Color Theory - Those Tertiary Colors!

Claudia Nice, author of Painting with Color, Pen and Ink (2002), is an artist that resonates with my developing painting interests and style. Our artistic approaches: transparent watercolors with touches of ink! 

And when I saw her color wheel, I realized that our favorite color choices (the mixed colors) fell in the same color range as well. What I also realized from her color wheel below is that those favorite color mixes were equally spaced on the color palette and principally are tertiary colors. What an eye-opening moment for me! So I'm documenting this moment and in a year or two I'll look back and see how my color choices have changed and/or developed. The future of painting for me is ... still an open palette.

Color wheel taken from Painting with Color, Pen and Ink by Claudia Nice, p 11
color chart based on Grumbacher watercolors

Her colors of choice (grumbacher watercolors) are:

1. gamboge
2. thalo yellow green
3. yellow ochre
4. sap green
5. thalo green
6. burnt sienna
7. sepia
8. brown madder
9. burnt umber
10. payne's gray
11. thalo red (hard to replicate by mixing) 

Another note, Claudia never mentioned red iron oxide in her color choices, but this one, definitely a tertiary color as well, is an absolute must for my palette at the moment! Of course I would switch out several of the colors, but in principle, we have the same taste in color range, which reflects our choice in subject - for Claudia a range of landscape and wildlife, and for me more limited to wildlife in natural settings. 

I have to say, until now my choices of color and paint (M Graham watercolors) have been heavily influenced by Steve at Mind of Watercolor. The limited palette Steve introduced I very much love and several of them will probably always be in my limited palette as well: azo green, indian yellow (or new gamboge), and transparent red iron oxide. 

This chart evoked an interesting realization of the range in which my favorite colors fall -- the tertiaries, principally the earthy reds and greens!

Comparing Louvre and Mungyo Oil Pastels

There's really not much online info about either the Louvre or Mungyo Oil Pastels, but I've gotten interested in the oil pastels since the month of "Inktober" when I had met an American who was greedily purchasing the open stock Sennelier brand at Hangaram, my favorite art store here in Seoul. We started talking and she was telling me about what she planned to do with the oils and was thinking that watercolor cold-press might be a good match to lay down the color on. Hmm, I'd seen lots of oil pastels before and even purchased many sets for kids, but I'd never taken them as a serious artist medium. After talking with her though, they started to intrigue me so a couple weeks later I decided to purchase a set. Certainly not Sennelier oil pastels since they are W2,800 per stick, but a set that seemed inexpensive mid-range -- the Louvre 48-color oil pastels for W23,000. 

As soon as I got home, I tried them out. Nope, not an alluring art form for me. No love. Just like coloring with crayolas. I knew they wouldn't be creamy-smooth like the Senneliers, but I didn't expect waxy crayon consistency (just slightly better really) and the need to apply firm pressure to get the colors to adhere to a sturdy rough sketchbook paper. My impression -- crayons at a glorified price. 

I went online and tried to read about them, but couldn't find much. The wrappers on the pastels give a French website but clearly state they are manufactured in China. With no info on the box, I should have been clued in that they wouldn't be super good. My bad. Anyway, while looking at oil pastels online, a couple artists who didn't want the expense of the Senneliers had commented on the creaminess of the Mungyos. I just filed that info away, but with no desire to test it out.

So today, I wanted to pick up a 24-color or even 36-color Mungyo Watercolor Crayons set as the 12-color set had been such a success with my neiceling and nephew a few days ago. And what do you know, right beside the set of 24 watercolor crayons (W7,200 or about $7) was a 24-color set of Mungyo Aquarelle Oil Pastels for W6,300. For that price, why not? I could try something out, and then if I didn't like them, my neiceling and nephew and I could spend a winter afternoon just having fun with them and they would be well worth the money.

