Chapter 220 - An Introduction to Oil Paint and the Artist

Yujia would recognize what typical tubes of oil paint looked like anywhere. Furthermore, in this black wooden box, the tiny characters of "Oil Paint" were carved into the edge. 

Seeing her expression light up, Yunhe peered into the box as well, hesitant. "What's that?" he asked.

Yujia couldn't contain her excitement. She ran her fingers along the tubes, picking up a tube of red paint. Each tube was labeled with the color of the paint, and there were exactly ten tubes fit inside the box. Meanwhile, on the inside of the lid, a fairly decent-sized glass palette fit perfectly. A few other supplies, such a container of paint thinner, an oil medium, and some palette knives rested in the empty space next to the paint tubes. Brushes of all shapes took up the rest of the space in the kit.

"It's oil paint," Yujia explained, unscrewing the cap, "You've definitely never seen it, but let's say that I have a little bit of a … history, with it."

Thinking about it, her history with oil paint was far more positive than her history with acrylic, in which she may or may not have consumed a whole bottle of orange acrylic.  

In her past career, she painted with both oil and acrylic paint. Acrylic had its strengths when painting, such as the quick drying speed, the texture that she could create with it, and the simplicity of the supplies. Meanwhile, oil paint also had its strengths. The slow drying speed, which would allow her to take her time and correct any mistakes easily, was one of the best parts. 

Overall, she liked using both mediums, so when she came to this world— where watercolor was the most popular medium— she admitted that she missed both kinds of paint. 

It would be extremely difficult for Yujia to imagine herself with acrylic paint in this time and age, especially with acrylic being made of plastic— something far too technologically advanced for this era, as well as something that she had no clue on how to make. Ever since creating pencils, Yujia always wanted to give creating oil paint a try. However, being caught up in all the events of her life, Yujia hadn't quite figured out how to create it yet.

Therefore, seeing a full set of oil paints, a gift from her master, did bring a bright smile on her face that she couldn't quite wipe off. 

She imagined that this gift might be because of the events of this morning, where he told her about his wife. His wife was probably the one who created these oil paints. 

Oil paints could generally last a very long time, as long as they were stored well. But with some more careful thinking, it felt like the story that Yujia's master told her was one from nearly sixty years ago. She wasn't sure how well these oil paints would age if they were made so many years ago.

Or perhaps, this set that her master sent her was a new one. Everything looked pristine, untouched, and quite new. She did recall that her master did some inventing himself. Perhaps he learnt how oil paints were made from his wife, and created a custom set for her. That was the most logical belief. 

Regardless, this gift made Yujia's heart warm up. She really had to sincerely thank her master for this later.

To say that she was grateful might also even be an understatement. The box kit that her master sent her had essentially all the supplies that Yujia would ever need. She wondered how long it took to create all of this, and how much time it took for her master's wife— the presumably first individual who brought oil paint to this world— to figure out the formulas and items to make these materials. 

Even if Yujia figured out how to make oil paint, it would also take her a long time to figure out how to make all the other necessary supplies, like the solvents and primers. For everything to come in one kit, already premade, was an almost heaven-sent gift. 

She could finally paint with some of these familiar supplies again. 

As Yujia took out the tubes of paint and the glass palette, Yunhe continued watching, eyes narrow. 

He had never seen this before. Yujia could imagine his confusion. Yunhe was an artist, but he was used to painting with inksticks and inkstones, water and brush. He didn't know of the existence of any other type of medium.

Thus, while she set everything up, Yujia explained to him, "Senior Brother, let me introduce to you one of the most wonderous mediums in the world— if this paint set works properly."

"It doesn't look like much," he stated, leaning a little closer to get a better view.

Yujia nodded. She admitted that the packaging of everything wasn't the finest. In Lingxin, the art supplies were always top tier, with inksticks engraved with the prettiest details and brushes made of the purest furs. The paint tubes, labels, and box were all made of relatively simple materials. Because of this simplicity, Yunhe wasn't as in awe at the contents in the box as Yujia was, which she understood. 

He didn't know how amazing oil paints were yet.

"Yes, but what's inside is what counts," Yujia responded simply. She squeezed a little bit of the red paint onto the glass palette. 

Yunhe, seeing the red paint come out of the tube, gawked. "What… is that?"

"Paint."

He shook his head in disbelief. "Why is it that consistency? And you don't add water or anything… it just comes out like that?"

"Yep. It's why it's called oil paint, Senior Brother. The oil in this paint is the reason for the liquid state of the paint. To prevent the paint from drying out, it's also stored in these tube-like containers."

He paused for a moment, then slowly nodded. 

"Ah. I kind of get it. So it's just a type of ink that comes in a different form, and you don't need to create the ink yourself with water?" Yunhe rested a finger on his chin.

Yujia smiled and nodded. "Essentially."

The other tubes in the box were the colors of yellow, blue, black, and white. Each color had two tubes, with the black and white tubes being slightly larger than the others. And truly, these were all the colors that she needed. 

Yujia knew her color theory well— mixing primary colors and the shades of black and white would allow her to create pretty much all of the shades that she needed.

Individually, she squeezed out a little more of each color on the outer edge of the palette. She then took the palette knife, scooping some of the red paint to the center of the palette. Another scoop of yellow paint was added to the side of the red, then blended together to create a brilliant, vibrant shade of orange.

Yunhe watched her do all of this attentively.

Now that she mixed this orange shade, Yujia realized that she was missing some key supplies. In particular, she needed a surface to perform a demonstration of the wonders of oil paint on.

She stood up, giving a glance at the materials she had on the table, then at Yunhe. "I need to get some items. Wait a second."