The word flotsam refers to wreckage, debris or cargo items lost by ocean-faring vessels while at sea.  When such items of detritus reemerge, they are often corroded beyond recognition, punctuating shorelines like the ironclad carcasses of imaginary beasts. This idea suggests something of both the concept and process involved in this series of drawings, in which the negative shapes within marbled paper generate the aesthetics, imagery and narrative of each piece.  Flotsam is also a pun in that the process of marbling is sometimes called "floated ink" printing, as a unique monotype print is created from this use of water tension.  Like Surrealist automotism, imagery is dredged from specific shapes conjured semi-randomly, generating novel, complex forms.  Historically, marbling has been used both as a component of miniature painting and as a sort of authentication or "watermark" for documents and books; I am interested in exploiting this history to create a sense authenticity/veracity in these images' fictive world.   Although elements of chance and improvisation are embraced in this process, ultimately the drawings are placed within the context of recurring themes including: references to folk lore, art history, kitsch tourist culture, Tennessee frontier history, Southern social milieu, and man's relationship to nature.