My watercolor collage "quilts" are inspired by the women of Gee's Bend, Alabama. Their quilts were pieced from scraps of everyday household fabrics, even old clothes, and each woman's style was highly distinctive and individual. When I saw these quilts -- which blur the lines between craft and fine art-- exhibited at the de Young Museum in 2006, my work took a new turn.

So, I re-use materials already found in my own studio -- primarily “patches” of watercolors used for practice -- plus origami paper, ribbon and thread -- to piece my own abstract paintings. Lately, I have expanded my interpretation of this form into "mosaics", seen in my Landscape and Wildfires work.