I grew up on a farm in rural Indiana and in a small Cajun town in Southern Louisiana. My drawings document experiences living in and traveling around the rural United States recording people, places, and objects. Using pencil on paper, an inexpensive and portable medium, my drawings reference the art historical tradition of traveling itinerant artists while negotiating the global migratory reality of the 21st century. In an increasingly complicated and technological world, my drawings explore the notion of making something out of nothing, or almost nothing - tramp art and prison art, pet portraits, home-grown produce, animals and houses painted on rocks, Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs, etc. Documentary in style, they assert the importance of experience in a virtual and information age. My drawings are a hybrid of rural life, folk art and crafts with contemporary art references. Influences are eclectic and include nature writers such as John Muir and Henry David Thoreau, early explorers/artists such as John James Audubon and George Caitlin, rock music and Shaker gift drawings.