The Versatile Master Artist

In the 12th century, the King of France decided to build the famous Saint Denis Cathedral as a place for pilgrimage and royal burial. At that time, Dean Su Re decided to fill the interior of the building with the radiance of the Celestial Kingdom, to enhance the spiritual connection between individuals and the Celestial God, making it feel as if mortals were walking in the kingdom of God.

For the first time in history,

Large-scale stained glass was used in the building, and Saint Denis Cathedral became a milestone in architectural history, still synonymous with the ornate complexity of French architecture.

As a medium separating humans and the divine realm of the Celestial Kingdom,

even those experienced master painters, when facing stained glass windows, would ponder carefully before making a move.

It was not as many thought, a single large piece of glass fabricated directly; instead, during production, manganese and cobalt salts were added in the furnace, causing the glass to gradually deform, changing its translucency, and eventually forming semi-transparent small pieces of glass with different colors.

Artisans then cut these small pieces of glass as needed into hundreds or thousands of pieces the size of a knuckle or a baby’s palm, then used molten lead to join them, assembling patterns on the window sash.

This even gave birth to a dedicated category, stained glass painter. In the 19th century, Georges Rouault, renowned for his ethereal brushwork, started as an apprentice in glass painting.

Koizumi Katsuko looked at the windows of the old church of the orphanage not far away, gently brushed the hair off her forehead, and her expression was a bit regretful.

She knew that with their current techniques, it was impossible to accurately convey these colors.

There are no two feathers alike in the world, nor two identical stained glass windows.

Hundreds of different pieces of glass are like hundreds of different paint colors.

Due to the limitations of early glass production techniques and the different furnace batches, each small piece of glass might be unique.

Perhaps two adjacent pieces of glass are both emerald green or vermilion and look similar, but the translucency would still have extremely subtle changes.

”The candlelight here, I didn’t capture it well either, such a pity for this scene.” Koizumi Katsuko looked at her canvas, unsure if she was comforting Gu Weijing or herself.

Candlelight increased the difficulty of painting.

A candle is not a stable light source.

Its flame flickers, fluctuates, growing and shrinking unpredictably.

Combined with stained glass, for a painter to accurately emulate its color, it’s like trying to toss an apple through a ring thrown by a juggler on a passing car.

Such a complex and splendid array of colors, to put it on canvas, sometimes barely half the size of a palm, seems like an impossible task.

She also spent a lot of effort handling the colors in this section.

The result... can’t say it’s terrible, but it’s just passable.

On the canvas in front of her, Koizumi Katsuko painted the candlelight with extremely thin and delicate brushwork, looking ethereal and light enough.

Yet it lacked a touch of vitality.

It’s a painting, but not a flame.

The pursuit of painting is to portray a three-dimensional view on a two-dimensional plane and to tell a four-dimensional story.

A painting by an ordinarily talented painter is just a painting, but a first-rate master’s work focuses on creating a genuine sense of space in the viewer’s eyes through changes in focal points and visual proportions.

A truly top-tier grand master’s work is a flowing feast.

In the entertainment scarce classical period, upper society’s noble men and women viewed paintings and sculptures just like today’s young people watch movies.

The most sought-after works always had a sense of time, they ”move” and tell you stories.

Viewing ”Eighty-Seven Immortals” feels like attending a gathering of gods in the Misty Immortal Palace, seeing ”Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains” is like stepping among blue peaks and waters. Viewing ”Venus Rising from the Sea” seems like witnessing a song and dance of the Goddess of Beauty, and ”Mourning Christ” appears like seeing a baptism of religious enlightenment...

Koizumi Katsuko looked at the candlelight she painted on the canvas and sighed regretfully.

Her technique still dwells in the realm of ”sketching on paper,” and this painting remains two-dimensional.

The painting is only quite like reality; the candlelight isn’t three-dimensional enough, falling short of the real world in front of her, much less the vibrant feeling under the brush of the female painter, Carol.

Not to mention having the soul of past masters come alive through her pen.

Koizumi Katsuko looked at Gu Weijing, who was staring at the canvas without moving, feeling a bit worried.

”Mr. Gu, don’t push yourself too hard, it could exhaust your spirit.” She thought Gu Weijing seemed a bit too anxious, so she softly advised him.

Being a painter is a profession easy to obsess over, and Impressionism in particular is an area with a high incidence of professional ailments.

Renoir, Monet, Degas, Van Gogh... all these people showed symptoms of mental issues when pondering light.

River jumps, anxiety, self-harm were only degrees of severity.

”Hey, don’t think about it, we can often come to paint together. You’re young, I’m also young, maybe in a few months or one or two years, eventually, we’ll paint what we want.”

Koizumi Katsuko stretched out her hand from behind and gently covered Gu Weijing’s eyes, speaking softly.

It’s just a pity, with the renovation of this Good Fortune Orphanage, it might be challenging to replicate such good sketching conditions today.

Miss Shengzi also felt a sense of regret about this.

Yet Gu Weijing broke free from Koizumi Katsuko’s hand.

He looked at the rainy night, eyed the canvas in front of him, as if he had made some sort of resolution, and said in a light but firm voice, ”I still want to try.”

[Confirm adding 2863 experience points to Oil Painting Technique?]

He gently allocated his free experience points in the virtual panel towards oil painting.

As he clicked confirm, the experience bar that was originally half empty suddenly filled up, and in the next moment, Gu Weijing heard the system prompt.

[Your Oil Painting Technique level has increased!]

[Current Level: Level 5 Professional Painter·Tier Two (1/10000)]

After obtaining the system,

Gu Weijing had never allocated this much experience in such a short time.

To say it was like a monk imparting skills or suddenly achieving enlightenment might be an exaggeration, yet calling it a sudden epiphany is almost true without hyperbole.

Unlike the Knowledge Card’s overwhelming influx of information and knowledge into the mind.

The canvas remained a canvas, the brush still that brush.

But he almost immediately felt he had changed.

An increase of nearly three thousand points in experience was enough to cause a qualitative change from a quantitative change. An oil painting that took a lot of time and effort often could only improve one’s experience by a few dozen points.

Humans aren’t machines and can’t spend 24 hours solely on oil painting.

Ordinarily, if a student of fine arts uses more convenient acrylics, maintaining a frequency of completing one full oil painting a week is already quite intensive, an efficiency maybe only achievable in a training week.

Art students in East Asia almost shed a layer of skin during professional training for joint exams or some art competitions, slowing down amidst critiques that Europe might have child protection groups accusing child abuse.

They also have to spend plenty of time on sketching and other specialized courses, drawing one a month routinely is not surprising.

It means, without the system’s help, three thousand experience points might be a breakthrough that takes ordinary people years, even a decade, to achieve.

That is, provided you have talent, understanding, and effort.

Most people might never reach the level of Tier Two Professional in their lifetime. Like his grandfather Gu Tongxiang, like Fitz’s art teachers.

Even Miss Koizumi Katsuko is still a bit away from reaching Tier Two Professional.

How many in this world can be as fortunate as Koizumi Katsuko, having a top-notch master guiding them from a young age?

The most significant change Gu Weijing felt was the enhancement in his control over the brushwork.