When I start a piece it evolves, I don't have any pre-concieved ideas as to what direction it'll go in. This particular one, started with the background, I took pieces of scrap paper that had been colored from projects using sponges and collaged them onto the 5x7. I felt it needed something to tie it together, so I created a "dream-like" scape using metallic paints and pearl powders, the grooves and creases in the paper took hold of the colors in different ways. It was still missing "something" and at first I envisioned a dark silhouette, but as I was creating the outline using masking tape to tear the painting, I decided to fill in the ripped space with white pearl. The whole concept is a representation of myself, quietly abrupt (thus the ripping), and the "mind" space around me, a decadent surreal atmosphere that shimmers -- my "inner sactuary" with thousands upon thousands of ideas floating through and within me, all lead by the solidity of my heart within my preferred physical anonymity (represented by the silhouette).