Still Life with Wabi Sabi Korean Bowl and Rainier Cherries

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I brought this amazing and unique wabi sabi handmade bowl back with me from South Korea in 2013. The last time I painted it was in 2016. If you enjoy this painting, you may also like to see other paintings of what I think of as my "wabi sabi" pottery.

Wabi sabi is not easily described in words, but when I teach my workshops and private painting mentoring online, I often share my thoughts on handmade objects, and the spirit and gesture embedded in them. If you're interested, Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren is the seminal 1994 classic volume on the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. This painting is part of my Paintings of Handmade Pottery work, here's another wabi sabi bowl of mine from Patagonia, Arizona, and here's a 2013 post of mine about wabi sabi.

P.S. Just as a reminder: I'm planning to migrate this painting email newsletter to a different service—I'll be moving to one provided by my new website host so that my website and newsletter are housed under the same roof. If you're a subscriber: here's what you need to know in order to keep getting my new painting emails: my newsletter emails will soon-ish be sent from "info@abbeyryan.com"—so if you don't want to miss out on any emails, please add "info@abbeyryan.com" to your address book / contacts list / safelist. Contact me if you have any questions!

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Three Blackberries with a Wabi Sabi Bowl

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As part of my Paintings of Handmade Pottery project, the handmade bowl in this painting is from Patagonia, Arizona. The bowl is called a "wabi sabi bowl" and it's one of my favorite pieces of pottery. I want to re-post what I shared back in April 2013 about wabi sabi and Leonard Koren's book. 

If you enjoy this painting, you may also like to see Blueberries in a Wabi Sabi Bowl with Mint (2013), or a bunch of my paintings of "wabi sabi" items.

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Japanese Wabi Sabi Bowl with Arizona Lemon (+ World War I — The Quick. The Dead. The Artists.)

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Read about today's painting below. If you're interested, this is an art review by Holland Cotter in last month's New York Times:

"PHILADELPHIA — The idea lingers that art can be separated from politics. But it can’t. All art — high, low; illustrative, abstract — is embedded in specific political histories, and direct links, however obscured, are always there. Such links are the unswerving focus of “World War I and American Art” at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, a panoramic show that has the narrative flow of a documentary, and the suspenseful, off-kilter emotional texture of live drama.

World War I lasted roughly four years, from 1914 to 1918, with the United States joining the fray in 1917. The brevity of that engagement has led Americans to play down the war, but we shouldn’t. Although politicians at the time spun the conflict — which the public increasingly understood to be a murderous mistake — as the war that would end all wars, it did the opposite. It set the model for World War II, Vietnam, Iraq. And it departed from previous models of war only in ramping up their barbarities with modern technology." [Keep reading]

This is a wabi sabi wood-fired ash glazed bowl from Japan and a lemon generously sent to Philadelphia by my in-laws in Arizona. As part of my ongoing Paintings of Handmade Pottery series, wabi sabi is not easily described in words, but when I teach my workshops and private painting mentoring online, I often share my thoughts on handmade objects, and the spirit and gesture embedded in them. If you're interested, Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren is the seminal 1994 classic volume on the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. If you enjoy this painting, you may also like to see another wabi sabi bowl of mine from Patagonia, Arizona, and here's a 2013 post of mine about wabi sabi.

To get my painting in your inbox, sign up here. To purchase my work, view my Current Auctions and All Available Paintings.

Best,

Abate Fetel Pear No. 3 (+ email list notice)

Private Collection

I've gotten emails lately from folks who have not been receiving my daily paintings in their inbox. First, thank you for your interest in my work (a big thank you).

It's important for you to check on your email list preferences. I have 3 email lists: A Painting a DAY, A Painting a WEEK, or A Painting a MONTH. Sign up for only ONE of the email lists so you don't get duplicate emails. In the weekly email, you'll get whatever I post usually on a Tuesday. In the monthly email, you'll get whatever I post on that day during a given month. If you do not want to miss my painting auctions, I'd suggest the daily email (which I really send out only 4-5 times a week). The weekly and monthly emails are better for folks who are not really often planning on purchasing my work.

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To purchase my work, view my Current Auctions and All Available Paintings.

Best,

Wabi Sabi Korean Bowl (+ "On the Soul-Sustaining Necessity of Resisting Self-Comparison")

I brought this amazing and unique wabi sabi handmade bowl back with me from South Korea in 2013. Wabi sabi is not easily described in words, but when I teach my workshops and private painting mentoring online, I often share my thoughts on handmade objects, and the spirit and gesture embedded in them. If you're interested, Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren is the seminal 1994 classic volume on the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. This painting is part of my Paintings of Handmade Pottery work, here's another wabi sabi bowl of mine from Patagonia, Arizona, and here's a 2013 post of mine about wabi sabi.

Renowned writer Maria Popova recently delivered the commencement address to the 2016 graduating class at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, her alma mater. I wanted to share an excerpt with you:

"Whatever your specific vocation, your role as a creator of culture will be to help people discern what matters in the world and why by steering them away from the meaningless and toward the meaningful. E.B. White said that the role of the writer is to lift people up, not to lower them down, and I believe that’s the role of every journalist and artist and creator of culture. 

Strive to be uncynical, to be a hope-giving force, to be a steward of substance. Choose to lift people up, not to lower them down — because it is a choice, always, and because in doing so you lift yourself up. 

Develop an inner barometer for your own value. Resist pageviews and likes and retweets and all those silly-sounding quantification metrics that will be obsolete within the decade. Don’t hang the stability of your soul on them. They can’t tell you how much your work counts for and to whom. They can’t tell you who you are and what you’re worth. They are that demoralizing electric bike that makes you feel if only you could pedal faster — if only you could get more pageviews and likes and retweets — you’d be worthier of your own life." [Source]

To purchase my work, view my Current Auctions and All Available Paintings.

Best,

Blueberries in a Wabi Sabi Bowl with Mint (+ Tree of Life)

Private Collection

As part of my Paintings of Handmade Pottery project, the handmade bowl in this painting is from an amazing place - Patagonia, Arizona. The bowl is actually called a "wabi sabi bowl" and it's now one of my favorite pieces of pottery. I visited the Tree of Life in Patagonia in May, and am visiting there again this summer because it's so incredible and beautiful. I'll write more about the Tree of Life soon.

In the meantime, I want to re-post what I shared about "wabi sabi" back in April. I'm still reading Leonard Koren's book -- have you read it or heard of it? I'd love to hear your thoughts, so consider leaving me a comment here. I look forward to hearing from you.

Workshop News
I am thrilled to soon be announcing an upcoming workshop for fall 2013 at the John F. Peto Museum in Island Heights, NJ. Look for more details about that in the next week or so.

Ending Soon
Red Grapes in the Last Afternoon Light auction ends Monday, July 8 at 10:30 AM EDT. View Auction

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All my best,

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Japanese Vase with Tangerine and Grapes

Oil on linen on panel, 5 x 6 in., 2013
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In this still life is a sweet little wood-fired vase made by an artist living in Japan. You can read about the artist, Dave Pike, here.

I painted this during my recent Yardley workshop. As I was doing this painting demo, I explained some of my thoughts on handmade objects, and the spirit and gesture embedded in them. (Everyone really stuck with me and all my meditation and spirituality talk.) One of my workshop participants then told me about a book called Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren (I had never heard of this book -- thanks, Wanda!).

I love when things come into your life at just the right time. [This has been happening a lot lately for me, and I'll be sharing more as things come up (including my trip last month to South Korea)...]

Anyway, I just started reading it. I'll maybe write more when I'm finished.

Best,

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