The Versatile Master Artist

Gu Weijing held the paintbrush, making several gestures in front of the canvas.

Every time his brush was about to touch the paper, he pulled it back.

The colors were still off.

This was his first attempt at replicating a work, and mistakes were inevitable, but he still didn’t want to use inaccurate paint for mixing.

After pondering for a long time,

Gu Weijing thought of an idea that wasn’t too clever.

He took out a clean, flat palette and selected over a dozen colors.

On the palette, he arranged the squeezed paints into two primary color triangles.

We learned in elementary school art class that red, yellow, and blue make up the primary colors.

By mixing these primary colors in different ratios, you can create countless different shades; the mystery of color variation lies within.

In professional oil painting, primary colors are further subdivided into many different hues.

Gu Weijing arranged the left side of the palette with ultramarine at the top, cadmium yellow and cadmium red at the base, forming a warm-toned primary color triangle.

In the middle, a smaller triangle was formed by three hues and four different mixed colors.

On the right, he created a colder primary color triangle with deep red and lemon yellow at the top and phthalo blue at the base, along with the corresponding mixed color triangle.

These two triangles, one upright and one inverted, formed a diamond shape on the palette.

Theoretically, with this palette as a foundation, Gu Weijing could quickly mix any color he wanted with the brush in a matter of seconds.

After completing these basic preparations,

Gu Weijing finally found some tissue paper and stuffed his nose first.

Then, he moved the easel to a position just a step away from ”Old Church on a Stormy Day” and activated the Calligraphy and Painting Identification Skill.

In his mind, an invisible pen appeared again, swiftly sketching the scene.

Thunderstorm, church, candlelight.

The difference was, before using the skill, Gu Weijing had mentally prepared himself fully.

His gaze was no longer captivated by the scene on the mental canvas, he ignored all the small brushstrokes expressing details on the canvas, not even caring about the church itself, focusing entirely on contemplating the spreading base color of the stormy weather on the oil painting.

”It’s not pure black, has a hint of purple, with some white to increase brightness... no, this mixed color feels more like rose red with a touch of Prussian blue. Hmm... it also seems to need a touch of gray, is it black, or would lemon yellow work better... maybe it’s still a bit risky.”

Suddenly,

A flood of information poured into Gu Weijing’s mind.

This beautifully colored, intricately brushed ”Old Church on a Stormy Day” was like a ball of yarn woven from layers of paint.

Finding no clues when tangled together, the Calligraphy and Painting Identification Skill could unravel it, turning it into independent brushstrokes.

With Gu Weijing’s current semi-professional oil painting skills, it was much easier to understand.

In restoring these colors, he had a significant advantage.

Gu Weijing had actually been to Good Fortune Orphanage.

The old church and its surrounding scenery seemed like a corner forgotten by modernization, still maintaining much the same look as a century ago.

The scene that the female painter Carol once saw, Gu Weijing had also witnessed with his own eyes.

Life experience is the best teacher for an artist, allowing Gu Weijing to better restore the original light and color that the painter intended.

He painted swiftly across the palette.

At the moment the Identification Skill’s effect ended, a small patch of dark but not gloomy gray-purple appeared at the corner of the palette.

That shimmering luster was just like the sky after lightning had passed.

Whether it was because he was too absorbed, or the effect of the Calligraphy and Painting Identification Skill hadn’t completely faded.

The moment Gu Weijing mixed the color he even faintly heard thunder rumbling in his mind.

It was like dull and damp drum beats.

”This is it! This is the color.”

Gu Weijing braved the prickling pain and dizziness in his mind and quickly restored the base color of the stormy day across the entire painting onto the paper.

With every stroke of his brush,

The gray-purple blob leapt onto the top of the canvas, surrounded by dark clouds as if a stormy day was sealed within the canvas.

...

[The current replication work—”Old Church on a Stormy Day” is complete]

More than two hours later, when Gu Weijing moved the easel to dry in the corridor of Gu’s Calligraphy and Painting Shop, the system in his mind promptly delivered a task completion message.

[This replication’s similarity—23.7%, you have obtained a Basic Treasure Chest]

”Just over twenty percent.”

Gu Weijing wasn’t disappointed; being able to meet the baseline requirement for completing the task was satisfactory to him.

Judging the similarity of a replicated work, the standard is definitely not rigid reproduction.

No two oil paintings are identical in the world; the brushwork of Impressionist painters is ever-changing, with some works composed of hundreds of thousands of color dots.

If you discover two works exactly alike down to the finest detail, there’s no doubt it’s computer-printed art.

It’s not like Brother Fa wants to paint US Dollars.

No normal artist would pursue a perfect physical rendition with a brush down to the tenth of a millimeter.

If that were the standard, even requesting the original artist to create another similar painting on the spot, achieving over ninety percent similarity would likely be unattainable.