The Gongsheng examination was at least a month away, so Jiang Yan found a hotel to stay temporarily.

The next day, I walked around Lin'an City to buy everything I needed, especially paints. Even the cheapest paints require some.

But what he didn't expect was that no matter where he went, when he saw Jiang Chan, no one would sell to him no matter what the price. Even the street bookstalls avoided him. Apart from Qian Tong, he couldn't think of anyone else who would sell to him.

Do this.

It costs too much to stay in a hotel every day, so the first thing Jiang Yan solved was the problem of accommodation.

After solving the problem of housing, the most important issues now are paint and making money.

Making money is not difficult for Jiang Qian. One of his paintings can be sold for some silver, rarely paint. No one in Lin'an City is willing to sell it to him, so the only way is to make it himself.

A painter cannot use the painting method without paint, which is equivalent to a swordsman without a sword.

The reason why he refused to buy paint from Tongbao Pavilion was not only because of Qian Tong's humiliation, but also because he simply couldn't afford it.

Things like pens, inks, paper and inkstones all start with a few taels or even dozens of taels of silver, while pigments are negotiated for gold.

Fortunately, Jiang Gu knew where to find colored stones for making pigments, and that was a medicinal material store.

Most pigments are made from minerals, and these minerals are often used as medicine.

With the mentality of giving it a try, he visited a few medicinal shops, but he didn't expect to find some green stones and some cinnabar. He only spent twenty or thirty taels of silver, even the cheapest ones were cheaper than him.

The paper bundles were several times more expensive, which made Jiang Yan lament that the income in the countryside of Nanping Town could not afford such consumption.

In the Xuan Kingdom, only some special craftsmen could make colored stones into pigments, but for Jiang Yan, this was no secret, and the production process was not difficult. It was just extraction and dissolution.

Jiang Yan found two pieces of cloth in the yard of the inn, wrapped some green stones from the medicine shop in the cloth, then smashed them one after another with a hammer, took out the broken pieces and started grinding them again.

When the green stone became powdery, Jiang Gu found a basin and washed the green stone powder with water. After naturally settling for a long time, the water of the green stone powder was clearly divided into three colors: dark green, medium green and light green.

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Jiang Yan divided the three layers into three parts and continued to settle for half a day. He poured out the clear liquid on the top layer, evaporated the remaining solution over high heat, and ground the sediment into powder to obtain pigment powder.

The entire production process only took two days. A total of four pigments were made from green stone and cinnabar, with different shades of first green, second green, third green and vermilion.

Jiang Yan mixed glutinous rice water with pigments and then began to paint. Because the equipment used was relatively simple, the pigments were still slightly grainy when used, but it was still better than nothing.

Soon, a green tree appeared on the drawing paper, with both form and spirit.

This should be regarded as a low-quality painting, but Jiang Yan frowned slightly when he looked at the painting. He discovered a big problem when he was painting just now.

That's because the paints he made were of really poor quality, completely different from what Lu Daoxuan originally gave him.

The biggest difference between the pigments made from these medicinal materials and real pigments is that they have no aura. The real pigment raw materials are colored stones that have absorbed the aura of heaven and earth. In this way, after painting, the aura in the pigments complements the spiritual power of the painter.

The disparity in the pigments caused Jiang Gu to lose more than twice his spiritual power when using the Danqing method. There was a lag in the strokes, which affected his painting skills, and he was still unable to obtain the most perfect colors.

Even if it affects the real level, it is still enough to draw some inferior paintings.

If you want better paints, you need to make more money. Jiang Yan remembered what Mr. Lu said. The correct thing is to make more money and buy them elsewhere.

Regarding how to make money, Jiang Lun's most convenient job was to make a living as a painter, but Mr. Lu did not allow him to use it in front of others, so selling paintings became Jiang Lun's only way to make a living.

