Reborn as a great painter, with a system, you can be willful

Chapter 365, Performance, Backstage, Discovering New Themes
Jiang Zhe held the painting in his right hand and the brush-wiping cloth in his left hand. He wiped off the excess paint on the tip of the brush, then placed the oil brush in a small bucket of turpentine and cleaned it carefully.

Since he accepted the two challenges, he dared not relax. However, after a month, he created a total of six watercolors, four oil paintings, and copied many famous works. Unfortunately, half of them were excellent works, and the other half were fine works. No works were handed down from generation to generation.

Teacher Hu came to the studio and announced the New Year's Day holiday arrangements. In the afternoon, there was a festival celebration performance, and all students were to be the audience.

"Happy holidays to everyone!" After Teacher Hu said this, the atmosphere in the studio immediately changed from quiet and solemn to relaxed and happy.

Everyone was talking to each other, discussing how to relax in the afternoon, what snacks to bring to watch the show, and what to do tomorrow...

"Jiang Zhe, let's go and have lunch." A classmate called Jiang Zhe.

"You guys go first, I'll pack my things." Jiang Zhe responded.

In addition to spending the New Year's Day holiday with his family, Jiang Zhe estimated that he also had some other things to do.

He looked at the work on the easel. This was a work he had drawn after visiting a farmer's market, depicting a vegetable stall in the market. He was going to take it back to his studio and find time to revise it.

As soon as I walked downstairs, I saw Chen Yan waiting for me.

"Chen Yan, I'll go to the parking lot first."

"I'll go with you."

Jiang Zhe said, "Be careful not to get rubbed against me. Go to the canteen first and line up. I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay, hurry up." Chen Yan was in a good mood.

Jiang Zhe put his work away and went to the canteen. They bought some food and found a seat.

Chen Yan said, "I'm going to go to the cultural performance this afternoon. There will be a program for our modeling major."

Jiang Zhe asked while eating, "What show is it?"

"Aerobics."

“You perform too?”

"What do you think if I jump?"

Jiang Zhe said firmly: "Just let me watch it alone."

Chen Yan smiled and replied: "Okay, I'll only show it to you."

Jiang Zhe asked, "If you don't want to go on stage, what are you going to do early?"

"There are not enough people to do makeup, so our teacher asked us to go backstage to help. Do you want to come?" Chen Yan asked.

Jiang Zhe wanted to refuse, but suddenly he remembered that he had been to many places to collect materials in the past month, had tried many themes, and was thinking about new themes, so he asked, "Where is the backstage? Is it convenient for me to go in?"

"There are a lot of people backstage, it's okay." Chen Yan said.

Jiang Zhe asked again: "What time do you go in the afternoon?"

"Half past one in the afternoon."

Jiang Zhe estimated that he should be able to make it in time. "Okay, I'll go home first. Then, I'll wait for you at the entrance of the auditorium."

"Okay." Chen Yan picked up a piece of beef for Jiang Zhe.

After dinner, Jiang Zhe returned to the studio, put away his works, took some time to call some friends and send them holiday greetings in advance, and then rushed back to school.

After parking the car in the parking lot, he put the water cup and sketchbook into his bag.

Behind the stage is a subject that I have never touched before, and some clips from it may give me some inspiration.

He carried his bag and walked slowly to the school auditorium.

The auditorium is next to the gymnasium and can accommodate all the teachers and students of the school. According to rumors from some former students, when the auditorium was designed, the Conservatory of Music wanted to install a pipe organ, but unfortunately, the budget was too large.

Jiang Zhe came to the door of the auditorium and saw many students entering one after another. Most of them were students majoring in music and performance.

When you meet someone you know, you can't help but say hello.

He was a little overwhelmed by the continuous talking, so he took the opportunity to retreat to a small path on the side to avoid attracting attention.

"Jiang Zhe, why are you here?" When Jiang Zhe heard the voice, he knew it was Yuan Xiaohan.

Looking back, I saw Yuan Xiaohan and a few other girls coming from the other side of the path. Each of them was holding a package, which should be their performance clothes.

Jiang Zhe couldn’t remember the names of the other people, so he could only smile and nod to say hello.

Recently, Yuan Xiaohan had a show that was selected for a local TV station's evening party and became a big hit. At this moment, she was in high spirits, "Jiang Zhe, I haven't seen you for a long time, why don't you ask me to be your model?"

Jiang Zhe said: "The subject matter of my paintings has changed recently."

There was a girl behind them, smiling and saying, "Jiang Zhe, are you waiting to see the beauties? If you want to see them, we'll take you in and let you see them openly."

Jiang Zhe denied: "No, I'm waiting for someone."

"Your girlfriend?" the girl continued to ask.

"Oh, stop kidding, time's up." Yuan Xiaohan changed the subject and said goodbye to Jiang Zhe.

Soon, Jiang Zhe saw Chen Yan and several of her classmates coming over.

Several people saw Jiang Zhe from a distance, and someone teased Chen Yan: "Why don't you bring your boyfriend over to help?"

"He's a great painter, and you're asking him to do work for you?"

"He just came here to wait for me." Chen Yan explained.

"Then you better be careful, there are a lot of people backstage..."

