As a printmaker, painter and collage artist, I enjoy merging disparate ideas and materials together for harmonious effect. With this series, I place botanical monotypes within an architecture of densely layered papers. I paint and collage surfaces of various types, including dark Egyptian papyrus and Nepalese oil paper embedded with wood and string. This series celebrates contrast -- the organic and the geometric, the smooth and the textured, movement and stasis, representation and abstraction. Historically, my influences have been wide-ranging -- from William Morris' floral designs to Piet Mondrian's rhythmic compositions. These pieces are primarily inspired, however, by my appreciation for where I live -- the San Francisco Bay Area -- where lush natural beauty provides a counterpoint to multitextured urban density. As I print my monotypes, I select plants that signify the familiar: eucalyptus, birch, acacia, bamboo, sedge -- the local branches that spill over fences or grasses that sprout up in parking lots. It is a delight to the senses to live in a place where the organic envelops, resists or plays off the architectural at every turn.