Saturday, August 25, 2018

Recycling Life (still life)...

While I was looking for a few canvases in my studio to throw some paint on...
I came across a brilliant idea!




RECYCLE!

Okay...not a new idea, just an idea that popped into my head.
I have lots of paintings...still life, landscapes, plein aire...tucked here and there in my studio.
I've been wanting to clear out the paintings that don't hold any emotion for me...
and I think I've come across the perfect solution.
(again...probably not a new idea, but new and exciting for me)

I'm taking my old paintings and recycling them into abstract pieces.
I love having a touch of something real in my abstracts... 
maybe I'm not quite ready to throw caution to the wind and 
start brushing colors and shapes onto a canvas.
I like something recognizable in there...so this is my starting point.



I loved painting the pears in this painting,  so I decided to keep them and cover up the rest.
I added papers and paint to surround the pears, then outlined them
with water soluable crayons in black to give them definition.

I really love and enjoyed painting this...
it also won the Jurors Award in the current 
 "Papered"
exhibit at 



This next piece I used as a demo to teach an oil painting class several year ago.
I loved the colors...and actually everything about this painting.
But...there comes a time to move on.


I worked on abstracting these oranges today and think I'm 95% done ...
I'll take another look in a few days and finish that 5%.



This tulip painting has meant a lot to me over the years.
I enjoyed and can remember the experience of painting it
twelve years ago.
It hung in my home for much of that time,
again...time to move forward.




I sanded it down yesterday to remove the sheen and prepare it to paint.
Then a good coat of clear gesso to keep the under colors 
and some of the flowers and lemons to peek through on the new painting.


This is an idea I mocked up to see where I want to take it.
It's also a 48in x 24in canvas, so I wanted to have an idea in my head before I jump in.


It's a start...and I have lots more to recycle!


I hope you give it a try and see what pieces of art you can 
recyle and give new life to.

ENJOY 



6 comments:

  1. Brilliant as ever! Did you use oils on top of oils? or ?

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    1. I actually did acrylics over oils. I know its always been a no no...but I was reading how often when old oils are repaired, they use acrylic paints. So I sanded these old paintings down and covered them with clear gesso to keep the underpainting alive so I could use some of it in my overpainting. I waited a few days to let it dry completlely and did the old scratch test to be sure it was a sturdy surface to paint over...it passed the test.

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  2. Wonderful idea! They look so fresh!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Carol...and fresh ideas are popping into me head as I get these ready to paint over. It really is a new awakening for both artist and art!

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks for peeking in Jill. It was a really fun opening show last night...Betsy and Linda were there too. Hope you can make it to one of the shows in the near future!🧡

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