Tea Is Served!
I’ll send you three teacup paintings – look for the first email at about this time tomorrow, with the subject line “Painting Tour: Teacup and Lemon on Red Silk”.
If you have a moment, I’d like to tell you about a book I think you might enjoy. This would be the perfect moment for a cup of tea or whatever else you prefer.
The Book Of Tea
“Perfection is everywhere if we only choose to recognise it.”
― Kakuzō Okakura, The Book of Tea
The one thing I really want to express in my paintings is the feeling of complete stillness – of frozen time – total absorption in the beauty of whatever is before us.
About a decade and a half ago I studied Zen formally for a few years.
After a while, I didn’t want to study it formally anymore, so I stopped. But it left its imprint, and the way I experienced the world shifted some from then on.
Nothing dramatic – I was just a bit more present in the moment, and I started experiencing those moments a little more completely and fully.
Over time, my paintings have come to grow out of those moments and those experiences.
I can’t say I know much at all about the Japanese Tea Ceremony. But I do know that it evolved out of the world of Zen. Having witnessed a few ceremonies, I can easily see that same intense focus on the moment.
Not long ago, I came across a beautiful little book about the subject called “The Book of Tea” by Okakura Kakuzō, who was the first curator of Asian arts at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Written in 1906, It feels more like a book of poetry than a scholarly text, and it beautifully expresses many of the same thoughts and feelings I want to convey with my paintings.
In the upcoming emails, I will share three of my favorite quotes from the book.
So, I wish you a few calm and quiet moments with whatever beverage you are enjoying.
-Jeffrey
PS – “The Book of Tea” is in the public domain, so it is freely available at Project Gutenberg, and there are free audiobook versions available at Librivox (I have not listened to these). You will also be able to find multiple listings by searching Amazon and Audible, although those versions are not free.
Tea Is Served!
I’ll send you three teacup paintings – look for the first email at about this time tomorrow, with the subject line “Painting Tour: Teacup and Lemon on Red Silk”.
If you have a moment, I’d like to tell you about a book I think you might enjoy. This would be the perfect moment for a cup of tea or whatever else you prefer.
The Book Of Tea
“Perfection is everywhere if we only choose to recognise it.”
― Kakuzō Okakura, The Book of Tea
The one thing I really want to express in my paintings is the feeling of complete stillness – of frozen time – total absorption in the beauty of whatever is before us.
About a decade and a half ago I studied Zen formally for a few years.
After a while, I didn’t want to study it formally anymore, so I stopped. But it left its imprint, and the way I experienced the world shifted some from then on.
Nothing dramatic – I was just a bit more present in the moment, and I started experiencing those moments a little more completely and fully.
Over time, my paintings have come to grow out of those moments and those experiences.
I can’t say I know much at all about the Japanese Tea Ceremony. But I do know that it evolved out of the world of Zen. Having witnessed a few ceremonies, I can easily see that same intense focus on the moment.
Not long ago, I came across a beautiful little book about the subject called “The Book of Tea” by Okakura Kakuzō, who was the first curator of Asian arts at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Written in 1906, It feels more like a book of poetry than a scholarly text, and it beautifully expresses many of the same thoughts and feelings I want to convey with my paintings.
In the upcoming emails, I will share three of my favorite quotes from the book.
So, I wish you a few calm and quiet moments with whatever beverage you are enjoying.
-Jeffrey
PS – “The Book of Tea” is in the public domain, so it is freely available at Project Gutenberg, and there are free audiobook versions available at Librivox (I have not listened to these). You will also be able to find multiple listings by searching Amazon and Audible, although those versions are not free.