Recycled Bounty

For some time now, as many of you are aware, one of my passions in creating art has been to use as much recycled material as possible in both substrate and construction materials, and to be aware of the environmental effect of various media on the environment.

Disposable paper palettes are okay, I suppose, as the leftover dribs and smears of paint wind up in the earth... but I've never felt very good about using them, so, some time ago I started scrounging around for an alternative to paper or formed plastic palettes and found LOADS of reusable, recyclable and functional items to substitute! Those white plastic lids...they're on everything, from coffee cans to cottage cheese containers, awesome! While the lighter weight ones aren't terribly durable, they'll serve pretty well until they start to degrade, at which time they can be wiped off and tossed in the recycle bin; coffee can lids seem to last forever. Woo-hoo!

The other day at Goodwill I hit on the ultimate paint palette score! Tart pans! Kinda like muffin tins, but more shallow. Found two of them, with nine roomy indentations apiece, perfect for times when you're working with several colors at once and don't want a slew of little white lids lying around cluttering up your work space!

Pretty cool, huh? And at the end of a project, you just wipe it off, rinse, dry and put it away!

Here's a shot of what I was working on, custom art papers for a trade with a friend...

I hope she likes them...I can't wait to send them to her!

Today is for finishing up with a few other recycled papers, making an art journal, catching up on email and then cleaning up the yard following last night's massive wind storm...Can you believe that Kris got up in the middle of the night and took down the canopy on the patio by herself? It had walked all over the yard and knocked some things over by the time the noise woke her up...

Anyhow, back on topic...You never know where recycled tools and materials will turn up! Have an environmentally friendly tip to share? A recycled alternative to environmentally destructive practices or tools? Let us know, I'd love to hear what you're doing to help make your art environmentally sustainable!

Come again soon!

Comments

[suewhodoesn'tliketobephotographed]

Lucky friend! I love the purple page with the white leaves. I'm sure she (or should I say She?) will love them. (I LOVE leaves.)

I usually use a hard, flat white plastic palette and clean it off all the time. I like the color white under the paint.

I like the environment and I recycle (now). My dogs always help me recycle; 50% of their toys are Lean Cuisine dishes or milk cartons or empty supplement bottles.

In my studio hardly anything gets thrown away. The garbage cans mostly hold wads of dog hair that I have scooped off the floor so I don't slip on it. Paper towels get a long, full life at my hands. I have a special paper towel trashcan wherefrom I can fetch a used towel and reuse, reuse, reuse it till it has become useless even as a glue rag.

I forgot to say that I enjoyed looking at your journal pages.

Remember how I told you I don't follow blogs? Well, I'm following yours! Thanks for your inspiring artwork. Photos of people and stuff are nice, but photos of artwork gets me out in my studio working, so I appreciate them.

[Kris (HTGRS)]

And the whole time I was chanting, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home," and hoping that I wouldn't end up 5000ft above the ground hanging onto the leg of a canopy in my PJs!!

[suewhodoesn'tliketobephotographed]

Ah, but what a tale you'd have to tell then!

[Kris (HTGRS)]

Very true. Very true.