Thanks Julie,
I very much enjoyed reading what you had to say. The Japanese concepts are new to me. Very interesting.
The Persian belief has always cracked me up--it's as if to say we have to include an imperfection in our rugs, which are otherwise perfect, because only God is perfect.
Speaking of cracking up, many, if not most, of Ryder's paintings look like they are hundreds of years old because of extensive, and I think really quite beautiful in most cases, crazing caused by his constant over-painting and use of questionable paints and mediums. An example is
Pegasus. Linking this reminds me that I neglected to provide a link to the Race Track.... Sorry ~,:^) I will add one now, quite late in the game.