Curated by Juri Koll, the artists in this show use watercolor, inks, and other liquid media for a variety of reasons - some love the risk of not being able to alter the result once it hits the paper. Others have a more formal reason for the process. Some use the medium as a contemplative, almost reverential experience, or for "quiet meditation or being present in the moment," as Shana Nys Dambrot says. All these motivations inspire these works and engage the audience with the here and now, regardless of when the work was completed.

Many of the artists have been influenced in some way by Japanese Sumi painters or modern artists such as Sam Francis. The Sam Francis Foundation sponsored the catalog, a copy of which has become part of the Sam Francis archives at the GETTY Museum Research Institute Library.