Natural forms and processes have always been a principal source of inspiration for my work. Beneath the literal, are metaphors often harkening back to the body. A leaf curls into an orifice or abstract forms become cellular. Like the 19^th century naturalists, I often sketch and paint flora and fauna on site. My way of mark making is precise even obsessive. I balance tight lines with gestural marks that are unexpected, more subconscious in nature. Forms are magnified and cropped until they become otherwordly. Examples of this approach include my large works on paper the Shattengarten series,  done in Berlin during an artist’s residency in 2009 and drawings based on sieni, mushrooms, that I did in Finland, while on a Fulbright grant in 2007.