The Versatile Master Artist

”A girl is teaching a cat to read Shelley’s poems, a girl is teaching a cat... to read Shelley’s poems.” Miss Sakai softly sang this phrase to herself several times, her clove-colored eyes growing ever brighter, ”Mr. Gu, Jasmine is reading poetry to Ah Wang—this is what I see as the clamor of human life.”

”The first painting in the Singapore Art Exhibition will be based on this theme.”

It seemed that Miss Sakai had suddenly made up her mind.

”You’re not planning to go to Yangon Port?” Gu Weijing raised an eyebrow.

Koizumi Katsuko had originally planned to go back to the seaside in a few days.

Yangon Port is one of the busiest and most bustling places in this city.

If the muddy Golden Triangle can be summed up in four words as ”human hell,”

then using ”human clamor” to describe Yangon Port’s not-so-bright yet not-so-chaotic ecology is more apt.

In the same human activities, amidst the same conversations, curses, and laughter-murmur bustle, people are divided into radically different worldly states.

There are floating jade treasure ships, container passenger ships loaded with rice and woven shirts, and private sailboats raising sails to chase the sunrise.

Well-dressed merchants and beggars sleeping on the streets are only a street apart, and bare-chested laborers carrying rice sacks brush past bikini-clad women applying suntan cream waiting to board yachts on diverging paths to different piers.

The sound of whistles never ceases day or night.

The place Koizumi Katsuko originally selected for onsite observation for the Singapore art exhibition was right there.

Mrs. Sakai, upon hearing her daughter’s plan to observe life in Yangon City’s markets, was contemplating whether to enhance the security team.

Unexpectedly, Koizumi Katsuko changed her mind so quickly.

”The theme of ’human clamor,’ going to the port to paint the various facets of society, feels too stereotypical. I think this new idea is actually much better. Moreover, it adds a touch of Zen and subtracts a bit of vulgarity.”

Gu Weijing thoughtfully stroked his chin and commented.

The committee, without mentioning three to five hundred submissions, would certainly receive seventy to eighty similar works depicting market life.

Having seen too many, no matter how well-painted, they become unremarkable.

”Yes, yes, I think so too.”

Originality in writing is a natural talent, and masterpieces occur by chance.

The same goes for painting.

Koizumi Katsuko observed the composition she captured of Jasmine and the cat sitting side by side on the steps of the gatehouse.

For a moment, she couldn’t stop admiring it, feeling highly satisfied.

”Is it my imagination, or have I suddenly realized that my sketching technique seems—” Koizumi Katsuko lightly spoke, watching the charcoal sketch on the drawing board.

At that moment, Gu Weijing also noticed the difference in the expressive quality of Miss Sakai’s sketches compared to before.

”—the sketching technique seems to have improved by a whole level!”

Both of them spoke in harmonious unison.

The pencil strokes on the sketch appeared lively, and the details were intricate.

Though it was only a rough outline of the main subject, the handling of form, texture, space, and light was very appropriate.

The pen-and-ink drawing of the Great Golden Pagoda that Koizumi Katsuko made earlier was skillful, but lacked the lively vitality now present in this sketch.

Gu Weijing applied a Calligraphy and Painting Identification Skill.

[Girl Reading to a Cat · Draft]

[Sketching Technique: Lv.5 Professional Painter · Tier Two (16/10000)]

”Congratulations. This is not a mere illusion; you’ve captured the essence of pencil strokes, marking the starting point of a sketch master,” said Gu Weijing with a sigh.

Koizumi Katsuko had been stuck at the bottleneck of a Level 4 Tier One Professional Painter’s field for quite some time now.

Artistic creation involves bouts of inspiration, like climbing a snow-capped mountain.

Each ridge is a new pass.

Overcoming a challenging peak allows the technique to increase significantly.

Professor Lin Tao believed that Gu Weijing lacked sufficient artistic accumulation, so his practice method was reading ”Heavenly Rain Flowing Fragrance” and painting wisteria.

Ba Shu, Milan, Paris, Provençal, Florence...

Koizumi Katsuko traveled far and wide from a young age, visiting masters and leaving footprints in art cities around the world, reaching even remote places like Yangon.

Her path in oil painting was most enriched by artistic and cultural accumulation, yet she lacked the vibrant breath of life found outside museums and galleries.

While artistic emotions and painting techniques follow two separate pathways in art,

the novel experience of painting that emerged after breaking the barrier surrounding her heart and work also effortlessly dismantled the bottleneck impeding Miss Shengzi’s advancement.

Especially,

Koizumi Katsuko had been exceptionally diligent in her practice recently.

Within the little girl Mo Li’s poetry reading, elevating her painting technique to Tier Two Professional seamlessly followed.