The Versatile Master Artist

This sense of understanding the once incomprehensible painting technique, flowing like clouds and water, was exhilarating beyond words.

Soon, Gu Weijing completed the main body of the bean flower plant.

Chinese painting generally takes less time than oil painting, but that’s relative.

This ”Bean Flower Painting” is not a large-scale work, but besides the bean flower, it includes grasses, rocks, birds, and a host of other elements.

If he really followed the guidance of the ”Essence of New Body Painting” and completed all of it stroke by stroke, he wouldn’t have any time to sleep.

After finishing the bean flower copy, he put down his brush.

Probably because he only painted a small portion of the original, the system did not provide a similarity percentage for the copying.

[Immortal Flower Spring Eternal Album: Bean Blossoms (Partial Copy)]

[Oil Painting Technique: Tier One Professional Painter, Lv.4 (3136/5000)]

[Chinese Painting Technique: Tier One Professional Painter, Lv.4 (1086/5000)]

[Emotion: Simple Works]

Gu Weijing crossed his arms and looked at the result, extremely satisfied.

”Fantastic!”

The original painting skill of Lang Shining was still far above him, but the overall charm and style were about seventy to eighty percent captured.

If he were a bit braver, Gu Weijing could fully believe that he managed to capture both the form and spirit.

”Weijing, still painting?”

Mr. Gu appeared like a ghost, wearing pajamas and carrying a copy of ”Basic Photography for Seniors” under his arm.

”When did you come down? I didn’t even notice.”

Startled, Gu Weijing looked up to see his grandfather.

”Actually, I’ve only been here a few minutes. I saw you painting and didn’t want to disturb you,” said Gu Tongxiang, waving his hand to signal his grandson not to be disturbed by his presence.

It’s common for elderly people to have trouble sleeping.

Mr. Gu was flipping through a book about hobbies for seniors in bed when he heard activity downstairs in the gallery and decided to check it out, just in time to see his grandson painting.

Mr. Gu had always cherished Gu Weijing.

He had talent, worked hard, and was lucky.

Having won the favor of Elder Cao, as long as he stayed on the right track, there was no reason he wouldn’t achieve something.

”Hmm? Is this a copy of Lang Shining?”

Gu Tongxiang raised an eyebrow.

Going downstairs, he had left his glasses on the bedside, so he couldn’t see the details clearly.

Yet he could roughly recognize that the scroll next to his grandson, Gu Weijing, was the ”Immortal Flower Spring Eternal Album: Bean Blossoms,” a renowned work by Lang Shining from the Qing Dynasty, which he had imported from Dongxia back in the day.

”Hmm, looks pretty good.”

Gu Weijing nodded.

”Looking pretty good? At your age, that’s quite a claim.”

Mr. Gu chuckled.

He lightly tapped Gu Weijing on the shoulder with the book he carried, advising, ”At my age, I wouldn’t dare say I can capture even a fraction of Lang Shining’s work, and you’re this young claiming it looks pretty good. Aren’t you afraid your boast might backfire?”

When it comes to Lang Shining’s paintings, Gu Tongxiang believed he had a right to speak.

The reproductions of Lang Shining’s new style paintings sold well in the store, which had long inspired Mr. Gu to attempt his own copy of Lang Shining’s works.

Whether he could capture Lang Shining’s essence didn’t even cross Gu Tongxiang’s mind.

Lang Shining was not like Holbein, whose lines were controlled with millimeter precision in a clinically meticulous style, nor like Zheng Banqiao, a master of dual excellence in painting and calligraphy, infusing Ouyang Xun’s standard script brush structure into his works.

The brushwork itself wasn’t complex.

If one could replicate even a small fraction, there would be ample opportunity to impress foreigners.

Mr. Gu studied various materials, sat with Lang Shining’s albums for three months, and even joined a cheap seniors tour to the Forbidden City to see Lang Shining’s originals.

As the saying goes, ”Heaven rewards diligence; effort brings rewards.”

