I like to paint with bits of paper, which is why collage is my medium. I choose to work from source material and do not use a copy machine or a computer in my work. I put down an outline with a pencil on watercolor paper. Mostly I use a ruled edge but sometimes I might do it in a fast and loose way with a drawing inside. Then I fill the space with cut or torn pieces of auction catalogs, grade school primers, old medical textbooks, and maps. Sometimes the picture comes together right away like a completed puzzle. More often though, I put several layers down, scraping here and inlaying there, until it looks right. I like to have a lot of materials around me, and then I make connections and figure out what I want to combine. I use scissors, a razor, and gel medium to paste and attach and scrape away. I have a lot of pre-conceived ideas that become fluid and changeable according to whether things are working out or look right. The collage feels finished when I have created a true pattern with the proper balance of light.