PROGRESS REPORT:

 COMPLETE !


"Ancient Waterfall Scroll"
by Randy Leibowitz Dean

Acrylic and assorted decoration on carved birch plywood

My deep respect for the Japanese Masters of wood block printing

( ukiyo-e ), ink painting (sumi-e) and calligraphy would have me not even attempt to copy. Theirs is an art that is practiced over a lifetime often passed down through generations.  Therefore, my intention is to be inspired by the work and present my interpretation in a fun, abstracted approach.

"Ancient Waterfall Scroll"

acrylic and assorted decoration

on birch plywood

 48" X 20"

 

 

Ancient Waterfall Scroll - details

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am honored to have this piece in the 

Skew the Masters

exhibition featuring the work of Ciel Gallery members inspired by the Masters

through the month of May, 2015

opening reception during gallery crawl, South End, Charlotte, North Carolina

Friday, May 1

 

please visit  www.cielcharlotte.com for more details

 

ON THE EASEL

'Ancient Waterfall Scroll'

I am carving into a beautiful piece of birch plywood.  The dark part you see here is actually the glue between the layers of ply. I am thinking Japanese scrolls, Japanese woodblock prints, the floating world of Japan and the work of 

Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎) 1760 – 1849

http://www.katsushikahokusai.org/

 
 https://www.artsy.net/artist/katsushika-hokusai

You may know of his work:

I find this quote attributed to Hokusai most inspiring:

In the postscript to this work, Hokusai writes: “ From around the age of six, I had the habit of sketching from life. I became an artist, and from fifty on began producing works that won some reputation, but nothing I did before the age of seventy was worthy of attention. At seventy-three, I began to grasp the structures of birds and beasts, insects and fish, and of the way plants grow. If I go on trying, I will surely understand them still better by the time I am eighty-six, so that by ninety I will have penetrated to their essential nature. At one hundred, I may well have a positively divine understanding of them, while at one hundred and thirty, forty, or more I will have reached the stage where every dot and every stroke I paint will be alive. May Heaven, that grants long life, give me the chance to prove that this is no lie. ”

So I study his work and then carve and paint my interpretation. In my un-mastered skill of carving and seeing. The older I get the more I realize how much more there is to learn.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Here after much carving with chisel and hammer I finally get to the details.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now I begin the painting.  I use thinned acrylic paints and ink in many layers and go back and carve into the color. It is a process that I have worked out over the years that gives me the depth and feel I enjoy.  I will also leave much of that beautiful grain show through. It looks like water already near the bottom of the scroll doesn't it?  
Oh, I love to trick the eye. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am planning on completing this work in the next few days in time for the up coming 
May, 2015 exhibit at my favorite gallery:

Ciel Gallery
128 East Park Avenue
Charlotte, NC  28203
phone: 704.496.9417

704-496-9417

hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11 - 6, 
Gallery Crawl, Southend, Charlotte - first Friday of every month 11 - 9 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I thank you for visiting my blog.

ON THE EASEL - to be continued