The joy of the happy monk in his wind-torn robe...
My studio is a very restful place.
A sanctuary for creativity and for reflections.
Sometimes, when I take a break from painting, I sit down on my studio's sofa and gaze at the wall........It gives my mind rest, to roam freely.
Sometimes, my mind dive deep into the past, when I was a wild and young woman, with so much courage and so little common sense...
At times, if I do not hurry back to the easel, but sit with this vacancy in my mind, It feels as if the walls of my studio whisper to me,..... about what to write.....
Today, the walls are silent... So my gaze wander to the table to the right of my big easel, on which I place all the junk that I use for painting.
It has a tray filled with half squeezed paint tubes, another with an assortment of pencils, erasers and sharpeners.
It has permanent markets, chalk and disposable gloves.
A variety of pallet knifes of all shapes, buckets of gesso, containers with water or turpentine, plates to mix paint, oil sticks, and of course a large amount of brushes.
My gaze stabilize on a big bucket filled with my brushes, and I start to think about each one..... Some brushes, I only use for painting backgrounds.... They are just too big and bulky.
Others, I use almost daily, even though I have the exact same size ones, standing in that bucket too... All fresh and new and ready to be used...
I start thinking about WHY I used the same old brushes, which I love so much, and leave the new ones, standing in the bucket, unused.... Like a lonely and sad person, all dressed up with no place to go.... No one to party with.....
"Write about this!"
"Who said this?"
"The Wall... You can call me 'the wall'."
"OK.... Wall,..... write about what?"
"Write about how you love your old brushes...."
"Why would anyone care about this?"
"Because it holds a great SECRET...... The secret of loving the old, used and worn out things.... Loving and respecting things for their usefulness...... people need to hear this..."
"Why do people need to hear this?"
"Because you live in a culture that is SO fascinated with the NEW...
With adoring youth, and with the latest and the coolest...
With the wisdom of the young... Even if the young carries no wisdom or perspective.....even if it is dumb, it is still worshiped because it is young.....
And there is so much to learn from loving things that are used even old... You know... The Wabi Sabi?....."
"It is a good point.
Many have heard about it before.... Wabi Sabi, the Japanese aesthetic philosophy, centered on the acceptance of the impermanent and the transience..."
"Yes, it is about loving and appreciating things that are transient, but it is MORE about learning to love and to SEE the beauty in things that are NOT PERFECT.... Or incomplete......
To see the beauty in simple everyday things........
And if applied to people, it is about loving the process you go through...
About loving yourself with all your imperfection...
And not waiting to love yourself ONLY when you are finally WORTHY of love....
It is about loving the imperfect cracked pots... With the weathered finish.
It is about learning to love YOURSELF and others, at ANY stage of the journey you are in, and letting GO the fascination with perfection...."
"Yes.... The idea of Wabi Sabi was modernize to be called 'Shabby Chic', in which you take old things, and paint them, or glorify their cracked finishes, and still able to place them in you home and enjoy their usefulness and beauty... Seeing the beauty in the old..."
"Well, it is NOT exactly so......., but it is kinda similar....
Wabi Sabi is very wise, should you take the time to learn about it...
It will give your mind some rest....
The word "Wabi" is a combination of two root words.
One imply peace, balance, harmony, and tranquillity, and the other, means sad and lonely.
These two roots combined, means beauty in simplicity.... Or being soulful and humble by choice, and in tune with nature, the seasons and with your surroundings.
A Wabi person, is one who is content and is happy in her life and her environment.
A person who feels no dissatisfaction even though he does NOT have ALL the things that others view as necessary for happiness or contentment.
The word "Sabi" imply the hand of time..... It means "to grow old......" or in its more extreme use, it can mean "forlorn, or forsaken"
Sabi whispers of things that are rusty, with a patina.......weathered, worn and tarnished.
Sabi, talks about faded beauty.... Temporal and fleeting things....
When you combine Wabi and Sabi, it means the beauty dignity and grace, that the hand of time brings.
There is so much beauty in simple and useful things.
So much grace and so many rich stories and poetry, is hidden in things, people and objects that show the hand of time......
If you cultivate a mindset of grace, vision and compassion for yourself and for others, as you go through life and through your own process, time simply becomes a gift...
The wrinkles on your face, look graceful....and as you smile, your smile lights up the room.....
When I think about Wabi Sabi..... My mind conjures an image of an imaginary watercolor painting.....
Of far away monks, living in an isolated beautiful place......, who wear nothing but a wind torn robes.....holding an old begging bowl, living by a creek or a lake, and surrounded with breathtaking nature.....
They are happy internally, and love their lives..... They go about their simple daily tasks.... Chopping wood and carrying water........They do not crave for what they COULD have, but instead live in bliss with what they DO have.
They never gaze their imagination on far away societies, where people have so much.... But are content instead, with what they have, and with their quiet days....
As the Zen saying goes....."Free from greed, indolence, and anger, they are able to understand the wisdom of the flowing water....., the mossy rocks.... and the green grasshoppers....."