I have to say though, the Mungyos are a pleasure to use. Really fun in fact. The are quite creamy (not like the Senneliers but still nice) and just touching them to the paper leaves an oily trail of color. Like the Louvres, they do leave crayon-line waxy flakes, but those waxy flakes can be easily pushed into the paper or wiped in a color-trail across the paper with the finger. The Louvres don't manipulate much. That said, it means the Mungyos smear more easily, which I realized after my little cactus drawing was nearly done. In the future, I'll just use a piece of wax paper to buffer my hand and protect my drawing. 

Here's a comparison using the greens and yellows of the Louvre 48-color set and the Mungyo 24-color set. Despite using more Louvre colors, Mungyo achieved the same richness with fewer. They were easier to lay down and blend (the yellow petals). In my opinion, the only way the Louvre had the edge on Mungyo is the pastels would be much easier for doing finer drawing as they are much harder and can hold an edge necessary for more detailed work.

Comparing Louvre Oil Pastels on the left & Mungyo Aquarelle Oil Pastels on the right

(left) Louvre oil pastels used - 1 dark blue, 5 greens, 4 yellows, 1 orange
(right) Mungyo aquarelle oil pastels used - 1 dark blue, 3 greens, 2 yellows, 1 orange
The Mungyos were much easier to lay down color,  and I did intentionally smudge the yellow petals a bit on the Mungyos, a technique that didn't work so well with the Louvre pastels.

After comparing their colors, thought I'd test out the aquarelle aspect of the Mungyos. Just lightly flicked the base of the cactus barrels with a firm damp brush and the colors, even on the first stroke, flicked up the barrels. I flicked a brush 3-4 times on the largest barrel (at the base) and realized the brush was picking up the color and the contrast was disappearing. Must remember this! The Mungyos both smear easily across the paper (I think a positive point) and respond quickly to even the lightest touches of water.

For me, this means I have found an art medium for laying down quick medium and making quick adjustments to spread that color with minimal effort. Yep. Definitely like the Mungyos!

Made this the day I bought the Louvre oil pastels. Laid down the oil color quite thickly but the sketchbook paper could still be seen through. (Same paper as the cacti above.) Then, as I saw online, dipped a wide firm brush in coconut oil and used the oil as a medium for adjusting the colors. Discovered the colors responded quite differently. The red, orange and pink blended adequately with the coconut oil, and I really worked at blending the blue of the "M" (meh, am not a keener), but the light purple pretty much refused to blend -- very waxy and crayon-like. Then, to test how much color I was picking up and moving, started swiping the page with the "loaded" brush. It's obvious the brush wasn't loaded and the colors didn't shift much ... They are just glorified crayons after all. 

Watercolor Turtle

For my New Year's gift to myself am ordering a bunch of Daniel Smith watercolors. Last winter I ordered my first professional grade watercolors, 11 tubes of M Graham. And I absolutely love how juicy and rich the M Graham colors are, and how transparent they are! But their one downside, and it's a big one, is that their formula has honey (thus their juicy-ness) and so they make quite the mess in my little Altoid tin. 

Yeah, I could just order a small set of another brand for plein aire, but I'm traveling so much, in hot weather in the summer time and dropping my backpack on the heated Korean floors in the winter time, making those paints flow like honey, so I'd prefer to just order a large set of "firmer" paints so that not only my Altoid tin could be grabbed but any sized palette I have could be dropped in my backpack on a moments notice. After reading about pigments and checking on transparency, decided on Daniel Smith. I'll also get a few Winsor and Newton too because I prefer some of their pigments or coloration.

Anyway, pulled out my M. Grahams tonight and realized that 10 of the 11 colors would fill a small 10-dish ceramic palette, so set it up and had some fun!

First background attempt for the background, using water and colors on seran wrap, didn't work out for me. Great idea though and will attempt it again in the future.

