R A Richards

For twenty years I sought to enter the state of “mushin” when I paint without fully understanding what I was seeking or having a name for it.

Then I stumbled on the name and found resources that helped me understand it and enter it at will.
Mushin is a Japanese term and Zen expression, also used in martial arts. It refers to the mental state, the mindset, I seek when painting. In that state I rely not on thought and judgment, but on my trained instinct or what I feel intuitively in a moment. In English, mushin means “no mind.” It is shorthand for the term “mushin no shin” which means “mind without mind.” In the state of mushin the mind is not empty, but is free of distractions such as planning, analysis, criticism, fear, or ego. Some masters of mushin believe it is the state of mind in which a person finally understands the uselessness of techniques and becomes truly free to respond to the moment.

In a state of mushin, the mind is detached from any distraction, and so is open to intuition informed by training; the person is thus free to act spontaneously and instinctively.

For about eighteen of those twenty years I worked with acrylics on canvas and caught glimpses of a mushin mindset. Today I am working with watercolo...

Pita Jungle Restaurants
Phoenix and neighboring cities

Shemer Art Center, Phoenix, AZ
Student/Instructor Exhibit
July – September, 2017

The Store at the Mesa Arts Center (Artist Co-op)
September 2016 – June 2017

The Nash Jazz Center, Phoenix, AZ
November 2016 – February 2017

Shemer Art Center, Phoenix, AZ
Student/Instructor Exhibit
July – September, 2016

Shemer Art Center, Phoenix, AZ
The Art and Science of Emotional Intelligence
January – March, 2015