While responding, Chen Yan came to Jiang Zhe.

Maybe she took it to heart, or maybe she was just showing off in front of everyone. She directly pulled Jiang Zhe's arm. Jiang Zhe greeted Chen Yan's classmates and entered the auditorium together.

There were some people sitting in the front row of the auditorium.

The stage was in chaos. Some people were preparing to go on stage, some were shouting out the beat and moving around, and several teachers and students were adjusting the lights and projection.

There were also people shuttling between the stage and the audience, each busy with their own things.

Jiang Zhe and his group walked through the audience seats and entered the backstage through the small door on the left.

The backstage is divided into several preparation rooms and dressing rooms, with passages on both sides leading to the front desk and the control room on the second floor.

Jiang Zhe walked and looked.

The auditorium's facilities are relatively new and more modern than the cinema auditoriums I remember.

A female teacher said to Chen Yan and the others, "Wait a moment, they will finish the rehearsal and then start putting on makeup, you guys take a break first."

The so-called rest is just to find a place where you won’t get in the way and wait.

The teacher saw Jiang Zhe at a glance and instructed, "That's the changing area over there, don't come in without permission." After saying that, without waiting for Jiang Zhe to respond, he was called away by another teacher.

Jiang Zhe had nothing to do, so he went to look for materials wherever he could.

The preparation room and dressing room were crowded with people coming in and out from time to time.

He heard someone making arrangements at the front entrance: "Okay, instrumental music, get on stage! Recitation, get ready..."

Jiang Zhe followed the sound and came to the passage, calmly observing every busy person.

A teacher who was directing the scene, who seemed to be a young teacher from the Youth League Committee, was holding a walkie-talkie and directing the people in the control room on the second floor to adjust the projection. There were also people with staff carrying props. Several people participating in the rehearsal just walked from the stage to the exit door. Then a group of students who had not changed into performance costumes came to the center of the stage and began to take their seats...

Jiang Zhe watched everyone's actions above
Wanting to see these scenes, he thought of some of Degas' works. Then, because of the effect of the shining lights, he thought of some paintings with bar and dance themes by Renoir and Manet, and began to think about the subject matter of expressing the backstage.

Chen Yan came over to him and asked, "Are you bored?"

Jiang Zhe said: "No, it's quite interesting."

Chen Yan said, "Wait a minute, our show will start. If you don't feel comfortable staying here, go to the front row and watch the rehearsal."

"You don't have to worry about me."

Chen Yan asked: "What do you want to do after the cultural performance is over?"

Jiang Zhe said, "Tonight, there are celebrations on several pedestrian streets. We can go watch the fireworks and go shopping."

"Okay, let's finish here and go." Chen Yan was very happy.

"Chen Yan, let's start putting on makeup." A student called out.

Chen Yan ran to help with makeup.

Jiang Zhe followed.

The dressing room is equipped with a row of mirrors and suitable lighting to facilitate the actors to remove and put on makeup. There are seven or eight people in dance costumes sitting in these regular positions to put on makeup.

However, there were too many people participating in the performance, the backstage was very chaotic, and there were not enough regular makeup booths.

Most of the people participating in the performance just find a place to sit down and let the person in charge of makeup help them with their makeup.

Jiang Zhe saw that the people responsible for makeup were basically teachers and students.

There are several teachers with good makeup skills, and they have students lining up to do their work.

Chen Yan and several classmates have already started putting makeup on the students who are preparing to perform aerobics.

Jiang Zhe took out his sketchbook and scanned the characters. He began to record interesting images with his eyes, heart, and sketches. The people in formal attire were probably the hosts, rehearsing their lines. There was a row of small lights on the makeup mirror, which was a very special light. There were a few people rummaging through boxes and cabinets looking for something...

When he was very immersed in the game, he suddenly heard someone calling him. "Jiang Zhe, what are you doing here?"

Jiang Zhe saw that the person who greeted him was a girl majoring in music, who had appeared in a work in the training room before.

"I'm waiting for someone here," he replied.

"Do you know how to put on makeup? Can you help me?" the girl asked.

"Sorry, I don't know how." Jiang Zhe replied and put away the sketchbook.

The girl wanted to say something else, but a teacher spoke up: "Xie Jie, come here. I have two or three more people here, and it will be your turn soon."

The girl agreed, glanced at Jiang Zhe, and left angrily.

Jiang Zhe felt that using a sketchbook was too conspicuous, so he started using the system to record.

After the honor level is upgraded, the system's functions are enriched. It can not only record some painting information, but also record the information in the form of simulated painting when it is inconvenient for him to take a camera. However, this function is still a bit simple.

After Chen Yan finished her work, she pulled Jiang Zhe to the audience seats and watched the rehearsal while waiting.

At 2:30 in the afternoon, teachers and students arrived at the auditorium one after another.

The performance started on time at three o'clock.

Many programs received rounds of applause and attracted a lot of comments.

When a dozen girls majoring in modeling began to perform aerobics, Chen Yan asked Jiang Zhe in a low voice, "How are they doing?"

Jiang Zhe clapped along with everyone else and responded quietly, "Very good."

Chen Yan said: "I dance better."

(End of this chapter)