The Pentium Era - South to North

"Sister Shufang, can you remember your current posture, and your current expression? Indifferent, and a little bit disdainful."

"Okay." Gu Shufang said, "You don't need me to stay motionless in this position?"

Zhang Chen smiled and said: "It would be better if this could be done, but it would take several days and several hours a day. Even a professional model would find it difficult to do it, and he would have to rest in between."

"I can do it." Gu Shufang said without hesitation.

Zhang Chen looked at her. He also believed that Gu Shufang could do it. This woman had a tough heart under her seemingly weak appearance.

Zhang Chen nodded and said, "I believe Sister Shufang can do it, but don't force it, okay, you have to help me remember your current expression."

"You don't need to remember this." Gu Shufang sneered, "When I think of him, he has this expression. I'm used to it."

Zhang Chen was puzzled and couldn't help but ask: "Is it because Mr. Fu and his family favor boys over girls?"

Gu Shufang glanced at Zhang Chen and lowered her eyelids: "There are many things you don't know."

Zhang Chen couldn't ask any more questions. The two of them were silent for a while. They heard that Caizhen and Xiao Lin were back downstairs and continued to sing "Queen's Avenue East". Gu Shufang wanted to stand up, but Zhang Chen quickly stopped her and told her :

"Let them sing."

"Won't it affect you?"

"No, when I draw in, I can't hear the movement outside. By the way, Sister Shufang, even when we are chatting, sometimes I will be absent-minded, and sometimes...you talk to me, I I can’t hear it either, I hope you don’t mind.”

In the past, when Zhang Chen was painting, Jin Lili was beside him, and Zhang Chen would make her crazy. She would sit there and chatter. Zhang Chen would say "um" and "ah" while he was painting. Jin Lili said After waiting for a long time, he finally asked again and found that Zhang Chen actually didn't listen to a word. He was just talking about himself. Jin Lili was so angry that he came over to pinch his ears.

"I know, you painted it in." Gu Shufang smiled and said, "Actually, I discovered it a few days ago."

Zhang Chen also laughed. A few days ago, that was when he was drawing renderings.

"...There is a noble friend behind the coin. His youthful name remains unchanged and his name is Queen. Every time I do business, he follows me everywhere. His face is expressionless but he gathers achievements. I say goodbye to my confidant and go away to this city. I have to rely on great comrades to create new things. I mean, there are units everywhere for selling off-the-plan properties according to the buying and selling license, but the name may need to be changed in Mong Kok..."

Caizhen and Xiao Lin were singing below. Zhang Chen and Gu Shufang listened attentively for a while. Both of them thought the lyrics of the song were very interesting. Caizhen and the others sang in Cantonese, but Zhang Chen didn't understand. It was very clear. Gu Shufang just said one sentence in Cantonese and then repeated it in Mandarin.

"Sister Shufang speaks Cantonese so well?" Zhang Chen asked curiously.

"I can also speak Hainanese, but I never speak it." Gu Shufang said proudly.

While he was talking, Zhang Chen had finished the draft he made with charcoal strips. He habitually flicked the canvas a few times with his fingers to let the charcoal ash floating on the surface fall down, so that the color of the charcoal lines would become lighter. .

Next, Zhang Chen prepared to use brown paint to make a rough draft. He opened the oil painting box, squeezed the paint onto the palette, and then opened the cap of the turpentine bottle.

"What is this?" Gu Shufang asked, her nose twitching twice.

"Are you used to smelling turpentine?" Zhang Chen asked.

"It's okay, it's okay. It's a bit pungent, but it smells very clean." Gu Shufang said.

Zhang Chen laughed. He had never heard of people using cleansing to describe the smell, but it was true, "It is also used on patients in hospitals to relieve rheumatic pain, joint pain, muscle pain, neuralgia, etc." wait wait wait."

"No wonder I said this smell is so familiar." Gu Shufang said.

"Sister Shufang often goes to the hospital?"

"I won't go, but the memory of the hospital will be unforgettable."

