Chapter 128 – Wind, Water, Cloud (3)
“Nature is ever changing and impossible to apply the proof by exhaustion. It’s not something someone with no background like you should ask about.”
Gu Shishi didn’t even lift a brow, but she emphasized on the second half of what she said.
The bouffant dress girl looked unhappy immediately.
And then, Gu Shishi’s paint brush had already started tracing in the middle of her painting paper.
The bouffant dress girl immediately put on a sarcastic smile.
“I decide what I want to learn! If all I want to learn is to draw lines, why do I need to pay for your premium class?!”
Gu Shishi didn’t say a word, as though she didn’t even hear her.
Her paintbrush never stopped.
Ling Xiaomei, standing to one side with her hands still balled into fists, said, “Please be quiet.”
“Yo! Do you have a leg to stand on with your skill level?”
Ling Xiaomei was flushed. Thinking that she was about to quit anyway and didn’t really care about the consequences, she stood up with a dark face!
But before she could walk over, she heard Gu Shishi’s voice.
“Meimei, can help me add some water~”
Ling Xiaomei stopped in the middle of her action.
“Oh, alright.”
As she poured some water in from a pot into the empty palette, she couldn’t help but look over at Gu Shishi’s drawing paper curiously.
She has a background in art and her strength was western painting style. She could grasp the drawing of wind; after all, the wind makes the leaves move.
But when it came to water and clouds, she found it very difficult to depict without using colors or lines.
She was stumped yesterday when her student brought it up. She was even more nervous after she was mocked and had even more difficulty coming up with any method to depict it.
She finally thought about some ways around like last night, such as drawing a boat or something.
She was very curious how Gu Shishi would handle it.
“Gongbi style!”
When she turned and looked, Ling Xiaomei was stunned.
When she saw Gu Shishi drawing the lines, she thought that Gu Shishi was trying to teach the bouffant dress girl the basics.
She hadn’t expected that during the short moment while she added water for her, an antique-looking city had appeared on her painting paper.
The city was on a platform made out of bricks and tapered upward. The roof was decorated with dragon-head ridge ornament. There were a total of three floors with each floor having doorways on each side.
HEML – 128 – dragon-headed ornament.png
Picture: dragon-head ridge ornament
Source: flickr.com
At a glance, it was no doubt a dignified and magnificent structure!
“This is… Zhengyangmen?”
Ling Xiaomei, a native of the northern region, couldn’t help but let out an exclamation when she saw the arch bridge that Gu Shishi had just depicted.
The bouffant dress girl, who had been making fun of Gu Shishi’s skill level since she had entered the room, also started to look a bit uneasy.
Gu Shishi’s gongbi, even in the eyes of a layman, was still very appealing.
She was painting in such speed and putting down each line with no hesitation, as though she was drawing from a photo.
The bouffant girl didn’t step away like Ling Xiaomei did; she watched the entire time and saw each stroke clearly.
This was virtuosic!
It was even more realistic than sketching!
“But… this isn’t what I’ve asked for…”
She added uncomfortably!
Her voice stopped the very next second, as though someone had choked her.
After Gu Shishi had finished with the arch bridge, she took the plate of water from Ling Xiaomei.
She soaked the paint brush into the water in its entirety. Once it was fully wet, she brushed her pen over the arch bridge.
All of a sudden, the water caused the ink to spread and the concise lines made from the black ink earlier smear. (see wash painting technique)
Seemingly, the people on top of the bridge looked like flowers in fog, their real shapes difficult to detect.
“Cloud!”
Ling Xiaomei couldn’t help but call out in joy.