The Versatile Master Artist

”It’s finished.”

Gu Weijing gazed at the display on the virtual panel, feeling thoroughly excited.

System data is merely a tool for assisting in scoring.

In terms of judging the quality of the painting, Gu Weijing already had a general assessment during his creative process.

The painting process went so smoothly that the completion level of the entire work couldn’t be low.

If this painting’s visual effect were used for a graduation exhibition at an ordinary art academy, it would definitely be at the center stage.

Even if you were to submit this painting to the Biennale now.

As long as you don’t encounter particularly picky judges, there wouldn’t be any perceived barriers in this fusion painting style.

Even those with a slightly lower level of expertise.

Would look at it without seeing any issues.

But the system belongs to those particularly strict, fault-finding judges.

When Gu Weijing first looked at it, he thought the dividing lines between different techniques had completely disappeared.

After a closer inspection, he found.

The virtual panel still left a slight trace behind.

The dividing line between the Sketching Technique and the Oil Painting Technique was just a faint mark, similar to a small scratch made by a fingernail on a plastic casing.

It seemed that just a casual forceful wipe would make it disappear.

While the mark between the Oil Painting Technique and the Chinese Painting Techniques was correspondingly deeper, it felt like a line of the same color stitched on a piece of fabric.

”Recently, I should focus more on practicing in the realm of Chinese painting. I’ll consult Professor Lin Tao more about the rendering techniques in detailed brushwork. The character of my Chinese painting paired with sketching and oil painting is still somewhat weak.”

”The balance for the publishing contract’s ’Little Prince,’ along with the Easter sales week’s revenue, will be settled together in mid-to-late April. If the progress is quick, I should be able to elevate the Chinese Painting Techniques to Tier Two Professional before then. I’ll fill in the last gap.”

Gu Weijing pondered his plans for the next few days.

”If everything goes smoothly, I can submit my work to the Singapore Biennale committee before May. It won’t delay the latest deadline for submissions.”

”But... should I add another painting?”

He touched his chin and thought in his mind.

He could be sure that his most important exhibition piece would certainly be this ’Sunshine Orphanage.’

In major international biennales like Singapore, Shanghai, Yokohama, and others, each master group artist can submit two to five pieces.

Invite-e artists are not limited by quantity and can submit quite a lot within reasonable limits.

Gu Weijing originally planned to submit only one painting.

Now, practicing fusion painting was progressing faster than he imagined, making him hesitate whether to create another piece with a different theme.

After all, if he passes the preliminary selection, leaving the exhibition space allocated to him vacant would be a waste.

Should he add another small painting of the same style to complement ’Sunshine Orphanage’ in an ensemble theme?

Or paint a proper Impressionism piece to showcase his versatility to the committee?

Of course.

The piece he truly focused on as the award contender is definitely ’Sunshine Orphanage.’

An art exhibition values quality over quantity.

Submitting only one piece might still win an award.

Exhibiting a lot of pieces at once, the committee might not feel you’ve exerted yourself too much and sympathetically give you a dubious accolade.

The bigger the biennale, the more it emphasizes this.

Quality over quantity.

Back when Damien Hirst participated in the Venice Biennale, he brought along 189 pieces of artwork, with competitor countries having one theme pavilion each, while he had a theme pavilion all to himself.

Yet he didn’t win an award.

Which was quite awkward.

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The sun was setting in the west,

A woman dressed in a dark formal suit and wearing sunglasses sat on a chair against the wall in the yard.

A dark gun handle peeked out from under the blazer’s hem, drawing the frequent glances of volunteers and children in the yard.

Two bold little kids ran over, trying to touch the gun handle, but before the solemn-looking woman could speak, the embarrassed female director of the orphanage dragged them away.

Gu Weijing walked out of the orphanage and saw Koizumi Katsuko waving at the woman.

The woman retrieved two takeaway boxes from the trunk of a nearby Lexus.

Two heavy dark metal thermos flasks, in the hands of this very strong woman, appeared as light as plastic dumbbells, lifted effortlessly.

Mrs. Sakai knew her daughter wanted to visit the orphanage daily.

She was a good mother, having already spoken all necessary words to her daughter.

At such times, when people are glued to their partners daily, she refrains from being a nuisance lamp, irritating her daughter for no reason.

The Leyada District, where the orphanage is located, is considered a poorer lower district in Yangon.

Due to the residents’ general belief in peaceful Buddhism, problematic incidents aren’t frequent.

At least in terms of statistical data, it’s not as exaggerated as Brooklyn’s black district in the United States or Mexico’s Tijuana, neighborhoods notorious for daily shootings listed prominently by the United Nations.

But after all, it’s Myanmar, and Mrs. Sakai is uneasy about her beloved beautiful daughter running around the place, so she hired private security for Koizumi Katsuko.

Private security services in Myanmar, like their business escort services, are pretty mature.

Back before the warlords announced a ceasefire, hiring a mercenary wasn’t much trouble.