I spent a year in Japan as an exchange student. I learned sumi-e, Japanese-chinese brush painting using black ink and water colors. The phylosophy of sumi-e is capturing the essence/spirit "ki" of the subject through very simple brush strokes.  "It may be regarded as a form of expressionistic art that captures the unseen."

"The painter ...put upon the paper the fewest possible lines and tones; just enough to cause form, texture and effect to be felt. Every brush-touch must be full-charged with meaning, and useless detail eliminated. Put together all the good points in such a method, and you have the qualities of the highest art" -Arthur Wesley Dow