M Graham: hansa yellow, azo orange, scarlet pyrrol, transparent red iron oxide, sepia, Payne's gray, phthalo blue, ultramarine blue, phthalo green, azo green

laying down background colors (phthalo blue and ultramarine blue) on a semi-wet paper 

Misted the damp background with 91% alcohol and got an instantly mottled look.
Laid down some colors on the turtle -- azo green transparent red iron oxide and then touches of sepia

simple watercolor turtle on New Soho series SKETCH paper - 5" x 7"

Yeoksam Global Village Center Art Exhibition and Charity

The Yeoksam Global Village Center hosted their "9th Yeoksam Winter's Tale" in the form of a charity art exhibition. All art pieces were made by foreigners and some would be sold to generate money for charity for the House of Sharing which is a home dedicated to the care and well-being of the aging "comfort women" and a children's hospital. So I joined the event, and 13 of my small paintings that I had done during the November painting challenge got displayed. Great timing actually as my November painting challenge had just come to a close and I still had the paintings on hand.

The 15 pieces closest to this end are my works on display.

Though this was only an amateur display of art -- and a very fun display of art at that -- I was proud to be a part. Am not sure how much money was generated by the event, but the participation process was very satisfying.

The pictures with descriptions that I contributed:

1. [Panda in Bamboo] Pandas are associated with bringing abundance and prosperity, and as a feng shui symbol they represent masculine energies. Therefore, a panda or bear figure is placed in the home (main entrance best) to protect the house and its inhabitants.
Watercolor and Chinese ink on doobangji (shikishi board) 18cm x 21cm 

2. [Fish in Hokusai Waves] An alternative viewpoint of the famous painting “Great Wave off Kanagawa” by the famous 18th century Japanese artist Hokusai.
Finetec metallics and Chinese ink on doobangji (shikishi board) 18cm x 21cm 

3. [Birdsong] Haiga is the Japanese art of painting nature and writing a haiku-like poem on the painting to express sentiment the scene evokes.
Watercolor and Xeno brushpen on doobangji (shikishi board) 18cm x 21cm 

4. [May All Your Weeds…] Haiga is the Japanese art of painting nature and writing a haiku-like poem on the painting to express the sentiment the scene evokes.
Watercolor and Xeno brushpen on doobangji (shikishi board) 18cm x 21cm 

5. [Golden Koi] Fish that swim in pairs, like birds and cranes pictured together, are feng shui symbols for marital bliss.
Watercolors and Finetec metallics on doobangji (shikishi board) 18cm x 21cm 

6. [A Pair of Mandarins] A pair of ducks, cranes, fish are feng shui symbols for marital bliss.
Watercolors and Chinese ink on doobangji (shikishi board) 18cm x 21cm 

7. [Cranes Frog-fishing] A pair of ducks, cranes, fish are feng shui symbols for marital bliss.
Watercolors, Chinese ink and Finetec metallics on doobangji (shikishi board) 18cm x 21cm 

8. [Eagle in Sepia] In Asian art the eagle is propitious, and according to feng shui symbolizes wisdom, knowledge, freedom and power.
Sepia calligraphy ink and Chinese ink on doobangji (shikishi board) 18cm x 21cm 

9. [Thinking Eagle Thoughts] In Asian art the eagle is propitious, and according to feng shui symbolizes wisdom, knowledge, freedom and power.
Marie’s watercolor and Chinese ink on doobangji (shikishi board) 18cm x 21cm 

10. [Autumn Song] Marital happiness is symbolized by a pair of birds.
Marie’s watercolor and Chinese ink on doobangji (shikishi board) 18cm x 21cm 

11. [Yin and Yang of the Sea] A taegukki of the masculine and feminine, brightness and shadows, positive and negative, waxing and waning.
M Graham watercolors on 300g/m 140lb watercolor paper. 27cm x 36cm 

12. [Under the Cherry Blossoms] The sentiments of spring and love, sprinkled with pink
M Graham watercolors on 300g/m 140lb watercolor paper. 14cm x 21.6cm 

13. [Daisies and Butterflies] Nature. Spring. Flowers, Butterflies.
M Graham watercolors on 300g/m 140lb watercolor paper. 14cm x 21.6cm

Horses in Watercolor Crayons

Yesterday picked up a package of 12 Mungyo Watercolor Crayons at Hangaram, a serious art store I'm seriously addicted to going to. Had never noticed that art medium before and thought for W4,000 (roughly $4) I could try out something new and share the new experience with my nieceling and nephew, who I'd be visiting the next day. They both love crafts ... and yes, the crayons were a smashing success! And so was the other craft I took them!