After a quarter’s hard work, countless sleepless nights, and some precious hair lost, he finally realized a secret —

He just wasn’t suited to copying Lang Shining.

Ideals are grand, but reality is harsh.

The brushwork looks simple, but is truly difficult to execute.

Owning a gallery in a tourist spot naturally involves painting reproductions.

Pieces much more challenging than Lang Shining’s works, such as ”Luoshen Fu,” ”Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains,” ”Five Horses,” priceless national treasures—a conceptual challenge beyond monetary measure—had all been attempted by Mr. Gu.

Painting is feasible,

The real concern lies in the quality.

Yet none of these masterpieces frustrated Mr. Gu as much as trying to replicate Lang Shining’s artwork.

It felt bizarre.

A lifelong master chef trying to fuse heavy-spiced Hunan cuisine with the sweet subtleties of Jiangnan cooking, only to result in something incredibly awkward and infuriating the more he did it.

Looking at the results of his three months’ effort, Mr. Gu concluded that foreigners merely enjoyed exotic styles and hadn’t grown curious about such tastes.

Selling these creations would be dishonorable and likely damage the reputation.

So Gu Tongxiang set up a brazier in the yard, burned all his ”failures” in one go and never spoke of copying Lang Shining again.

”Lang Shining’s style is tough,”

he hadn’t anticipated his grandson would follow his footsteps.

”Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t turn out well. If the secrets of new style painting were easy to decipher, someone else would have already excelled in it,” Gu Tongxiang said, noticing Gu Weijing hesitating to speak.

”Learn from me, your grandfather—finding it tough is no disgrace. Pretending otherwise is what’s disgraceful.”

Mr. Gu had a good attitude when he failed to replicate paintings back then.

It wasn’t that Gu Tongxiang had an extraordinarily open mindset, but being from a family whose elders were once imperial painters, they knew this profession’s secrets better than outsiders.

As Mr. Gu put it,

if the new style painting secrets were so straightforward to unravel, someone besides Lang Shining would have achieved prominence.

Mr. Gu’s highest aspiration initially was simply to imitate even fractionally.

Imperial painters were, in fact, somewhat pitiful.

They were close to power,

ranking above chess attendants who entertained the emperor, court actors, and acrobats performing for concubines in the Forbidden City.

But ultimately,

imperial painters were still subservient to power, providing services in rituals and entertainment for the imperial family.

In a way, it mirrored the concubines vying for the emperor’s attention.

This was where the top painters gathered.

Should an emperor appreciate your art, you’d be a celebrated guest in noble households, with each painting worth a fortune.

If your work isn’t outstanding, you’re no different than those palace maids never granted an audience with the emperor — you’re nothing.

Even in the Qing Dynasty’s official painting academies, imperial painters lacked formal ranks.

Ranks varied extremely,

with talented individuals like Lang Shining becoming nobility adorned with Third-Grade Imperial Hat with Peacock Feather due to their art.

While some corresponded to unfortunate eunuchs and aging maids, perishing in the Forbidden City from hunger or cold.

A painter’s entire future and that of their family’s ambitions hinged upon a slender brush.

When the King of Chu favored slender waists, many starved in the palace.

With Lang Shining so favored, and his paintings so effective, who wouldn’t wish to learn?

In the Qianlong era alone, records mentioned Lang Shining, Wang Zhicheng, and Ai Mengchen as three foreign missionaries who explored the blending of Eastern and Western painting techniques.

Among local imperial painters, there were Tang Dai, Leng Mei, and others leading Lou Dong School and Yushan School within the local schools.

Everybody realized the stunning nature of the fusion art style and wanted a piece of it.

Each of these past masters possessed great talent;

yet only one, Lang Shining, truly made a renowned name.

Gu Tongxiang didn’t believe for a moment his grandson painted to the level he claimed.

Even if he learned under Professor Lin Tao, a second apprentice of the master Cao Xuan, it wouldn’t suffice.