Usually I start a painting with a brush, creating an underpainting or composition or symbols depicting the intent of the piece. Then I move on with heavier paint and larger brushed and larger pallet knives. Sometime I use my hands toward the end of a painting to get the paint where I want it to go. When I finished this piece my hands were covered in paint up to my wrists, front and back. This is part of the Love Story. When I become consumed with a painting and there is nothing that exits besides me and the paint.