Creating through Conserving: Lively Leaves

Waste not want not! Whenever I paint and end up with leftover paints or inks in my palette, I like to recycle them on another piece of paper. Likewise, I clean my stencils immediately after use by laying them on paper and wiping the ink off you still have a trace of the stenciled look. I keep adding layer after layer with these leftovers and over time, create something interesting. It’s called conserving!

Many of the media I use do not come in cheap as I want the best quality. It would be a waste both economically and environmentally to waste what’s leftover, and hence recycling totally makes sense. On this one, you can see the earlier layers of stencilled bits and various brush strokes of paint, both acrylic and watercolour. I also decided to draw some spirals and squiggles with leftover india ink as well.

Then another time. Lots of leftover green paints so I painted some leaves and another time purple and violet hearts.

And yet another time more scribbling, doodling and brushing away with the leftovers. Amazing what we can create by recycling and conserving! I must’ve gone through 4-5 painting sessions to achieve this.

What makes pieces like this so interesting is that the random shapes and doodles are added bit by bit on different days, and when combined in the end results in a colourful melange. Creating through conserving. I shall certainly be doing this more often!