Sumi-e, ink paintings

The Japanese word sumi-e is composed of the words black ink ( sumi) and painting ( e).
In sumi-e the spirit of Zen can be felt. For, just like in Zen, nothing unnecessary is done in sumi-e. The world is expressed in a language that is restricted as much as possible, to the most essential elements. Each line and every patch has to be an essential and indispensable one. Sumi-e is beauty which is achieved with a minimum of means, it is the amazement about the stroke of a brush,  the nuances of a patch.
If you want to paint in this way, you’ll have to learn to silence the voice of your thoughts, for otherwise you see without seeing and you hear without hearing. Your complete presence is necessary. That’s where the impulse comes from, this is what inspires you.

Sumi-e is meditation in action, the unity of the eye, hand and heart.
For only with the heart we can see the things as they really are. We create a bond with the world, so that every observation becomes unique. Then the beauty of the balancing equilibrium between wet and dry, black and white, full and empty, power and subtlety, abstract and figurative can arise.
By the polarities you can become passionate through your own power.
It’s precisely the polarities that elevate your consciousness and expression.

Sumi-e is not working for the results, pursuing a goal, but painting because of the pleasure of painting. You don’t make designs but you prepare a bed for coincidence. Most of it fails, but sometimes everything comes together and the lines start singing. The brush itself is painting.