Quite often art is seen as a final product rather than a process. Jack Wise did not approach his painting and calligraphy in this way. For him, the preparation of materials was also a form of preparation for the creation of his art, directing his focus towards the movement of the brush. He instructed his students in how to make their own brushes, and told them that even the circular grinding motion of an ink stick into ink was a significant action of meditation and discipline.

The Western hemisphere's tendency to be dependant upon machines and to use more than we need, destroying our planet in the process, was another concern of Jack's. He admired Chinese calligrapher Lin Chien-Shih's technique in that respect. Wise wrote that, in Chien-Shih's paintings, "the colours used are traditional Chinese mineral colours -ground by hand - the brushes are made by hand - the paper is made by hand … his work is absolutely independent of the technology which we are conditioned to depend upon." (Jack Wise, West Coast Review, "From Cross-cultural Fertilization to Interface", V. 7, April 1973, 10)

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