At first I didn’t know what attracted me to the piece of art in front of which I stood, transfixed.  “Ink on paper,” it said.  The name of the piece was Japanese as was the artist.  I stepped back, deciding that I didn’t have to know at all why it held my gaze, I could just simply look at it and enjoy it.  Quietly, it came to me: there was something so calming about it, despite the action it depicted.  The waterfall didn’t thunder, it fell gently into a pool beside a pagoda.    As I took it in, it slowly dawned on me that the piece was made with only three colors: black, red, and tan.  But with a little water and a little mixing, these three colors turned into many: rust, brown, copper, smokey grey,  burnt orange.  With just three colors, the artist was able to depict depth, beauty, stillness, movement, and peace.

If he could take three simple things and create so much, I wondered what I might be capable of with such simple beginnings?