The Versatile Master Artist

Anna still couldn’t discern the details of the illustration.

But just from a thumbnail, she immediately sensed the uniqueness of the illustration sent by Detective Cat.

Rose-colored flowers bloom on a golden planet, the boundless universe shrouded like a veil over the sky in the painting, with a fiery red star rising in the East, golden sunlight slowly filtering through the cosmic veil like flying sand grains.

Everything in the picture is as beautiful as a mesmerizing and magnificent dream from childhood.

Anna blinked, momentarily lost in thought.

She gently took a breath, stretched out her finger, and tapped the screen.

The internet infrastructure in Austria is quite average, and the signal in the gallery is even poorer. A white loading circle kept spinning on the screen.

Anna frowned.

Even though she knew tapping wouldn’t help the download speed, her fingertips kept tapping on the phone, like a pianist playing a fixed chord.

An illustration, even just a shadowy glimpse, is enough for an art critic like Anna to judge the artist’s skill level more or less accurately.

Good can’t become bad, and bad can’t become good.

It’s like an exam; under the same theme, an excellent work scoring 80 could be worlds apart from a poor doodle scoring 30 in terms of visual impact.

But Anna couldn’t quite articulate the level of this painting.

It was too beautiful.

Beautiful, almost perfect,

So beautiful that she couldn’t even judge from the thumbnail’s first impression just how good this painting really was.

Just as Anna hesitated whether to return to the car to use the Wi-Fi there, her phone finally downloaded Detective Cat’s illustration locally.

The image enlarged automatically.

”Incredible.”

Such a thought occurred in her mind.

From the moment she was born, Anna had seen countless famous paintings.

Whether aestheticism, romanticism, modern, classical, or Renaissance... She even once, accompanied by a cardinal personally, had close access to a few egg tempera paintings from Jan van Eyck, the inventor of oil paintings, stored in the Vatican Museum’s lower vault; those were early prototypes of modern oil paintings.

In some sense, they were even more precious than Da Vinci’s original works.

What kind of oil painting she hasn’t seen.

But rarely has Anna seen something reaching the level of this Detective Cat’s work.

Stunning.

That was Anna’s first impression.

Under a magnifying glass or high-resolution electronic album, oil paint shows a texture resembling moon surface or cheese nibbled by ants.

These are the uneven traces left by bristle brushes sweeping across the paint surface, also part of the texture of the painting.

Unavoidable.

Even surfaces treated by a painting knife aren’t smooth.

Whether using flat pressure or side pressure, squeezing the paint with the blade can inevitably cause paint cracks due to varying forces, resembling being brushed by fine steel wire balls.

But Detective Cat gave Anna the impression of cleanliness.

The painting is just so clean.

Not to say there’s no ripple texture of paint, which is impossible; an entirely mirror-flat oil painting isn’t an advantage either as it lacks sufficient layering.

Yet, besides the necessary layered texture, Anna surprisingly didn’t find any unnecessary scrape marks left by the knife blade on the paint.

A core problem in painting knife art is — using a knife isn’t like using a brush, the hard metal blade will, when wiping across the paint surface, easily leave crossed chaotic raised marks.

Such chaotic traces make the picture look disordered and rigid.

Detective Cat treated this painting very beautifully.

Even the deliberately retained knife marks for enhancing the picture layering, like ridges or lines protruding, are very neat and unified.

The whole picture is very relaxed, rounded, and natural.

She stretched out her thumb and index finger, enlarging the picture, carefully appreciating the illustration from beginning to end; even when enlarged several times, there are very few irregular knife marks on the paint.

”Is this pressed dispersion?”

Anna noticed the paint in the picture behaving very distinctively, with shallow and dark colors methodically intertwined, offering a sense of mystery and fantasy.

The more she looked, the more she was amazed.

This way of expressing color is bold indeed.

It seems handcrafted, using different paints as fine lines to weave a gorgeous web.

The strong and delicate colors, coupled with blurred color contrasts, lend a fairy-tale quality to the whole painting.

”Mr. Tree Sloth, regarding my illustration, do you have any suggestions?”

Detective Cat sent an inquiry.

Anna looked at her previously unfinished message, shook her head, and withdrew the half-edited message completely.

Having witnessed such a high-caliber masterpiece.

She didn’t think any painting knife artists she mentioned earlier did better than Detective Cat’s, nor did she feel qualified to critique Detective Cat’s works.

”Truly amazing.”

Anna hesitated slightly, biting her lip as she typed.

”...Lady Detective Cat, I am very grateful that you chose me as your agent.”

Looking at the illustration sent by Detective Cat, Anna felt somewhat heartbroken.

She gently moved her fingertip across the screen, gazing at the still fresh, not yet fully solidified paint, her cold eyes revealing compassion.

She couldn’t imagine,

How much hardship a painter had to endure, spending days in the studio consuming time, to master the use of painting knives to this extent.

Such a painter willing to entrust her career to her hands, Anna felt profoundly honored.

”I will have a contract drafted quickly; there is something I hope to discuss with you beforehand.”

Anna thought a bit, nervously bringing up a matter.

”I will find suitable contracts for you, provide professional advice, but due to some personal reasons, I hope to be your agent as Mr. Tree Sloth anonymously. Please do not delve too much into my real identity. I wonder if you can agree to this request?”

Already caught in a swirl of public opinion.

She was unable to directly sign with the other party as Miss Elina.

Handling the contract like this isn’t difficult; it’s only because of frequently being targeted by money laundering syndicates, as the art trade is one of the most privacy-conscious industries.

However,

An anonymous buyer and an illustrator seen only under a pen name are quite common.

Yet, an anonymous agent is quite rare. Unless it’s in the underground art black market, dealing with black-market art dealers.

”Can’t I know your real identity?”

As expected, Detective Cat’s tone appeared somewhat skeptical.

”It’s hard to explain due to my own... family reasons; we can sign the contract through a professional accounting firm as a confidentiality mediator. The tax splits and all can also be handled by the accounting firm.”

”I assure you there will be no issues with the contract; you can have a lawyer review if you’re concerned.”

Yangon, Gu’s Painting and Calligraphy Gallery.

Gu Weijing held his phone, seeing Mr. Tree Sloth’s request, hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Though he didn’t understand why Mr. Tree Sloth needed to be mysterious, the other party had significant connections in the art world and indeed treated him well.

That was enough.

Everyone has their secrets.

His own identity as a network illustrator is also a secret.

Currently, the makeshift commission approach on Nutshell no longer suits him; from commissions to finance, he needs a more formal professional agent to handle.

”Alright.”

Gu Weijing thought about it, said: ”Let’s agree like gentlemen, I won’t inquire about your identity, and you don’t inquire about mine. I am simply Detective Cat, and you are simply Mr. Tree Sloth. Is that good?”

(The next Chapter will be at midnight, not sure when it will be finished, try to sleep early.)