The Versatile Master Artist

New tools?

”Are you referring to... the oil painting knife?” Gu Weijing asked hesitantly.

Different painting tools create different final visual effects on the surface of linen canvas.

The textures and colors that soft brushes cannot handle can often be effectively addressed by changing to a different painting method.

For instance, an oil painting knife can handle the blending and transitioning of paint, scraping off thick paint and leaving streaked color spots formed by layers of thin paint overlapping and blending.

The painting knife painting mastered by Gu Weijing evolved from this.

Over a long period, an artist’s creative power has no limits.

Apart from the commonly seen oil painting knives,

sturdy pen handles, sponges, cloth strips, newspapers, and even horn combs, cooking skimmers, and lipstick caps have all been studied by previous painters and used as tools for applying paint.

Each painting tool can produce its unique texture, and many common tools have specific exclusive techniques developed around them.

In further detail,

they may not necessarily be simpler than the techniques related to oil painting knives.

For example, during the early 20th century, Impressionist Henry Tonks, while teaching at the London Slade School of Art, casually grabbed a copy of The Times, bought during breakfast, to wipe off paint accidentally smeared on the canvas.

He accidentally discovered that this old newspaper with certain absorbency was quite useful in handling surface paint details.

Using this as a basis, he developed a new painting technique using newspaper as the mode of painting, naming it the ”Tangke Technique” after his surname.

To this day,

few people specialize in using the ”Tangke Technique” for painting.

But using discarded newspapers to remove excess textures from human faces and building surfaces remains a very practical technique for art students painting portraits and smooth surface landscape architectures.

In fact, it is even more common and practical than painting knife painting.

Before obtaining the Essence of New Style Painting, Gu Weijing had already considered using the oil painting knife to handle color transitions.

Someone holding a big hammer always wants to drive nails.

The oil painting knife is the skill Gu Weijing has mastered to the highest level of proficiency, and whenever there’s a place where it can be used, he wants to try it out.

Unfortunately, the scenario for using the oil painting knife is to handle thick, creamy layers of paint.

It conflicts with the light and fresh painting viewpoint emphasized in Chinese painting.

Moreover, using an oil painting knife easily forms ridge-like textures on the oil painting surface, a natural feature determined by the knife’s hardness.

This abstract texture isn’t a bad thing; it is characteristic of painting knife art.

But it differs from the traditional realistic effects Gu Weijing pursues and is contrary to the New Style Painting philosophy.

The New Style Painting is court painting.

When have you seen any painter in the Forbidden City paint the face of Emperor Kangxi or Emperor Qianlong with ridges and folds of texture?

This is not daring reform in painting technique,

This is a painter courting death.

If Emperor Kangxi misinterpreted it as making fun of the pockmarks left by smallpox in his childhood, he would probably want to strangle the painter’s entire family.

”This kind of picture isn’t suitable for using an oil painting knife, and using an oil painting knife well isn’t easy either.”

Koizumi Katsuko gently poked Gu Weijing’s temple with her finger, ”I’m talking about a more direct painting method, using our fingers.”

”I suppose this isn’t the final exhibition work for you, Mr. Gu, so you don’t mind if I try, do you?”

After obtaining Gu Weijing’s consent, Miss Sakai wrapped her fair fingertips with the tissue she had just used to wipe Gu Weijing’s sweat.

Leaning against the boy’s shoulder, she reached her hand over Gu Weijing’s arm, directly pressing her fingers on a bright area of the oil painting, gently rubbing.

”If I had a painting like this before me and my brush skills were insufficient to reach, I might adopt this treatment method.”

Shengzi’s action was somewhat like children’s painting.

But her fingertips kneaded very carefully, stroking gently across the surface with her fingertips.

”Fingers are tools we are born with. Rich in nerves, more flexible joints, the most primitive, the most direct; they surpass brushes and painting knives when it comes to showcasing subtle effects. Not only do children use fingers to paint, but Da Vinci, Titian, Goya, and Turner all favored using the Finger Smudging Method in painting.”

Koizumi Katsuko used her fingertip to slowly rub the paint at the transition area of highlights under Gu Weijing’s brush into the deep texture fibers of the linen canvas.

She whispered softly in Gu Weijing’s ear as she breathed sweetly like an orchid.

”Once at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, I viewed the masterpiece Urbino Venus by master Titian up close. At that time, I noticed that Titian loved using his fingers to gently smudge highlights and heavy tones, softening the edges of the picture to create a sense of ethereal elegance.”

Initially, Gu Weijing’s attention was more than half diverted by the cotton-candy-like gentle and soft touch from behind.

But after more than ten seconds,

he began to take it seriously.

All of Gu Weijing’s attention was captivated by Miss Shengzi’s fingers and the oil painting canvas before him.

Koizumi Katsuko’s fingertip position was precisely in the upper slanting corner of the canvas, at the spot where sunlight hit the large locust tree.

The painting details here, Gu Weijing had almost just finished.

The bright sunlight and the shadow of the leaves here produced a strong visual contrast.

Shhh~ Shhh~

Koizumi Katsuko’s fingertips brushed past the edge of the leaves on the canvas surface along Gu Weijing’s brush outline, leaving a misty outline.