Michael C. Noyes, based in Bellows Falls, Vermont, paints utilizing Japanese color pigments on Chinese paper. Powdered pigments, some of varying grain sizes and available in many thousands of shades, are mixed with cow hide glue to make paint. Applied with brushes made of natural bristles ranging from soft to stiff, this type of paint and paper creates immediate and permanent brushstrokes. Noyes paints on Xuan paper which is thin and very absorbent, immediately showing the quality of each brushstroke. Noyes is currently working on several series of paintings including “Water Way”, “The Return of the Atlantic Sturgeon”, “The Painted Book” and “Vermont Trees”.