Over the past year, you may have been wowed by painter Lisa Albinger's stunning depictions of relationships gone wrong, womanhood, and growing up with scoliosis. Her work's been on view at monOrchid, Studeo Tad and Soul Invictus. But did you know that Albinger's painted women and rabbit guides ? some housed in the private collections of Tori Amos, The Cure's Robert Smith, and fantasy author Charles de Lint ? were not created using the quintessential brush, but from household items purchased at Target? In college, the Wisconsin-born and -bred artist painted large format canvases up to four by six feet using palette knives and a few large brushes. When she began showing in Milwaukee museums, the gallery owners told her everyone loved the work, but the pieces wouldn't fit in the area's small homes. Unable to dance around on the smaller format, the only answer was to downsize the tools; hence, the birth of the cotton swabs and paper towel method, which has created a more intimate exchange between Albinger and the canvas, while adding a unique scratchy/wispy/playful touch to her work. She uses the occasional brush for face detail and still visits the local art supply stores for oil paints ? but after a trip to Target, she's got cash in her pocket for the really high-quality oils.