Almighty painter

Chapter 537 Faith
"It is very necessary to keep practicing and keep progressing at all times."

Sakai Katsuko stood on tiptoes and touched Gu Weijing's head.

"Some people think that talent can replace hard work. They think that masters can achieve success by painting absent-mindedly. They think that as long as your painting skills are advanced enough, you can paint without distraction. While creating frantically, you think that no matter how good the work is, In this way, as long as he submits it to the painting dealer according to the contract, at this time tomorrow, he can choose a villa with a swimming pool in Malta without letting his works be full of mistakes due to his random thoughts. "

"Big mistake."

"Perseverance is the best virtue a creator can have. Picasso, who was successful and famous, also had to work hard day after day, year after year, for a work that was important to him. ”

Sakai Katsuko raised the corners of her lips slightly, and said half-jokingly, half-seriously: "Similarly, Picasso, who had become famous, also painted a lot of very bad paintings in order to quickly cash in and deal with the contract for delivering paintings. You see, this kind of Things never make any difference whether your name is Picasso or Gu Weijing.”

"Reputation can be faked and critics can lie, but every time you practice and every trial and error, you will leave traces on the canvas. This is the most deceptive thing. A biennale is different from a solo exhibition. It is left to a There are only one or two places on the big exhibition stand, or at most two or three places, for a person to be shown to the audience and for the judges to know him. This means that a painter will spend a few months, a year, two years... in a long period of time. During the exhibition planning period, I only put all my energy into a limited number of works.”

Miss Katsuko pointed to the easel erected in the sun in the center of the yard.

"Generally speaking, even if you are a passionate painter who pursues original inspiration and likes unembellished brushwork, you don't always hand over your paintings to live and die with a wave of your sleeves and a pat on your head."

"Repeated adjustments, practice, and repeated experiments on the picture are unavoidable. At least, long-term and serious thinking is a necessary part of the process."

"A painting is quickly perfected and matured during this process. This is what we are all doing."

"However, you can't always tell yourself that you are not ready. Tell yourself, wait a little longer, the next picture will be better, it doesn't matter, I can handle it better next time. Alas, it doesn't matter, this is not the case anyway. The final work submitted to the organizing committee..."

"If you don't treat rehearsal as a real stage performance, then rehearsal loses the meaning of practice. Practice allows us to bring out the best, not just mechanical repetition. If rehearsal does not have a deadline, then you You never feel ready, and the moment when you really put your heart and soul into it never comes.”

Sakai Shengzi looked into Gu Weijing's eyes seriously.

Light eyebrows, slender and picturesque.

His eyes were as clear as water.

"I painted a total of six paintings of "Girl Reading Poems to Cats". You painted more than me and worked harder. How many paintings have you painted so far?"

"Twenty-one pictures."

Gu Weijing crossed his fingers: "To be precise, 21 and a half pictures, and half of them were drafted last night and have not been finished yet."

“It’s really awesome and it’s really hard work.”

Ms. Sakai clapped her hands gently in front of her chest, her eyes were serious, and there was no hint of mockery in her eyes. "This is a very powerful thing, but have you ever thought about how many times you have to practice before you are willing to call it a day?"

"I originally hoped to paint 20 paintings, but I found that the time point of 20 paintings came faster than I thought. After mastering them all, an impasto oil painting can be compressed to about three hours. I think Maybe 30 pictures? If there is time." Gu Weijing hesitated.

"Look, this is the problem. After you have finished 20 paintings, you want to paint 30. I believe you can paint 30, but what about after 30?"

Sakai Shengzi took Gu Weijing's hand.

“Believe me, you will still feel that you are not ready, and want to wait until your skills improve before painting 865 or paintings. But this is a biennial, and you can’t be like Monica’s boyfriend in the TV series, who waited until he painted “Gu Weijing No. ’ (note)” and then patted his chest and felt that he was ready.”

