For years I have gone through first one approach to painting/drawing, then another and another, most for private enjoyment and that urge, that just won’t quit, to make art. But I have always been searching for an approach that would allow me to have free reign and use whatever techniques I wanted, at any time I wanted, successfully .  When I began Michael Coffee’s printing workshops, we were asked what we wanted to get out of the experience. I wanted or hoped for a new way to go about the various approaches I have always enjoyed, something to pull it all together, with a whole new end result. I never anticipated how much that goal would be realized. These workshops and Michael’s own approach to teaching, especially his encouragement of individual expression, risk and difference, has opened doors for me. I find many of my old approaches and the printmaking new ones pushing and vying for expression all at the same time, like creatures being released from confinement, not waiting for permission. My job and challenge is to keep havoc at bay. I mock up much of what ends up on the paper just to see where there will be affinity versus what will lead to a fight. I am finding unexpected compatibility between disparate elements. Not only do they often tolerate the proximity to one another but they enhance one another by contrast (if I am careful). These pieces are entertaining to make and, I hope, to view as well.