Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Cleaning House

For the past couple of weeks, since I finished all of the paintings that I needed for exhibitions and was so encouraged by my new pieces, I have been using my time to clean out my studio.

Since I am trying to be an environmentally concerned citizen, I have reclaimed everything that would be reusable. The Wallis pastel paper is one of these things. I have found that I can dust off the loose pastel into the trash and save the paper to later be used for pastels or oils.

To do that, I just have to add a few drops of water to the paper and smear it around until I have an even tone of grey-brown which will served as a good mid-value ground for pastels. I can also take an old brush and gesso over the Wallis and use it for oils.

I save all mats that are clean and can be reused. Since I mat the pastels with a hinged mat and put a layer of foam core on the back of the mat to create a spacer for pastel dust to fall into, I have already invested some money and time in them and love it when I can reuse them.

In spite of all of this, I still have a large black plastic trash bag in the middle of the floor full of old paintings that just aren't worth saving, dirty mats, scrap, etc.! But I feel better knowing that I will never have to dig through those old pieces again, knowing that I don't feel good enough about any of them to show them in public.

I do have one quandary – what do I do with the ones that are acceptable to me, like these two oldies, but goodies below? I would like to sell them a bit cheaper to make space in the studio and give a starving collector a chance to buy them at a good price. But this is a no-no for a lot of artists. I'm not sure I agree with their philosophy, so, if you have suggestions, please add a comment below!

The Weaver
Luz Marie's Shop