My fascination with string began several years ago while using it on a series of figure paintings. I became fixated on the 'accidental', provocative shapes it created, so I began to investigate its use on abstracts. Utilizing thread, yarn and deconstructed canvas much like I would a drawing implement, I begin a piece by weaving an intriguing cacophony of forms over an acrylic ground. Multiple layers of glazes and oil cover the underpainting in a subtractive method, allowing an image to slowly emerge from the chaos. The discovery of this process has recently led me to mixed media works on which I fragment the pure abstract form as well as abstract the biological and natural world. Fabric, wallpaper and silver leaf often add to the works’ dynamism, creating an interesting dichotomy between these mass-produced elements and the organic assemblage. While I remain rooted in a rather classical painting technique in the end, introducing the string medium has offered endless directions that I have only just begun to explore.