Gyotaku (Fish Printing) is a form of nature printing that began in Japan in the 19th Century.  Fisherman would use Sumi ink (made from soot) and rice paper to record their unusual catches.  Before the days of cameras, this was an extremely accurate form of record.  

Although the inks, papers and finishing techniques I use stray from the traditional, this is still the general method I use to capture the initial images used in creating my artwork.  Each print is an original, one of a kind piece and is then enhanced using various media including watercolor, pastels, inks and pencils.  This process sometimes includes hand dying additional papers for backgrounds.  The paper(s) are then mounted onto canvas or cradled wood panels, finishing touches added and then sealed with several layers of protective varnish.