On handmade Mingei Paper from Gifu prefecture, Japan
 
Inland Sea Oats, dune grasses, Queen Anne’s Lace, False London Rocket, Mustard, Burning Bush Euonymus alatus, Zebra grass, Jump Seed, Sunflower, Foxtail grass, Hoptree droops, Little Quaking grass, Spirea, Vetch, White Sweet Clover, Cicada wing, Northern Flicker feather
 
This artwork began with the spectacular paper. I was visiting Ty Heineken’s marvelous Studio Japan in Kingston, New Jersey, his annual October event showcasing the wonderful rustic art from, mostly, 19th century Japan. Ty is an anthropologist, museum restorer, and expert in Japanese rural decorative arts. I noticed in a basket many rolled up sheets of paper. Ty explained this paper, made by Japanese farmers in the countryside of Gifu prefecture, emerges from their collecting dry stalks and grasses from the fields. When you hold it up to the light you can see the flecks shine through. I wanted my piece to reflect and honor the origin of the paper, so I centered grasses and began with the spectacular dark Zebra grass, then surrounded it with its natural companions of sunflowers and other grasses. All these materials were collected in Michigan, except the northern Flicker feather, which I found in Princeton, walking back home from the Greenway Meadows. 
 
24x36
 
Matte giclée print on watercolor paper