So out of the 12 color set, I only used four earth tones, but they were so much fun to use, and the kids were oo-ing and aw-ing about the vivid colors and how easily they spread across the paper. As they were working on another project, which they were excited about, and we didn't have a lot of time to play with my new crayons too, I've been instructed to bring them back next time ... with a hint of bringing a bigger set of colors. Well, that's certainly doable since they were so inexpensive! 

The kids project .... painting scroll saw cats, which I made almost 2 years ago! The afternoon was an absolutely success!

My nephew is very proud of his cat, which he named Leo.

The cats -- Leo by my nephew, Happy by my sister-in-law, and Sisal by my nieceling!

We transformed the kitchen into an art center ... with my nieceling even drawing messages
on the recycled pages of a large calendar that we used to protect the table.

Such creative kids!!!!

Peacocks in Spring

Day 30, the last day of the November Asian art painting challenge held at the online OASlife Facebook group. OAS, Oriental Art Supply, is an art supply of traditional Asian calligraphy and related traditional arts material. I just became a member a few weeks before the painting challenge and really didn't know much about the group. I was just attracted to the group because it involved calligraphy and traditional papers and thought I could learn something. Wow, have I learned!

The group members are around 450, not all of course are active, but there were probably 20 or so participating in the November painting challenge and another 20-30 regularly viewing the submissions. People made comments about the type of paper, brush and ink they were using, and since most of the paper was knew to me, I was able to get an idea how different papers worked with different mediums. Well, Xuan/Shuan paper whether single or double I'm still clueless about, as I am about a lot, but the learning curve has been very healthy and I love the group. A very supportive and positive group of people!

So here is my final submission for the painting challenge November 2017.

Peacocks in Spring
M Graham and Marie's watercolors (the Marie's were too pastel when dry so started using M Graham. This particular shikishi board can take the different binders of M Graham without bleeding; other shikishi isn't so forgiving.) Chinese ink for accent and to make the colors pop.

Monkeying Around

Day 29 of the November Asian art daily painting challenge. One day left. Because the time is winding down and I've really wanted to challenge myself this month by first (1) starting to do art, (2) learning and practicing skills to make beautiful paintings (beautiful in my eyes is ok), and (3) drawing and painting different things than what I've attempted in the past. Well, I haven't draw a lot  in the past but what I'm saying is trying to do things that I haven't thought of drawing before (like the monkeys tonight) or drawing things that I don't particularly like (example, drawing still life (*&^#$@!) which I find boring but I did a still life piece two days ago, "Tea Time"). A friend just asked me to draw her little dog with a plum blossom and a tea set, all symbols that are a part of her life. I really don't like dogs and probably have never thought of drawing one, but you know, it's for a friend and she has an intriguing composition in mind ... so why not?! It'll be my first dog probably, so another first! This month there's been a lot of firsts! I have thoroughly enjoyed this painting challenge!

For these monkeys I drew two monkeys by looking at different reference pictures. The third and smallest monkey I drew without any reference. I just had to get the shape ok and since it's further in the background I didn't have to draw in a lot of detail. The shading could be better in several spots of the composition and I'm seeing a couple other areas that could be fixed up before posting this, but it's very very late and I need to crash. 

Monkeying Around
Marie's watercolor and Chinese ink with touches of Micron .005 around the face, hands and feet. Shikishi.

Dragonfly postcard

Day 28 of the November painting challenge, Asian art. For tonight a simple dragonfly ... with rather wonky-wings ... in the haiga art form. Haiga are Japanese paintings with a haiku-like text written on. I used a picture reference, but couldn't a short but very uplifting quote so just wrote my own sentiment.

