The dharma of watercolor

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As I was driving back from a failed plein air attempt - I carried everything (paintbrushes, water, chair, watercolor block) except my travel paintbox :-| - I was noticing buildings along the freeway and how their mirrored curtain walls reflected the sky, and I enjoyed thinking about how I would paint such a building - let the sky run into those areas, and it would be only the last minute calligraphy (the curtain wall seams) that would tell the viewer that nature has ended and the built has begun. Then I realized how I sometimes use watercolor in a way that goes against its dharma - it has an inherent nature, and the beauty of a watercolor lies in maximizing the innate nature of watercolor, and not making it do things it wouldn't otherwise do - treating it like acrylic or oil, for instance. I don't want to paint photorealistically - and any medium can be made to do that. I want the dharma of watercolor to be foremost - letting water and the natural effects it has with pigment being allowed to do what it will do naturally.
When I realized I didn't have my paintbox with me, I took pictures and came home and did this watercolor of the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin, in Japantown, San Jose.
I love days when I keep painting, and lose a sense of time, even though in the back of my mind, as I am waiting for parts to dry, I am thinking about that Amazon Prime series that I was meaning to start today. It's been a good day - I have learned a lot about water.

Note: Isn't it interesting that this post's title Dharma... and the Buddhist Temple watercolor have a connection? That was coincidental....I love it when such things happen.


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