(Note: A character in the American TV series "Friends", a Silicon Valley tycoon, studied Internet programs from 'Morse No. 1', 'Morse No. 2'... and failed until the 'Morse No. 865' program became a big success. )
"It's not such an exaggeration. After all, it's a biennale, and it only lasts for a month or two at most."

Gu Weijing shook his head and smiled.

"No, if you keep drawing like this, I'll tell you what will happen. You feel that you are not good enough now, so even though you may suddenly feel that you are in a particularly good state, feel something in your heart, and have an idea. But when you pick up the pen, your subconscious I always tell myself, no, not it, not now, not this picture."

Shengzi gently brushed Gu Weijing's hair.

My fingertips scratched across my scalp, itching slightly.

"If, if every painting had emotions, they would probably be sad and cry, right? I feel sorry for them too, Gu Weijing No.22, Gu Weijing No.25, Gu Weijing No.31, they are like They are children who are born at the wrong time and are not liked by their parents. Maybe they could have become very good, but your attitude decided that you don't like them and they will not be. Here you go, the painting that graced the stage of the Singapore Biennale.”

"And as the time gets closer and closer, and the time before the opening of the exhibition gets shorter and shorter, will you paint a work that truly makes you feel sincerely satisfied? No."

"Gu Jun, you will become more anxious day by day. Today is more entangled than yesterday, and tomorrow will be more hesitant than today. You always feel that you are not good enough, or not as good as you imagined. The less time you have, the more you feel that 'now you have to You have to paint it well. Every mistake in the painting will be magnified in your mind. The more you make a mistake, the more irritated you will be. Then you will throw the painting away and start over again, and the cycle will continue."

"Perhaps some people are competition-oriented players who perform better with greater pressure, but none of us can place our hopes on luck."

"When you can't draw a satisfactory work in a relaxed state, how can you guarantee that you will be able to draw a satisfactory work in a tense state?"

Sakai Katsuko asked rhetorically.

"Isn't the final result not that you are dissatisfied with the paintings you draw now, and you will also feel dissatisfied with the paintings you draw in the future? In the end, you can only pinch your nose and reluctantly choose one of these unsatisfactory paintings. "What's the result of submitting the manuscript?"

"From beginning to end, you never have the opportunity to give yourself 100 percent."

Gu Weijing was silent for a long time.

He found that Sakai Katsuko really understood him.

Her speeches always hit the mark.

He has been thinking about how to add some extra points to his technique, whether it can be like a 100-meter race, so he can have the opportunity to show off his finger painting techniques before the exhibition.

Did he quietly miss the opportunity to open his heart and embrace the hustle and bustle of the world like Miss Katsuko when he was hesitating and entangled in these things?

This is really a philosophical question.

Even - Gu Weijing thought more.

When Professor Lin Tao asked him to copy the "Wisteria Flowers" painting, he always felt that he was too busy, busy reading, busy studying art exhibitions, and busy publishing social illustrations.

When I have the opportunity to go to the scene and go to the botanical garden to collect pictures, it is logical and logical that I will definitely be able to draw well.

It doesn’t matter if your technique is young, just go to the scene to learn about it.

It doesn’t matter if the artistic conception is lacking, just go to the scene to collect the scenery.

It seems that going to the botanical garden to collect scenery is the ultimate solution for him to escape from the present in his heart. The pressure quietly accumulates in the understatement of thoughts again and again.

As a result, on the day I went to the botanical garden excitedly, I found that I had not drawn the wisteria flower that I wanted.

The painting collapsed immediately.

In the past, Gu Weijing's innermost understanding was to wait, to go to the botanical garden.

Now Gu Weijing's deepest understanding is that he is also waiting, waiting for the submission date for the exhibition to approach.

The influence of the original family will indeed accompany a person's life, and the reflection of childhood will always come back to you again and again when you think you have forgotten it.

Gu Weijing thought that he had already gotten over the impact of that incident.

If Shengzi hadn't been keenly aware of all this and called him over.

Perhaps even Gu Weijing himself did not realize that facing the Singapore Biennale was the most important turning point in Gu Weijing's career and perhaps the most important turning point in his life.