Embrace the Moment (haiga)
Marie's watercolors on watercolor postcard 

Tea time (etegami)

Day 27 of the Asian art painting challenge. In a major hurry to get so many other things done that I don't have much time to paint, but this etegami (simple Japanese postcard) is from my weekend tea drinking experience with a monk at Jikwansa Temple. The tea ceremony was quite beautiful!

Tea Time
Etegami -- Maries watercolors on watercolor paper postcard size

Autumn Song

Day 26 of the painting challenge. Marie's watercolor and Chinese ink on shikishi. Used a picture reference for this to get the colors right. 

Autumn Song
Marie's watercolor and Chinese ink on shikishi
picture reference

Whimsical Etegami Notes

Day 25 of the Asian art painting challenge. It's getting harder and harder to snag some time to paint every day, so tonight just did some simple etegami cards. Have been so sleep starved, but these still took me well over an hour, mostly because I had to let layers dry before adding more paint. If I weren't in such a hurry, they could have turned out really cute. Ah well. Tired. 

And then a shot of them together. One of the people on OASlife where the daily painting challenge is being held described these as "whimsical". Yes, perfectly descriptive of them!

All 3 etegami done with Marie's watercolors and Chinese ink on watercolor postcards.

Thinking Eagle Thoughts

Day 24 of the Asian painting challenge being hosted on OASlife on Facebook. Tonight I painted an Asian-style eagle. My mom's comment was "Except for the head, it looks pretty good" and many people commented on the aggression and anger of the eagle. Well, I did reference a picture although I changed it enough to kind of call it my own ... except the awesome blue-dotted bark of the pine tree. Whoever originally did that was masterful! And unfortunately, am unable to locate the picture. I had it as a download which was saved from a long time ago.

Thinking Eagle Thoughts
Marie's watercolor and Chinese ink on shikishi

Panda Mama and Her Toddler

Day 23 of the November Asian art painting challenge. Several months ago I saw a picture of a mama panda joyfully tossing her cub in the air, and the cub seeing to whoop and holler like any human toddler. Susan Windsor was the artist and she really captured the spirit of fun, joy and love. So tonight I tried to emulate her painting, but wanted to frame the pandas in a thick forest. Hmm, I do like the contrast but the overall picture is a tad bit messy.

Panda mama and her toddler
Marie's watercolor on shikishi with small touches of Micron 02 archival ink on the mouth, eyes, and claws.
Art credits to Susan Windsor

Chinese Calligraphy Horses

Day 22 practiced drawing horses in Chinese ink. I love the power of running horses and after studying the strokes and watching a YouTube video by a Chinese-style horse painting master who was adept at capturing the essence of a horse running, thought I'd give it a try. First attempt a whole picture, but as a kid I was entranced by horses so drew them a fair bit ... straight knee-less legs and always side views, but they were horses. This month of accepting this painting challenge to create some Asian art form every day has really helped me improve. A lot of Asian paintings rely on the fluid simplicity of the line to capture the essence of the object. While it's not my first choice in art form, it's actually important to establish those simple lines before putting in the detail like in Western paintings. This month has been amazing for challenging new art styles and finally getting a brush to paper to begin learning to paint. It's been exciting!

So here's one of my first goes at Chinese inked horses. I used newspaper because why waste good quality paper for first learning techniques?

Racing Horses
Chinese ink on newspaper

Golden Koi

Day 21 of the November painting challenge, and my Asian-style contribution for tonight is Golden Koi. First I painted the shikishi board with three colors of blue (Marie's watercolors) and let that dry overnight. Then today I sketched out the koi and water and painted it with Finetec metallic watercolor paints. But somehow when I got the metallics on the board with the blue background, there just wasn't enough contrast, so with SWC ShinHan professional watercolor peacock blue I outlined the koi and scattered blue water bubbles, and somehow that seemed to provide the necessary dimension and color contrast. 

