My paintings have an unusual flare to them, as they are a blending of various media and materials. I like to use materials from Okinawa. Most of my paintings are rendered on a base of Gettoshi, an Okinawan handmade paper created from the getto plant. (The Okinawans use the leaves of this plant for wrapping mochi, a soybean food product.) After I sketch the drawing onto paper, I begin a batiking process by applying wax to preserve any areas where I want to apply color later. After finishing, I gently crackle the wax. My next step is to paint on Japanese Sumie ink in both the spaces that I left open and in the cracks to obtain the rich texture of the "batik" or crackling effect. The wax is then removed with a hot iron and paper. The last step is to apply special paints to all the white areas to include shade and highlights. Sometimes, in the beginning of the process, I will use rice glue to attach handmade paper give it a look of collage. If collage is incorporated, then I use washi or other handmade Asian papers.