Early in the morning, Jiang Yan packed up his things and prepared to go to Shanglin Academy in Lin'an City to take a look. Yunzhou has twenty-three cities under its jurisdiction, and each city has an academy that continuously supplies the Wenfu with useful materials.

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Shanglin Academy has thousands of students, so selling paintings here is naturally the best place, especially Qian Tong, no matter how powerful he is, he would not dare to come here to find trouble.

The academy is the largest and most luxurious building in Lin'an City. The walls at the entrance are carved with dragons and phoenixes, and the blue bricks and tiles are magnificent. The plaque hanging at the door has the four characters "Shanglin Academy" written in iron and silver hooks.

Jiang Yan was a little shocked when he saw these four characters. The handwriting was as strong as a dragon circling a phoenix, and Jiang Yan could clearly feel a powerful force attached to these characters.

"Sure enough, something extraordinary must be made by a famous artist."

Jiang Yan heard from Lu Daoxuan that all the ways in Yuling Continent are connected to the sky. There is a painting method for painting, and there is also a unique way to practice calligraphy. This plaque is obviously written by an expert. If it is activated, it will have miraculous powers.

Poor literature and rich martial arts do not exist in this world. After all, pens, inks, paper and inkstones are sold at sky-high prices, and most of those who can study at Shanglin Academy are children of wealthy families.

There are many teahouses and restaurants near the academy, as well as many cultural treasure shops. There are even people setting up stalls along the street to write calligraphy, painting fans and inscriptions, and the business is very good.

Jiang Yan found a place with the most people in line and took a look. An old man dressed like a foreigner was painting for someone, and there was a very conspicuous market sign next to him.

"Lin An, Yan Liliu, does not use a brush but his fingers when he draws.

His vertical and horizontal movements are full of curiosity, and his techniques in his later years are even more alarming.

Painting a tiger for me, the air is strong and the gully is cold,

At the beginning of the ink falling, birds and birds avoid each other, but when color is ready, jackals and wolves are worried."

The old man named Yan Liliu didn't know how good a painter he was, but he actually let the painting get rid of the shackles of the pen and swayed on the paper with his fingers. This reminded Jiang Yan of some masters of "Roaring Books" and "Shooting Books".

Jiang Gu despised this kind of thing sincerely. He did not follow the right path and chose a side road. If he was not good at calligraphy and painting, he found another way to make money by making mischief. Little did he know that this was discrediting the real calligraphy and painting.

But at this level, there are people queuing up to buy paintings, so I can do it myself. This seems to be a way to make money.

I just did it, and the place was chosen next to Yan Liliu.

The sun was a little bright, so Jiang Gu set up a stall under a willow tree and wrote a market advertisement for himself just like Yan Liliu.

Yan Liliu next to him asked for 10 taels per painting, and he wanted at least 20 taels.

"The family has four walls and a breeze on its sleeves. It sells literature and paintings, and earns money by servicing letters.

Sixty taels for large size, 40 taels for medium size, 20 taels for small size, banners, 10 taels of couplets, fans, 5 taels of squares, and bring your own paint.

Any gift of food or food is not as good as silver. If you give it to someone else, I may not like it. If you give it in cash, you will feel happy in your heart.

Both calligraphy and painting are good. Gifts are entangled, and credit is especially bad. His words are clumsy and blunt, and he cannot accompany a gentleman to have useless conversations. It costs more to paint bamboo than to buy bamboo, and the paper is six feet high and costs three thousand. Let him talk about the old talk and just pass it on.

When the autumn wind passes by my ears."

The core of this advertisement, which is more than a hundred words long, is actually one word: I am short of money!

This was Jiang Yan's first time selling calligraphy and paintings, and he was a bit shy. He was too embarrassed to speak and yell while sitting behind his stall. He only hoped that Yan Liliu would bring him over to take a look at him.

The whole Yunzhou people like to dance with writing and ink, so there is also the custom of "if there is no calligraphy and painting in the house, it is not an old family". Hanging a famous calligraphy and painting at home will double the taste and social status.
Chapter completed!