Upcycled, Mixed Media and Scavenged art
Art should never be limited to the restriction of paper or utilizing canvas to capture an idea. We are surrounded by and presented with the opportunities to use commonplace items in the most uncommon of ways if we open our eyes. Below are samples of repurposed material— others might deem nothing more than trash— with respect to bring into life an idea or feeling.
Starting with a sketch…
One of my favorite ways to explore an idea is to first sketch it out on something that isn’t so important to me. I like to write out ideas first and then go into brainstorming mode using old paper or cardboard for sketching or planning. This was a preliminary study for an idea that I later turned into a painting. This sketch was laid on primed cardboard.
Detaching from a memory since passed…
“Detach” is one part of a triptych using local flora and fauna. This particular painting was created on a panel pulled from the side of the road. It also contains a flower and its petals. It builds on the idea of drying out decorative plants but I took it a step further and encapsulated the idea on the canvas, to “commemorate” the act of moving forward, instead of remembering the past. There is nothing more freeing that ridding yourself of the obligation to hold on..
Oh where do we traverse when the pages turn..
“Strange Paradise” is a mixed media piece that expounds on the idea that we visit many places while we are reading a story. So easy it is to feel the elements of another universe when we are taken away by words other than our own…
And across the span of humanity we had spoken stories…
“In the Times of Folklore” was another idea played out on primed cardboard. In literature throughout the ages certain elements show up over and over again to indoctrinate the origins of existence. This painting- sketch draws from the elements as well as a bit of archaic representation of these in a simplified way using a limited palette.