My Wabi-Sabi Trek

I am enamored of color, but my series on the theme of wabi-sabi, i.e., the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection,; of accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death--finds me working with a very limited, much quieter palette of mostly browns, tans, grays, rusts, and muted greens. My special challenge with this series is to infuse a bit more color—and thus, more of my own style--into my paintings while still respecting the constraints of the aesthetic principle that inheres in wabi-sabi.

Many of the paintings in this series are smaller, inviting the viewer to physically approach the painting to look at it. Many of these wabi-sabi pieces thus require a more intimate consideration on the part of the viewer.

Part of my wabi-sabi trek involves lovingly painting the elegant Japanese Kanji characters that express the title or subject on many of the pieces. I find this practice to be a beautiful, meditative one that brings me great calm and peace.