Recycling Old Paintings

This is my latest journal.

I just finished sewing it yesterday and thought I'd share my process to help spark ideas for you in the studio.

I know a lot of you, like me, generate works on paper that stack up in the studio. 

While the paintings may be beautiful, they aren't really enjoyed if they're languishing in a folder in the dark.

The painting above, 12x12" on 140# watercolor paper, was in a folder with a stack of other non representational paintings that I did over a year ago.

This one above was in the same folder. 

I used both of them on the cover and end sheets of my new journal.

Here is the cropped painting mounted on the back inner cover of the book.

For the outside of the back cover I gathered up smaller pieces of random scrap that I keep in a bin for collage.

Arranged and glued them, then painted gel over all for protection.

Some beads and a stenciled canvas spine completed the long stitch journal.

I love the way the raw materials of the old become folded into the new carrying history and memories with them.

It also makes me happy to use and enjoy something that I liked well enough to save. 

Back to my de-cluttering.

xo