After a student exchange trip to Japan, I brought back a very large stack of “washi” paper. The Japanese have had a very long history of fine paper making family businesses. The trip was the inspiration for a series featuring a new technique I developed of hand painting Japanese paper, tearing the sheets of paper into a variety of sizes and then applying them to a canvas. The results were quite extraordinary and inspiring. After some experimentation, I realized that I could adapt this method to achieve either an abstract or a more recognizable, realistic effect, or even a combination of the two. The paper is randomly torn, not cut with scissors, but glued very specifically onto the canvas.

“The unrestricted paper image formations are calming and freeing because the resulting shapes evolve from unrestrained creativity. As I delve deeper into my creative psyche, I am discovering and uncovering an unquenchable urge to rip and tear and deconstruct and then to allow my creativity to flow blindly in putting the pieces back together.”