The past few weeks I've working on a couple more small 6 x 6 paintings to add to my mushroom series. I first got the idea to do this series because I love mushrooms, (not the hallucinogenic kind.)  What's so funny as a kid I used to detest them, except for the morels we used to hunt for in the spring. It's funny how your tastes change. I'm fascinated with how they grow, I think they are beautiful to study and look at, and some varieties taste absolutely amazing!  I'm known to pull off the side of the road to snap pictures!  I only wish that I, like all the pharmacists in France, knew which are edible and which are poisonous.  It's a requirement there that they all know this!

I have a dear friend who is from France and she loves mushrooms as much as I do.  I'm attaching a picture of a mother load of porcini's she found once.  She also happens to be a great photographer and she has provided me with some of the photo reference for this series.  "Into the Woods" is based on one of her photos, she took in British Columbia.

I'm using for this series one of my favorite papers to paint on, Twinrocker.  I love the granulation I get with certain pigments and how they settle into this paper.  They have different surfaces and this happens to be the cold press finish.  When I want a lot of texture, I use the rough paper.