholars to be related to his experience painting porcelain.

Gu Weijing has always approached this skill with the goal of completing the task.

He was driven by a strong sense of self-interest.

He initially learned the entire porcelain-making process, but then found kneading clay troublesome, so he asked a teacher to do it for him. Finding the art center's porcelain firing too slow, he simply bought himself an electric kiln.

Don't be fooled by his old, beat-up car with a small engine that penguins and polar bears would be grateful for; it's because he's not really interested in driving.

I drive my own Polo.

Anna can also drive a Mercedes-Benz.

As long as he can complete the task, Gu Weijing spends money without batting an eye.

At last.

He felt that all other processes could be discarded, as they were all a waste of time. He was a painter, not a ceramic artist or porcelain artist, so he could just buy semi-finished white porcelain to paint on, which would be convenient and save him a lot of trouble.

From the perspective of completing the task, there is nothing wrong with this matter itself.

Making porcelain is a complex task, and there is a division of labor involved. Renoir was only responsible for painting back then.

The problem is that.

In this process, Gu Weijing gradually lost his love for porcelain art, and even his love for painting.

Niles said.

Sorry, I don't think you're passionate enough about printmaking.

These words served as a wake-up call for Gu Weijing.

Unfortunately, he found that he didn't love porcelain enough; he was doing the same monotonous work without feeling any passion for it.

His writing style is dry and cold.

Yesterday, when he was with little Jasmine, he easily sensed her curiosity and interest when she looked at Awang's set of porcelain cups; she wanted to play with him.

Hasn't Jasmine shown this before?

No.

Gu Weijing had never paid attention to it before.

(End of this chapter)