Golden Koi
Finetec metallic watercolors on shikishi board; accents in SWC peacock blue
18cm x 21cm
Reference 1 and Reference 2

May All Your Weeds Be Wildflowers

November painting challenge continues - Day 20. Well, this painting just got weirder and weirder. I had dragonflies in mind and thought I'd paint a couple simple flowers, but next thing I knew, I was in zen mode painting a whole field of those things. Certainly not my intention, and it seems the dragonflies flew away. Ugh. If there weren't a daily painting contribution required or I had more time to paint another, I would toss this baby under the bed and fling it in the morning. Ah well. Win some and lose some. Love the saying though ... and that was another afterthought. I painted mishmash tonight. 

a field of wildflowers on shikishi

Tiger Woodblock Printing

Back in June I made a woodblock carving for the annual Gopanwha Museum woodblock carving competition. Supposedly the competition, which has been held every November for the past seven years or so, was going to be held this year because of the upcoming Olympics here in S. Korea and the monk who owns and runs Gopanhwa was hoping to host special events this year in addition to the woodblock competition, so he had said the competition would be held some time in the summer. 

Well, so it was never held in the summer, probably because carving is certainly not a summer activity, and is much better suited to the colder wintry days. Well, that worked out well as I'm doing a daily painting challenge this November and would have had time only for one event -- either the carving or the painting. So I'm just inking the woodblock I carved before and counting it as my Asian painting contribution for today.

As for matter of inking, yikes! I'm terrible, but then I knew that last year too. There's hope on that account though. I was reading about Japanese woodblock artist Hokusai (c. 1760 - 1849, during the Edo period) and his probably his most famous piece, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, and (according to Wikipedia) artists like Hokusai designed pictures, woodblockists carved them, inkists inked them, and then publishers (who then by rights owned them) printed them and I guess had them distributed and arranged for sales. Ah ha! So Hokusai, though he was apprenticed and trained as an engraver, didn't have to ink his own pieces .... Ah yes! There is hope for me!

Practiced and practiced and practiced inking ... and then it still didn't turn out very good. Ah well. I tried.

So here is my inked woodblock print. I tried several times and this was the best, but actually it was quite light so spent an hour carefully touching up parts with a happy dot Chinese calligraphy brush. I know that's cheating but I'm not too fond of this woodblock picture and don't expect to win, not even honorable mention like last time. However, I did carve a woodblock and so will participate in the event, especially as I already told the monk my woodblock was done and I would join.

"Tiger and a Drink of Water"
Tiger woodblock print
13" x 21" woodblock; the scroll 13" x 43"

Fish in Hokusai Waves

Thought a wave would be fairly straight-forward to paint ... but not Hokusai's waves, and certainly not more than one. That guy was an artistic genius, esp as he made his wave in woodblock form which took a LOT more energy to carve than it took me to do the detail work to watercolor.

Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾 北斎, c. October 31, 1760 – May 10, 1849) was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. He was influenced by Sesshū Tōyō and other styles of Chinese painting. Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (富嶽三十六景 Fugaku Sanjūroku-kei, c. 1831) which includes the internationally iconic print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa. 

Hokusai created the "Thirty-Six Views" both as a response to a domestic travel boom and as part of a personal obsession with Mount Fuji. It was this series, specifically The Great Wave print and Fine Wind, Clear Morning, that secured Hokusai’s fame both in Japan and overseas. As historian Richard Lane concludes, "Indeed, if there is one work that made Hokusai's name, both in Japan and abroad, it must be this monumental print-series". While Hokusai's work prior to this series is certainly important, it was not until this series that he gained broad recognition. (Wikipedia) 

Fish in Hokusai Wave
Watercolor palette limited to complimentary colors. Marie's watercolor on shikishi. 18cm x 21cm

Winter Mandarins

The November Asian art painting challenge continues. Today is Day 17, and the endurance month of painting is over half done. And for today, my contribution is a pair of mandarins in the coolness of winter.

