Whilst sitting in front of the object of my studies, concentration on the object is obviously necessary: the forms and colors need to be grasped with the eye, the perspective and proportions correctly estimated, and everything should be brought on the paper.

After a while of sitting, most of the surrounding is unconsciously absorbed and brought as impression on the paper. The more one succeeds to do that without measuring forms and colors mechanically, the more impressionist the painting will be.

Watercolor as a technique is very powerful for the expression of light. The early morning light, the strong light when the sun is standing high, the mild afternoon light, or even the evening light. One becomes very continuous on something simple as the color of the sky: no clouds, obviously a blue, but which blue? And then colors depend so much on the intensity of the sun and the angle of the sun to the object. The colors are so much different in a view facing the sun from a view with the sun in the back.

After having sat at one spot, I so often noticed the time only after several hours when the body began hurting for the lack of movement. Obviously I got completely absorbed into the painting, all thoughts not related to the painting must have faded.  Concentration will be replaced by some almost unconscious movement of the brush on the paper, almost without thinking. Sitting, only sitting without chasing thoughts, this is zen.

Sometimes my Aikido master and zen priest Shimamoto Shihan described an aikido technique where one pins down the practice partner by just sitting straight into his/her arms: “sitting, only sitting, that must be zen.” In this sense I thought about water color painting. If one does impressionist paintings in nature, if one paints without judgement, if one looses oneself in the colors, then one looses the preoccupation with oneself during painting as during zen. One merges into the quietness of the moment in time and space and experiences unconsciously to be part of the whole world.