“Bolt From the Blue” | 52″ x 52″ | $7800
Materials: mulberry paper (Hanji), manga, newspaper print, acrylic, encaustic medium

There is a certain energy in the creative process that cannot be explained in words, even by the creator. This is why Instagram is an ideal way for me to communicate my process in the studio through pictures. I understand why people like to know about what it takes to fully realize a finished piece of artwork. Where does the artist start? What are the materials? Where will they be placed and why? How does the artist know when to stop?

A quote from E.L. Doctorow seems to fit this situation: “You can see only as far as the headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” This is very much how the artwork comes together for me. I don’t always know where I’m going until I arrive.

Typically I don’t have a completely thought out theme or subject. I may start with certain calligraphy characters appealing to me or a group of colors in the collection of mulberry papers that stand out. Just picking the colors is exciting and begins to get the creative juices flowing. As I begin to use the special calligraphy brushes and paint the Asian characters on the rice paper, my mind starts to click into random possibilities.

In the instance of “Bolt From the Blue,” I had the title (an all-time favorite expression) selected and worked the piece around that theme from the beginning. The colors had to be bold and bright. And of course there had to be a huge graphic design depicting the bolt. As the artwork started to take shape I became more and more excited. Even though I always had this expression in the back of my mind as a theme for an artwork, the piece still took on a life of its own as it materialized. I am delighted with the results! I kept following the “headlights” of my intuition, letting it guide me.