NC8x8 #9 Artwork

I started this mixed media on paper project in 2006. As someone who enjoys coffee, I have wanted to experiment with how coffee works with pencils and color inks on paper, not for novelty reasons but as an interest in coffee's color, texture, smell, and how it flows on paper. As I further developed the work, I felt the need to move away from being confined by coffee as my primary material, as I finally did in 2020. I look upon the entangled winter tree branches for inspiration for my lines, as do Chinese Calligraphy and Splash Ink Paintings and artists like John Cage and avant-garde/experimental music, Cy Twombly, William Anastasi, and Julie Mehretu, all of which have influenced my work. I like my lines to be organic, fluid, entangled and unpredictable. My color palette is predominantly brown, magenta, and red – referencing the duality of blood, both our life force and violence. With each piece, I create lines and forms to improvise along with how the inks flow gradually to form a complicated web until all the visual relationships balance. My conscious self gives way to perceptual understanding and inner knowing, slowly revealing and unveiling incredible insight beyond preconceived notions and logic. My works are rooted in the complexity of global conflicts, violence near and afar, sociopolitical divisions and entangled human relationships. My other project is Moving Drawing, a multimedia project in which I include time, movements, sounds and shadows to complete mixed media drawings. The sizes of my works on paper range from 8"x8" to 30"x22".