The two continued chatting. Because of Caizhen and Xiaolin's unintentional intervention, the atmosphere of the chat was more relaxed than when they were just the two of them face to face. Gu Shufang's movements and facial expressions also became richer. This was what Zhang Chen needed. of.

If you want to express someone's sadness well, you'd better know how he is happy. The painter in the past often said this to Zhang Chen.

Gu Shufang had a question. She said, when you paint, why do you need a model to sit here for days and hours, pose an action, take a picture with a camera, and then paint against the photo? There are no color photos anymore.

"Yes, when photography technology appeared, people thought that painting was going to disappear, but it didn't. Think about it, why photographers took so many portraits, but none of them could surpass the Mona Lisa. Is it because Mona Lisa is beautiful and then there is no one more beautiful than her? No, Mona Lisa is not beautiful either.”

"Yes, then why is this?" Gu Shufang also asked strangely,

"Because photography is too restricted by the external environment, including the subject itself, the camera lens is dead and cold. It can only reflect everything it sees, but human eyes are not. Even if the Mona Lisa is reincarnated, find a There are so many photographers out there taking the photo, and I believe they can’t take a photo that’s more touching than the Mona Lisa.”

Zhang Chen said, Gu Shufang nodded thoughtfully, Zhang Chen continued:

"This goes back to your question, why do you need models instead of photos? Painting by an artist is actually a process of discovery and creation. "Mona Lisa" was completed by Mona Lisa and Leonardo da Vinci. It The Mona Lisa in Leonardo da Vinci's eyes and writings, and the real one, are actually two people."

"I understand what you mean by co-creation. But when you say discovery, what did you discover?" Gu Shufang asked.

"Discovering all the details, the changes in light, every subtle movement and smile of the characters, the painter captures the most beautiful moment of the model in every second of every day. The beauty I am talking about is not in the popular sense. Beauty in art is perfection in artistic creation, the kind of thing that impresses an animator the most, even if what he draws is a pair of shoes or an apple.

"A good work must be the accumulation of many such moments. This is also the difference between painting and photography. Photography can only discover one moment, but it cannot accumulate. I said this, but I don't know if I made it clear?"

Gu Shufang nodded and said, "I understand vaguely."

Zhang Chen laughed: "This hazy understanding, what kind of understanding is it?"

Gu Shufang also smiled: "I just seem to understand but not understand."

"It's actually very simple. For example, as I said before, to draw your indifference and disdain, I can't draw a rigid look of disdain. That would be too conceptual. Why is Mona Lisa's smile so mysterious? Because her smile There is a story behind it. The audience may not know this story, but Da Vinci knew it. Da Vinci painted this story into the smile, and the smile is not empty.

"This is also the importance of communication between painters and models. For example, if I don't know what Sister Shufang told me earlier, what would happen if I painted your indifference and disdain? It's very likely that It will make people think that this woman is very mean. To be honest, that was the impression I had when I first saw Sister Shufang..."

As Zhang Chen spoke, he looked at Gu Shufang and saw that she was sitting there, listening to him quietly without getting angry. Zhang Chen continued:

"Now, after I heard some things, I changed my view. How should I put it? When I paint this kind of indifference and disdain, I will have more sympathy and empathy. I'm sorry, I am talking about creation. The painter's brush has color and attitude. When I paint your indifference and disdain, the painting will be thicker, more complex, and more profound.

"People who look at it will feel that there is a story behind the expression, although they don't know what kind of story it is. In our jargon, it means that the painting is interesting and can be read."

Gu Shufang sighed and said, "I'm afraid if I tell this story too much, I will become not only indifferent, but hateful!"

Both of them were silent. Downstairs, Caizhen and Xiao Lin seemed to have finished singing. Xiao Lin returned upstairs and closed the door with a loud bang. He must have been so excited that he used his hands instead of his hands to sing. The foot is used to close the door.

When he went upstairs, he must have looked upstairs, but he didn't see Gu Shufang.

"Xiao Biyangzi!"

Gu Shufang cursed softly in Suzhou dialect, which Zhang Chen couldn't understand, but from her tone of voice and expression, it was clear that she was scolding Xiao Lin, or maybe not just Xiao Lin.