"Paso" pictures updated.

[Artesano]

The point I was making is that, if I am not totally hopeless at estimating the size of that thing, you have been carving about 20 square metres of intricate detail in 1132 hours. Which means that the ratio fast professional (you)/ slow amateur (me) is a factor of 10.

Quite smaller , actually- it's about 3 meters long (the main part) by 1,3 or 1,5 m. wide , and 60 cm. high.Maybe 6 sq meters of carving , + the pieces at the corners , + the end pieces , and some more stuff...My rough estimation was that I carved an area the size of an A4 sheet in about 3-4 hours. It could be faster , if I carved the same motifs both sides of the center line in each panel , but it would be boring to death , so I experimented with variations and changes. The key to fast carving is , as allways , to use the biggest gouge possible for every part of the carving.

[Frank&Earnest]

My apologies. My eyeballing is still very good: two sides 3m long + two sides 1.5 m long and a height of 0.5-0.6 m is exactly what I had guessed. It is my mental arithmetic that shows signs of senility . I multiplied the length by 2 instead of dividing by 2 hence approx 20 m2 instead of approx 5 m2.

It is disappointing to realise I am more stupid than I thougth, but the saving grace is that I am less slow as a carver than I thought, then...

[underfoot]

stunning Ivan as usual, I enjoy seeing the evolution of your abstractions in these earlier pieces, the form, the curves and voids and continuity of line, are all evident in your recent works,
your ability to step easily between traditional and contemporary works gives equal credibility to both genres ( and may serve to encourage some viewers to recognise the legitimacy of both)
well done, a pleasure to see.

In the more whimsical field of abstract sculpture, we can continue deluding ourselves.

[Frank&Earnest]

stunning Ivan as usual, I enjoy seeing the evolution of your abstractions in these earlier pieces, the form, the curves and voids and continuity of line, are all evident in your recent works,
your ability to step easily between traditional and contemporary works gives equal credibility to both genres ( and may serve to encourage some viewers to recognise the legitimacy of both)
well done, a pleasure to see.

I hope my allusion to the potential for self deception in abstract art did not prompt you to put me among those who do not recognise the legitimacy of this art form...

Did you mean "your ability to step easily between traditional and contemporary works gives you equal credibility in both genres" or am I missing one step of your thought process? I interpret this as your way of saying that Ivan like Picasso can actually draw a woman with two eyes so we can trust him to be deliberate when he adds the third eye.

I do not think that the logic is reversible, though: I believe it is not necessary for a good abstract artist to be also good at traditional art. Only in general terms the credibility of an art form is enhanced by the credibility of the artists who practice it, is this what you were referring to?

[underfoot]

, is this what you were referring to?

yup,

[Artesano]

I do not think that the logic is reversible, though: I believe it is not necessary for a good abstract artist to be also good at traditional art.

Well , Salvador Dali said : "Only when you' ve learnt to paint like the masters of old , you are ready to create modern art"...or somethihg to that sense. Ah , yes , he said also that there's no sense to go out of your depth to show how "modern" (or contemporary) you are , that's just the very thing you can't avoid
Jokes apart , I believe that there's no harm for an abstract artist to have some traditional training - technique and use of tools allways helps.

[Frank&Earnest]

Well, of course Salvador Dali would say that, he could paint like the ancient... Either he was wrong, though, or all the art critics are wrong about Chagall...

What is a given (as Underfoot said in another way) is that an artist who moves slowly from a widely accepted form to a less accepted form is less likely to die of starvation than one who is too far removed from the past.

And of course you are right, the more skills you have the easier it is. I said "not necessary", not "not useful".

[Rodger H]

Wow top job