A sanctuary for creativity and for reflections.
Sometimes, when I take a break from painting, I sit down on my studio's sofa and gaze at the wall........It gives my mind rest, to roam freely.
Sometimes, my mind dive deep into the past, when I was a wild and young woman, with so much courage and so little common sense...
At times, if I do not hurry back to the easel, but sit with this vacancy in my mind, It feels as if the walls of my studio whisper to me,..... about what to write.....
Today, the walls are silent... So my gaze wander to the table to the right of my big easel, on which I place all the junk that I use for painting.
It has a tray filled with half squeezed paint tubes, another with an assortment of pencils, erasers and sharpeners.
It has permanent markets, chalk and disposable gloves.
A variety of pallet knifes of all shapes, buckets of gesso, containers with water or turpentine, plates to mix paint, oil sticks, and of course a large amount of brushes.
My gaze stabilize on a big bucket filled with my brushes, and I start to think about each one..... Some brushes, I only use for painting backgrounds.... They are just too big and bulky.
Others, I use almost daily, even though I have the exact same size ones, standing in that bucket too... All fresh and new and ready to be used...
I start thinking about WHY I used the same old brushes, which I love so much, and leave the new ones, standing in the bucket, unused.... Like a lonely and sad person, all dressed up with no place to go.... No one to party with.....
"Write about this!"
"Who said this?"
"The Wall... You can call me 'the wall'."
"OK.... Wall,..... write about what?"
"Write about how you love your old brushes...."
"Why would anyone care about this?"
"Because it holds a great SECRET...... The secret of loving the old, used and worn out things.... Loving and respecting things for their usefulness...... people need to hear this..."
"Why do people need to hear this?"
"Because you live in a culture that is SO fascinated with the NEW...
With adoring youth, and with the latest and the coolest...
With the wisdom of the young... Even if the young carries no wisdom or perspective.....even if it is dumb, it is still worshiped because it is young.....
And there is so much to learn from loving things that are used even old... You know... The Wabi Sabi?....."
"It is a good point.
Many have heard about it before.... Wabi Sabi, the Japanese aesthetic philosophy, centered on the acceptance of the impermanent and the transience..."
"Yes, it is about loving and appreciating things that are transient, but it is MORE about learning to love and to SEE the beauty in things that are NOT PERFECT.... Or incomplete......
To see the beauty in simple everyday things........
And if applied to people, it is about loving the process you go through...
About loving yourself with all your imperfection...
And not waiting to love yourself ONLY when you are finally WORTHY of love....
It is about loving the imperfect cracked pots... With the weathered finish.
It is about learning to love YOURSELF and others, at ANY stage of the journey you are in, and letting GO the fascination with perfection...."
"Yes.... The idea of Wabi Sabi was modernize to be called 'Shabby Chic', in which you take old things, and paint them, or glorify their cracked finishes, and still able to place them in you home and enjoy their usefulness and beauty... Seeing the beauty in the old..."
"Well, it is NOT exactly so......., but it is kinda similar....
Wabi Sabi is very wise, should you take the time to learn about it...
It will give your mind some rest....
The word "Wabi" is a combination of two root words.
One imply peace, balance, harmony, and tranquillity, and the other, means sad and lonely.
These two roots combined, means beauty in simplicity.... Or being soulful and humble by choice, and in tune with nature, the seasons and with your surroundings.
A Wabi person, is one who is content and is happy in her life and her environment.
A person who feels no dissatisfaction even though he does NOT have ALL the things that others view as necessary for happiness or contentment.
The word "Sabi" imply the hand of time..... It means "to grow old......" or in its more extreme use, it can mean "forlorn, or forsaken"
Sabi whispers of things that are rusty, with a patina.......weathered, worn and tarnished.
Sabi, talks about faded beauty.... Temporal and fleeting things....
When you combine Wabi and Sabi, it means the beauty dignity and grace, that the hand of time brings.
There is so much beauty in simple and useful things.
So much grace and so many rich stories and poetry, is hidden in things, people and objects that show the hand of time......
If you cultivate a mindset of grace, vision and compassion for yourself and for others, as you go through life and through your own process, time simply becomes a gift...
The wrinkles on your face, look graceful....and as you smile, your smile lights up the room.....
When I think about Wabi Sabi..... My mind conjures an image of an imaginary watercolor painting.....
Of far away monks, living in an isolated beautiful place......, who wear nothing but a wind torn robes.....holding an old begging bowl, living by a creek or a lake, and surrounded with breathtaking nature.....
They are happy internally, and love their lives..... They go about their simple daily tasks.... Chopping wood and carrying water........They do not crave for what they COULD have, but instead live in bliss with what they DO have.
They never gaze their imagination on far away societies, where people have so much.... But are content instead, with what they have, and with their quiet days....
As the Zen saying goes....."Free from greed, indolence, and anger, they are able to understand the wisdom of the flowing water....., the mossy rocks.... and the green grasshoppers....."
