Working With Discards

"Sloss Furnace" - 6x6 - Watercolor - March 2016

One of my compulsions is saving my artwork.  I never (at least rarely) toss anything in the trash.   I will paint on the back if it's a watercolor.    Pastel artwork I will brush off or do a wash of the existing painting and start again.    This creates an interesting collection of art.   This has a failed portrait of my granddaughter on one side and Sloss Furnace on the other.    I toss these in a drawer by my art table.   I love going thru them from time to time.   It's a good way to critique your own work.   When you have dozens of these little mini paintings laying around and many are double sided it's easy to see ways to improve.   So I guess for the artist, "there is no trash".    Just a blank piece of paper waiting to have a image painted.   It's almost as good as my sketchbook.   I have several sketchbooks and try to sketch daily.   It's fun to look back on the images.

I picked daffodils from my yard a few days ago.   Several faded and were discarded but one is still hanging on.   It was a little irregular but I found it interesting.   These little ruffled gems are a joy!