In the face of far greater pressure than failing to paint a "Wisteria Flower Picture".

The familiar anxiety and entanglement came to him again.

"Don't be ashamed. It's normal to have pressure and anxiety." Shengzi whispered in Gu Weijing's ear, "I also have pressure and anxiety. My father said, if you are participating in an art If you are not anxious enough before the exhibition, it only means that this exhibition is not important enough to you.”

of course.

When Uncle Sakai said this, he patted his belly and said the second half of the sentence. The weight loss journal said that some people will gain weight when they are born with anxiety. This is science, so the wife cannot blame him.

"But you must draw a line for yourself, the line between unprepared and ready, the line between immature and mature, the line between being able to participate in art exhibitions and being unable to participate in art exhibitions. When you feel that the composition of the picture has been finalized, the painting method When it’s time to think about it, you have to say to yourself in your heart, I’m ready.”

"Endless practice is not only beneficial. Painting the same work repeatedly will make you extremely proficient in brushwork and composition, but it will also allow mechanized muscle memory to replace your thinking. Gradually, you will no longer have the expectation of painting and the novelty of creating a world. feel."

"When your painting skills have crossed the mature boundary, repeated practice is no longer necessary. You need to relax yourself, even withdraw from painting, and start waiting."

"Wait?" Gu Weijing read the word.

"Yes, wait, wait quietly."

Katsuko Sakai repeated it. "Waiting for the spring flowers to bloom, waiting for the sparrows to chirp, waiting for Awang to be held in Jasmine's arms, waiting for me to be tempted to kiss you... It can be at any point in time, and it can happen on any occasion. . It is like a revelation in life, a node, a beam of light shining on you, so you believe from the bottom of your heart, right now, on this sunny afternoon."

"Techniques are always better, and proficiency has no end, so it's not your brushstrokes or your painting skills that tell you when you're ready. It's your heart that tells yourself that you're ready."

"When you pick up the pen, you must believe from the bottom of your heart and unswervingly that this is it, this is the painting. What is in front of me is the ultimate work to participate in the Singapore Art Exhibition. Believe from the bottom of your heart, in In a few hours, I will put down the brush, take a photo and send it to the organizing committee's email. It no longer matters whether I won the award or not. What matters is that I can completely record my current mood and emotions. ”

“Only in this way can you truly create works that satisfy you the most.”

"After all, as the saying goes, the organizing committee does not award awards to the painters who most want to win, but to the painters who deserve the awards the most."

Sakai Katsuko pointed to the easel to one side.

"Gu Jun, at this moment, I know very clearly that it is my "The Noise of the World", and I am ready."

Gu Weijing looked at the girl beside him silently.

He had never felt her so powerful, so hot, and so beautiful at this moment.

Obviously, a daughter and a mother have two completely different temperaments, but at this moment, he still saw the shadow of Mrs. Sakai in Miss Sakai.

"I've seen your painting, and if you're not confident enough, let me tell you, it's awesome."

Katsuko held her head high.

Face to face, eyes to eyes, their foreheads were almost touching.

Gu Weijing could clearly feel Miss Shengzi's warm breath blowing on his face.

"Tell me, I'm ready."

Those beautiful big lilac eyes blinked at him.

"I'm ready." Gu Weijing repeated.

Shengzi nodded with satisfaction and walked towards her easel.

"just in case……"

Gu Weijing couldn't help but gently called Shengzi again.

Miss Sakai turned and looked at him.

"Unwavering belief?"

"Yes, believe it firmly."

"Uh, what I mean is, what if after painting and submitting this manuscript, uh, what if after submitting the manuscript, I suddenly find that my condition is better and my technique is better two days later... then..."

Gu Weijing originally wanted to say that since all the manuscripts had been submitted, wouldn't it be a loss?

but.

Halfway through the words, he himself felt that his small farmer mentality of worrying about missing two ounces of wheat due to missing watering in the fields was a bit unpalatable.

She blushed in embarrassment.

(End of this chapter)