Defining Shibui

Shibui 1, collage by Donna Watson

Shibui (or Shibusa) is an enriched, subdued appearance or experience with economy of form, line and effort, producing a timeless tranquility.  Shibui objects appear to be simple overall but they include subtle details, such as textures, that balance simplicity with complexity.

The aspects of things that are most important

for us are hidden because of their 

simplicity and familiarity.

--- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Shibui 2, collage by Donna Watson

This balance of simplicity and complexity ensures that one does not tire of a shibui object but constantly finds new meanings and enriched beauty that cause its aesthetic value to grow over the years.  Shibui should not be confused with wabi sabi.  Shibui objects are not necessarily imperfect or 

asymmetrical, though they can include those qualities.

If one's life is simple, contentment has to come.  Simplicity is 

extremely important for happiness.

--- The Dalai Lama

Shibui 3, collage by Donna Watson

The colors of shibui are 'muddy' colors.  For example, in painting, gray is added to primary colors to 

create a silvery effect that ties the different colors together into a coordinated scheme.  Depending on how much gray is added, shibui colors range from pastels to dark.  Occasionally, a patch of brighter

color is added as a highlight.

Shibui 4, collage by Donna Watson

The seven elements of shibui are simplicity, implicity, modesty, silence, naturalness, everydayness and imperfection.  The simplicity is the expression of the essence of the elements.  Implicity allows depth of feeling to be visible through a spare surface.  The person of modesty exalts excellence by taking time to learn, watch, understand that merges into silence.  Naturalness conveys spontaneity in growth, unforced.  Everydayness raises ordinary things to a place of honor. Imperfection suggests

imagination at work, instead of a finished picture that provides all the answers.

small collage by Donna Watson, with various objects, image taken by Donna Watson

 Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That's how the LIGHT gets in.

--- Leonard Cohen, RIP, 2016

Silent and Minimal

A New Dawn, cold wax and oil with collage, by Donna Watson

It all happens in silence.  The way

light happens in the eye.

Love unites bodies.

They go on

filling each other with silence.

-- Jamie Sabines, Pieces of Shadow

photo image by Donna Watson

"There are all kinds of silences and each of them means a different thing.  There is the silence that comes with the morning in the forest, and this is different from the silence of a sleeping city.  There is the silence after a rainstorm, and before a rainstorm, and these are not the same.  The the silence of emptiness, the silence of fear, and silence of doubt. "   Beryl Markham, West with the Night

photo image by Donna Watson

"There is a certain silence that can emanate from a lifeless object as from a chair lately used, or from a piano with old dust upon its keys, for from anything that has answered to the need of man, for pleasure or for work.  This kind of silence can speak."  Beryl Markham, West with the Night

photo image by Donna Watson

"Its voice may be melancholy, but it is not always so; for the chair may have been left by a laughing child or the last notes of the piano may have been raucous and gay.  Whatever the mood or the circumstance, the essence of its quality may linger in the silence that follows.  It is a soundless echo."

---  Beryl Markham, West with the Night

photo image by Donna Watson

Silence.  It has a sound, a fullness.

It's heavy with sigh of tree,

and space between breaths.

It's ripe with pause between birdsong

and crash of surf.

It's golden they say.

But no one tells us it is additive.

-- Angela Long

photo image by Donna Watson

"Silence is something more than just a pause; it is that enchanted place where space is cleared and time is stayed and the horizon itself expands."  Pico Iyer

photo image by Donna Watson

"Silence is essential for deep transformation.  It allows the practice of conscious breathing to become deep and effective.  Like still water that reflects things as they are, the calming silence helps us

to see things more clearly; to be in deeper contact with ourselves and those around us."

--- Thich Nhat Hanh

photo image by Donna Watson

I go to nature be be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.

-- John Burroughs

OUTER SILENCE....

new work, 2010

A Book of Silence, by Sara Maitland, is an exploration of silence. The author found herself falling in love with silence. She explored the cultural history of silence, the importance of silence in religions,and its use in artistic expression. Could it be, that in surrounding our self in silence, our listening and looking becomes enhanced?

"As time passes, I increasingly realize there is an interior dimension to silence, a sort of stillness of heart and mind which is not a void, but a rich space." Sara Maitland, A Book of Silence

All rock photos were taken in Kyoto, Japan October 2009

"All things are symbolic by their very nature and all talk of something beyond themselves."
Thomas Merton

"Stones have always been associated with the eternal and the ageless." Mark Peter Keane
The Art of Setting Stone

"They're just stones, aren't they? ...I'm sure you see a kind of power and mossy beauty radiating out of them, the way you look at them." Yasunari Kawabata, Beauty and Sadness

What is it about stone that attracts me? Is it the surface textures? the subdued colors? the timeless feel of eternity? The effect of time on stone is so slow, almost discernible. The mystery, the history of the stone fascinates me. When I look at stone I see the natural stains, the cracks, formations and surface textures. How can I incorporate this mystery, this seeming silence into my artwork?

STONE by Charles Simic

I have seen sparks fly out
When two stones are rubbed,
So perhaps it is not dark inside after all;
Perhaps there is a moon shining
From somewhere, as though behind a hill--
Just enough light to make out
The strange writings, the star-charts
On the inner walls.