Among Jeong Seon’s (1676-1759) ink wash paintings is a work titled ‘Gosa-gwanpok’ (‘A Scholar Gazing at a Waterfall’). It depicts a scholar seated beneath a pine tree in a deep, secluded valley, gazing at the cascading waterfall. It is a ‘jingyeong-sansuhwa’ (true-view landscape painting) rendered with bold, free brushstrokes so vivid that one can almost hear the sound of the falling water. Upon seeing this piece, a poet described the waterfall’s spray as “nanghwa” — likening the foam to falling blossoms.
Just as I nurtured my own dreams of becoming a designer while observing the household goods, fabric scraps, and art catalogs at home during my childhood, my daughter grew up surrounded by countless design books and fabrics, eventually becoming a designer herself. When she was working on a university assignment involving a pattern design based on Jeong Seon’s work, I sent her some magnificent, solid-colored, double-sided silk in a pale blue hue. She employed a discharge printing technique — removing the color from the fabric to create colorless patterns — to evoke the appearance of the waterfall’s spray. By combining sketching with digital techniques, she created a mysterious pattern that looked as though the color had naturally infused the fabric.
* Landscape-Waterfall
