my name is liza ferneyhough. i am a small, purple bug.

i lived in a dilapidated house in strange, sweet austin for three years before i felt the itch for adventure and ran away to berkeley.   then my young man felt the itch for adventure, so we left for san francisco. i was born in kuala lumpur, malaysia. my mom is malay and my dad is english. when i was three, my family moved to america, where i proceeded to forget the entire malay language (it took about two weeks). my childhood in california was spent behind a thick pair of glasses and beneath a large pile of books. i was a reader long before i was a draw-er. for a long time, i thought this meant i should be a writer. the path i was following was suddenly diverted my last year in high school after another day in a.p. english analyzing the symbolism in cabbage. it scared me so much i went to art school to be an illustrator. how i wrrk my paintings usually start out as sketchbook inky drorings with gronky little mutterings all over them. sometimes i blow them up and just trace the original scribble. sometimes i use the droring as inspiration and redraw it on to bristol board. then i dunk the bristol board in water, wrestle it quickly on to plywood, and then staple it violently into place around the edges. when it's stretched and dry, i alternate layers of ink, acrylic paint, matte medium, and workable fixative. i use teeny tiny brushes because my paintings are usually smaller than a regular sheet of computer paper. they're small solely for slightly ridiculous practical reasons: my studios are usually cramped and cluttered or in my bedroom; i am too stingy to buy paint frequently; i paint slowly; i bicycle or use public transportation; and if i paint them any bigger than 8 1/2 x 11", they won't fit on my scanner!