Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

Geniuses in this world cannot be measured by common standards—take Picasso for instance, who created ”Science and Charity” at the age of 15 and won the honor award at the Madrid National Exhibition; Dürer completed his oil painting ”Self-Portrait” at 22; Pollock had formed his unique abstract expressionist style by the age of 30.

This can even be extended to various fields.

Newton invented calculus, discovered gravity, and researched the phenomenon of light dispersion in his early twenties.

Einstein published the theory of special relativity, the photoelectric effect theory, and the Brownian motion theory at the age of 26.

Mozart began composing music at the age of 5 and started national tours at the age of 6.

In fact, in any field, age is not the measure of a genius’s achievements.

The way he called out ”Teacher Li” to Li Younan was sincere and respectful.

This made Jiatuo standing next to him quite incredulous—Dawa Dunzhu was an Thangka artist he greatly admired, and he hadn’t expected that this spirited young man from the Han People had such high achievements in art that even Dawa Dunzhu would call him teacher.

Li Younan waved his hand: ”I don’t deserve it, I don’t deserve it. I merely saw some exquisite Thangka paintings now and then and imitated them with other techniques, hoping I haven’t offended your beliefs.”

Dawa Dunzhu shook his head: ”Teacher Li, what are you talking about? For those without beliefs, they can completely regard them as a jade plaque or a watch. Overly feudal and doctrinaire thoughts are meaningless.”

”It’s not just a product under the Buddhist system, but also one of the art categories with national characteristics, and in this regard, our practitioners are far more open and inclusive than you’d imagine.”

”Hmm.”

Li Younan did not intend to discuss this topic too much.

”The differences between various painting styles are quite significant.”

As Li Younan spoke, he casually dipped his brush in paint, blended colors, and smeared them onto the paper: ”The core technique of the Renaissance school is the layering technique, which makes the colors gentle and translucent. A representative work is Da Vinci’s ’Mona Lisa.’ If you use it to express a Thangka painting, it would probably look like this...”

Li Younan sketched without taking much time, making a statue of a Bodhisattva come alive on the canvas.

However, this was ultimately a semi-finished product, but it broadly exhibited the essence of the whole painting.

Yet his freehand style of painting suddenly stunned Dawa Dunzhu.

Li Younan did not stop, continued blending colors, and painted on the side of the paper: ”Then, the core technique of the Baroque style is chiaroscuro, using dynamic brush strokes and large brushes to quickly brush paint and depict light and shadow in motion. Though this is a bit more complex, maybe when expressing details like metal and fabric, you still use a scraper to produce texture. But I feel this painting method also suits expressing Thangka paintings.”

This painting took Li Younan longer, roughly half the canvas.

After finishing, he casually tore down the paper and placed it on the table, then continued to blend colors: ”Next, the core technique of Impressionism is short and juxtaposed brush strokes, using blue, white, and yellow short brushes to simulate wave light.”

As Li Younan spoke, his hand movements were smooth, scattering brush strokes short and loose on the paper. This painting retained the intricate contours of the Buddhist statue, while the colors incorporated the sky’s blue reflected on the robe, the green of the grass shaded the edges of the lotus...

At this moment, Dawa Dunzhu couldn’t utter a word, his gaze somewhat frozen on Li Younan’s technique.

On the side, Jiatuo, who completely did not understand the intricacies, clapped excitedly, ”Good painting! Good painting!”

Li Younan finished this piece, then tore down the paper: ”But by comparison, I prefer the collision of Cubism style with Thangka...using the geometric facets and multi-point juxtaposition of Cubism, deconstructing Thangka elements.”

As he spoke, he quickly painted, and soon a Guanyin statue appeared on the paper, and he explained, ”It’s like viewing Thangka from multiple angles simultaneously...”

Li Younan painted for a while, finally stopping his brush, and laughed—he had run out of paint, was disinclined to fetch more, then smiled, ”That’s pretty much the feeling.”

Dawa Dunzhu picked up one of Li Younan’s paintings, gazed at it for a long while, sighed deeply, and then looked at Li Younan with a complex expression, ”Teacher Li, you are adept in so many painting techniques...”

”Haha, just a hobby.”

Li Younan said, ”Thangka, after all, is an art with certain religious hues. My perspective is this: style techniques are the surface, the core of Thangka is the inner content.”

”The subject of Buddhas, protector gods, etc., remains unchanged; elements such as lotus flowers, auspicious clouds, scriptures, and mandalas are retained; the solemn sacred atmosphere preserved...style techniques serve as a means of expression, thus allowing traditional Thangka to exhibit artistic texture across different eras.”

Dawa Dunzhu straightened his posture, very solemnly and reverently bowed to Li Younan, ”Teacher Li, these words align with the direction we have been striving toward over the years, our Thangka painting originally has six major schools, but the differentiation among them compared to the techniques you’ve displayed...is not bold enough!”

”Of course, the more important reason is I think...perhaps it’s very difficult to find another master so proficient in various schools of painting techniques like you; may I take your paintings back? I’m willing to pay you!”