Winter Mandarins
Marie's Chinese watercolors and Chinese ink on shikishi, 18cm x 21cm

Birdsong (haiga)

Day 16 of the Oriental art painting challenge. This one is done on shikishi board and with Chinese ink and Marie's watercolor. And I cheated a bit, but then I'm not a traditionalist. Instead of using brush and ink for the lettering, I couldn't get the letters neat enough on the somewhat toothy shikishi so ended up just using a Pigma Brush pen. It's still not great, but it is tons better than I could have done it the traditional way.

Birdsong
Chinese ink, Marie's watercolors and Pigma Brush pen on shikishi.

Two comments to the post made by OASlife members were very intriguing. One person offered the origin of this saying -- from the poet Henry van Dyke (1852-1933):

"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be a very silent place if not birds sang except the best."

One of the other members commented that this was Japanese haiga art. Oh? So I looked up haiga style on Wikipedia .... 

Haiga art-form

Haiga (俳画, haikai drawing) is a style of Japanese painting that incorporates the aesthetics of haikai. Haiga are typically painted by haiku poets (haijin), and often accompanied by a haiku poem. Like the poetic form it accompanied, haiga was based on simple, yet often profound, observations of the everyday world. Stephen Addiss points out that "since they are both created with the same brush and ink, adding an image to a haiku poem was ... a natural activity." 

Stylistically, haiga vary widely based on the preferences and training of the individual painter, but generally show influences of formal Kanō school painting, minimalist Zen painting, and Ōtsu-e, while sharing much of the aesthetic attitudes of the nanga tradition. Some were reproduced as woodblock prints. The subjects painted likewise vary widely, but are generally elements mentioned in the calligraphy, or poetic images which add meaning or depth to that expressed by the poem. The moon is a common subject in these poems and paintings, sometimes represented by the Zen circle ensō, which evokes a number of other meanings, including that of the void. Other subjects, ranging from Mount Fuji to rooftops, are frequently represented with a minimum of brushstrokes, thus evoking elegance and beauty in simplicity.

And then a note at the bottom of the Wikipedia entry stated to see also wabi-sabi ...

Wabi-sabi

In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (三法印 sanbōin), specifically impermanence (無常 mujō), suffering (苦 ku) and emptiness or absence of self-nature (空 kū). 

Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes. 

According to Leonard Koren, wabi-sabi can be defined as "the most conspicuous and characteristic feature of traditional Japanese beauty and it occupies roughly the same position in the Japanese pantheon of aesthetic values as do the Greek ideals of beauty and perfection in the West." Whereas Andrew Juniper notes that "[i]f an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi." For Richard Powell, "[w]abi-sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect." 

The words wabi and sabi do not translate easily. Wabi originally referred to the loneliness of living in nature, remote from society; sabi meant "chill", "lean" or "withered". Around the 14th century these meanings began to change, taking on more positive connotations. Wabi now connotes rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness, and can be applied to both natural and human-made objects, or understated elegance. It can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object. Sabi is beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear, or in any visible repairs. 

After centuries of incorporating artistic and Buddhist influences from China, wabi-sabi eventually evolved into a distinctly Japanese ideal. Over time, the meanings of wabi and sabi shifted to become more lighthearted and hopeful. Around 700 years ago, particularly among the Japanese nobility, understanding emptiness and imperfection was honored as tantamount to the first step to satori, or enlightenment. In today's Japan, the meaning of wabi-sabi is often condensed to "wisdom in natural simplicity." In art books, it is typically defined as "flawed beauty."

Wabi-sabi in Japanese Arts

Many Japanese arts over the past thousand years have been influenced by Zen and Mahayana philosophy, particularly acceptance and contemplation of the imperfection, constant flux and impermanence of all things. Such arts can exemplify a wabi-sabi aesthetic. Examples include:

Honkyoku (traditional shakuhachi music of wandering Zen monks)
Ikebana (flower arrangement)
Bonsai design features such as snags, deadwood and hollow trunks highlight passage of time and natural cycles. Bonsai are often displayed in fall color or after they have shed leaves seasonally, to admire their bare branches.
Japanese gardens, Zen gardens (tray gardens)
Japanese poetry Japanese pottery, Hagi ware, Raku ware Japanese tea ceremony