Wabi-Sabi = "Happy Accidents"

Initially this piece wasn't going the way I had hoped & decided to just take a chance. I splashed Gamsol onto it, letting it drip & flow naturally. After a moment or two I squeegeed it removing a couple of layers. Suddenly my heart laughed loving the color that was revealed! There it was, "Streams in the Desert"! What a Wabi-Sabi happy accident!

Are you wondering what is Wabi-Sabi? Well I first became aware of Wabi-Sabi in art after reading these two books by Serena Barton:

"Wabi-Sabi Art Workshop: Mixed Media Techniques for Embracing Imperfection and Celebrating Happy Accidents" and "Wabi-Sabi Painting with Cold Wax: Adding Body, Texture and Transparency to Your Art" 

available at Amazon

In her introduction Barton describes 
Wabi-Sabi as a Japanese philosophy "that honors the imperfect, the transitory, the handmade...…. It evokes a sense of acceptance of the transitory nature of life. Creating intuitive Wabi-Sabi inspired art...….is like taking a journey, a journey without a map."
Reading both of these books helped me not just to loosen up for abstract painting, but to play and experiment with art and to just go with it. Oil & Cold Wax is the perfect medium for Wabi-Sabi style. 

The medium is so wonderful especially for painting abstracts. It's playable & versatile and allows you try all sorts of tools. It's perfect for "intuitive" painting! If I don' t like some part, it can easily be changed in a number of different ways and almost always I discover a "happy accident" as in this piece.

6x6 "Streams in the Desert"