Atrina rigida (Artist Proof-1)

Every single day, I marvel at nature’s miraculous energy—an invisible force that creates such exquisite designs and structures in every living thing around us, only to destroy them and begin again. Collecting and studying various relics from the natural environment (seashells, egg casings, exoskeletons, leaves, bones, etc.) and distilling them into artwork is my way of “reading” nature and learning about more about these never ending transformations.

 

Making paper is an integral part of this process; the act of harvesting and transforming plant fiber into creative work puts me directly in touch with nature in an intimate way. Like the relics I collect and study, I think of these works as physical artifacts of an ongoing collaboration.

Each sheet of paper is made by hand using a variety of fibers. These pulp paintings are made with paper mulberry bast fiber (also known as “kozo”). It starts by harvesting sticks from paper mulberry saplings, steaming and then stripping the bark off the woody core, and THEN scraping the outer brown/black bark off leaving a beautiful creamy bast fiber for papermaking. It is then cooked, hand beaten and turned into paper using a wonderfully meditative sheet forming process.

I made a fun little video about the process if you have a few minutes (Note: Be sure to turn up the volume; the music starts a few seconds into the video).

 

FROM NATURE TO PAPER

I’ve always admired the artists of long ago who mixed their own pigments to make paint for their artwork. Maybe that is why I am so fascinated by making my own pulp paint:

 

I start with cotton or flax fiber that has been processed in the beater at least six hours, making a pulp that is fine enough to spray through a household spray bottle.

The pulp is strained and then pigmented by hand to create a palette of colors for painting. I then add water or sometimes methyl cellulose to achieve a medium close to a gouache watercolor so that I can apply it by hand with a brush, squirt it through a syringe or spray through a bottle onto freshly-made sheets of Asian-style handmade paper (i.e., while the sheets are still wet and before they are pressed).

 

The pressure of working while the paper is damp/wet forces a spontaneity that is exciting and challenging as it requires my full attention; once I start applying the wet pulp onto wet paper, there is “no going back." (there is no erasing in the process)

 

Why go to all of this trouble?

 

 

It allows the painting to physically become part of the paper substrate, creating a mysterious surface and effect that can’t be achieved any other way.

Works are shipped in a large waterproof enclosure that is then packaged in a double-box for safe shipping. 

Shipped Ground unless otherwise requested.

Allow 2 weeks for delivery.

This work is unframed. Please feel free to contact me for more information about framing options.