The Versatile Master Artist

He himself wasn’t quite sure whether Gu Weijing’s judgment was correct.

Hanks, after all, had only worked as an artist’s assistant and wasn’t a renowned great painter with exquisite painting techniques.

He had no problem appraising the overall effect or larger details of two paintings, determining which one was superior or inferior.

But when it came to whether the recent strokes on the canvas were a bit thick,

he was somewhat at a loss.

However, if it was too thick, one could just scrape it off with a painting knife and paint again.

After all, it wasn’t an unalterable pen drawing; scraping off a mistake was no big deal.

The creative process of those oil painting masters often required alterations and corrections.

Gu Weijing picked up the painting knife beside him.

He selected a painting knife with a relatively short and wide blade, felt it for a moment, and gently slid it over the surface of the just-painted, yet-to-form oil film on the paint.

Gu Weijing employed the flat pressure technique of the painting knife.

This technique was not complex in the realm of painting knife skills, simply using the painting knife parallel to the surface of the canvas to gently shave off a thin layer of paint.

Based on this technique, Gu Weijing made a slight modification.

He pushed the painting knife to the end of the brushstroke, following the touch of the flat pressure knife, gently raising the side of the knife.

Alongside the brushstroke styling of Thundercloud Heaven, he deftly shaped cloud-like patterns with the painting knife on the side of the canvas.

When oil painters handle poorly executed brushwork with a painting knife, they typically scrape it off to repaint, as painting knives are not as handy as brushes.

Even if some painters could use the painting knife for shaping, it would be in a rather generic manner.

According to some letters from James Whistler, a legendary painting knife master, and some studio rumors,

it’s said that some true experts with the painting knife can precisely judge the thickness of the paint they scrape off.

They can accurately control themselves to only scrape off a 1~2 millimeter thick surface layer.

However, many painters believe this is pure bragging.

After Gu Weijing acquired legendary level painting knife skills, he could actually achieve this, or even more precisely.

He could paint precisely as he wished.

If he wanted to cut finer, he could cut finer.

Gu Weijing experimented with it.

Now, he could even gently rub off the oxidized film that formed on the paint surface and air with a painting knife, without affecting the brightness of the paint at all.

To other painters, anyone claiming to do this would seem to be joking.

When a skill level reaches its peak, the magic it can produce is indeed an experience of unbelievability for ordinary people who haven’t and probably will never get a glimpse of this domain.

In history, similar figures, such as the oil-pouring master in the tale of skill through practice, or the wielder of a giant axe who could trim a nose without harming the skin in the story of Zhuangzi’s "Craftsman Shi," seemed unbelievable to others.

Legends are a term of respect for the most outstanding individuals in a field.

Whether you believe it or not, they can do it.

Compared to the madness of using the back of the knife to press oil paint for mixing while painting the Little Prince, merely fixing some overly thick paint doesn’t count as much.

"No... the use of that painting knife is kinda impressive."

To Gu Weijing, it was a technique that appeared "ordinary."

To Hanks, watching beside, the scene seemed like a joke.

"I apologize. But did your high school offer specific courses on painting knives?" Hanks finally couldn’t keep silent.

He could accept scraping off poorly painted parts with a painting knife to repaint; he could accept struggling with a painting knife to make corrections.

Yet, this effortlessly light stroke here and there was something Hanks couldn’t accept.

Hanks felt goosebumps rising all over.

Hanks observed the touches of the painting knife on Gu Weijing’s canvas; his view was not enough to thoroughly appreciate the subtleties of Gu Weijing’s painting knife techniques, only to get a rough idea.

But even that rough idea was quite frightening.

Impressionism often employed thick painting techniques, using relatively thick paint.

However, "thick painting" is a relative concept based on classical "thin painting techniques," not an exaggerated thickness.

At most, it was only a few millimeters thick, far less than the buttery texture of specifically painting knife work.

At the start, Gu Weijing didn’t dip into overly sticky and glossy paint.

The brush strokes on the canvas were just a shallow layer.

In Hanks’s eyes, the control Gu Weijing had over the painting knife was just right; not only did he press a layer of oil paint down, but without exposing any original color or fiber texture of the canvas.

He maintained it right at the verge of transparency but without breaking through the light.

If this could be attributed to coincidence, his effortless modification to cloud-like, delicate, fresh knife touches on the canvas surface was utterly a demonstration of immense familiarity with painting knife textures.

"I’m just used to using the painting knife."

Gu Weijing said casually.

There was no need for further explanation.

Gu Weijing dared to paint in front of Hanks so openly, without fear of anyone noticing his adept handling of the painting knife.

There aren’t many in the world who use a painting knife well, though they are not rare.

As for the depth of a legendary level painting knife, that’s not something you can see with just a casual stroke of the painting knife.