My mixed media paintings are created on wood panels or heavy watercolor paper. Both surfaces start with coats of gesso. Before the gesso dries it is scored with gestural marks using the blunt end of a brush. Once dry, additional layers of acrylic in neutral tones are scraped on rather than brushed to enhance the texture of the gesso. That texture is used to determine the composition of the painting and where to incorporate additional layers of painted and printed papers and other mixed media including charcoal, oil and chalk pastel and colored pencil. The resulting image ends up being a kind of landscape with various flora and fauna and architectural features, influenced by my surroundings here in rural West Virginia.