an old writer and his words

  • EDGING

    We are good at borders.As much as we like drawing them,taking a bit more perhapsthan we ought, settling if forcedfor what is right or at least just,we like crossing them more.There is adventure in crossinga border, more so if you can do itwithout being invited, seenor captured and turned away.How do you think we got…

    Lou Faber

  • ARIA

    After years of embarrassmentI have finally come into the light.It isn’t that my writing has improved,although I surmise that wouldbe a narrow space to fill,or that I can now draw thingsthat were once stick peopleand animals and things. What has improved, andimproved significantlyis my singing voice, oncea three note range, and onenot known to music,but…

    Lou Faber

  • PHOTOGRAPHY

    “Trying to explain photography and its art may be more difficult than explaining particle physics.” That was his opinion, and one he deeply held and shared freely to all who would listen or could not escape him. “After all,” he said, “you can draw pictures to illustrate particle physics, and far too many have done…

    Lou Faber

  • GYOZAN CAN’T SAY IT

    The true artist,when askedto draw a perfect tree will lead you to the gardenand have you situnder the great maple.The true masterasked to speak of Dharmawill silentlyface the wallin zazen. A reflection on case 118 of the Shobogenzo, Dogen’s True Dharma Eye Koans

    Lou Faber

  • SCENE 1 (ACT 0)

    First you should draw the scene with as much detail as possible, using the full palette of colors and adding depth and dimension. Next you should write the scene, again with detail, color, depth, for words are capable of all of this. Now compare the scenes, are they the same, and if not, how do…

    Lou Faber

  • WHERE?

      Take the pencil in hand and grasp it firmly and flex and extend your wrist until loose. On a clean sheet of paper mark a small X which will become of great importance shortly. Look around you in all directions, starting as close to yourself as possible and expanding out as far as the…

    Lou Faber

  • TREACHERY

    René Magritte was born and died in Belgium, neither happened on this day, but he painted a most realistic picture of a pipe, which he captioned “Ceci N’est Pas Une Pipe,” which of course it was not since it was only a picture of a pipe and he entitled the work The Treachery of Images.…

    Lou Faber

  • ENSO IT GOES

    I spent much of yesterday trying to draw perfect enso. You would think it easy to draw the simple circle, one easy stroke, but my efforts suggest otherwise. It is my Western mind, my teacher once suggested, always linear, this moment next to that, and then the one that must naturally follow. If not a…

    Lou Faber