These stepping stones honor the stories and memories of papers that cross my path. I am usually feeling inspired to work on a batch of these paintings during in sync with asparagus poking their heads out of the ground and trees blooming during Spring and throughout the Lenten season, just in time to celebrate Easter. I find letting go of papers, especially scraps (even those physics worksheets from high school or sprawling notes from a lecture on mosquitos or that speedy blind contour sketch of the tree tops or that interestingly shaped blob from a tea bag) challenging. But the pulp paper process helps me let go of the temptation to accumulate “just in case” and trust I have what I need to accompany these fragments along the journey of moving into a new form. (And throughout the journey, they reciprocate by ushering me into a new way of being). I offer gratitude for the bulletins, flyers, notecards, sketches, and journal pages as I rip them into pieces, and commit to memory their stories as they swim, soaked in a bucket of water. As I shape the soggy mixture into a textured surface and let the new creation rest in the sunshine to dry, I marvel at the patterns that peek out from the topography. Soon it is time to respond to these textures with pools of watercolor and gesso.