i have a problem .. i admit it .... i treat my brushes just horribly .... in my recent studio cleaning i sorted through ALL my brushes, 90 percent of them needed a good soaking in alcohol ... so i did that ... and i brought them back to my rental house today and rinsed them out .... some feel gooey still ... i think that means they are going to harden back up when they dry out .... and then i'll just toss them ...this array on a dish towel is my attempt at giving them a second chance .... some were down right crusty ... some just had crusty bits .... none felt lovely and soft and new ..... little.e.beck.artist found the whole process fascinating ... and was kind enough to let me know that i had 77 brushes in rehab ..... yoinks! ... doesn't speak well of my clean up skills ....
but look at that...i do have some cleaning skills..... can you tell what i did? .... once i cleaned off my whole counter, i collaged my studio backsplash .... groovy, huh? .. i had it in my mind that i was going to glaze it, paint it, stamp it, too .. but ran out of time .... i had all the kids with me and the whole easter egg thing they were working on was more exciting than what i was meant to be doing .... but, the counter and cupboards are well on their way to the place called super tidy ...although, that's a bit misleading .... look at my truth:
there is tidy in the distance, but the foreground? not so much ... the six foot square table might just collapse from the agony of so much mess .... but, four bags to the dumpster (my house is a work site with a dumpster, after all), four bags to goodwill (sort of... they are still in my trunk), and one giant bin to the rental house's paper recycle bin ..... if you want a play by play on this last pic, you can go see it at my flickr site, where i've put all sorts of notes on it for your reading pleasure .....
there is tidy in the distance, but the foreground? not so much ... the six foot square table might just collapse from the agony of so much mess .... but, four bags to the dumpster (my house is a work site with a dumpster, after all), four bags to goodwill (sort of... they are still in my trunk), and one giant bin to the rental house's paper recycle bin ..... if you want a play by play on this last pic, you can go see it at my flickr site, where i've put all sorts of notes on it for your reading pleasure ..... so far, so good on the cleaning .... well, mostly cleaning, if you count collaging a wall as part of the cleaning process!
this week, i think i'll paint with allison at least once (oh! i painted there friday, but forgot my canvas in her kitchen ...oops .... so no pics for you yet ....) and i hope to get in three or four short stints at studio cleaning ..... what's your art plan this week? you could always collage a wall ....
15 comments:
That wall looks awesome!!! And, YES, it counts as cleaning!!! lol
I like your wall!
I love your studio. What a great job you did with the backsplash. Very nice.
Is there a club for those that don't take good care of paint brushes? Can my hubby join?
You always make me smile with your fun blog. Love it!
your row of freshly cleaned brushes makes for a great shot .. and yeah, the backsplash looks good, too.
Isn't it awesome to have a dumpster at your house? (One of those sentences I never thought would come out of my mouth...) If you can be on top of it and take advantage of the opportunity to clean some stuff out, it's hard to beat. Fees for dropping things at the dump in Seattle are ghastly...
That backsplash is just terrific. I'll bet it will add to your artful joy when you work in the studio.
It seems can never get brushes really clean no matter how I try.
i like it, too!
as for foreground mess, makes me glad all i have is a writerly box and piles of papers to go thru. and then there's that whole file cabinet of poems and short stories, etc that i should have compiled and edited into at least 4 book collections by now!
the collaged backsplash. How cool!
maybe I will collage the whole studio!
The art league is doing a project - painting small trash cans for recycling and to sell at an auction coming up.....think I will collage the one I signed up to do.....
your empty shelves look super! Sometimes having an empty cupboard or shelf is an inspiration to keep things simple. I have one in the kitchen...hard to keep from stashing stuff there though.
Inspirational in every way. I am a brush beater, too. I know I should treat them better, they work so hard. The backsplash? Too, too groovy, sistah.
oh, gosh, i do this too. get so caught up in the doing and the thinking and the creating that cleanup is the last thing from my mind. then before i know it, the brushes are as hard as rocks.
so far, so GREAT on the cleaning - and just think ... you can count the day as an art day thanks to that creatively wonderful collaged backsplash!!
well done!
I think the paint brush photo is a piece of art in itself.
--R :)
You are making awesome progress!! After this show in April, I'm going to go to town with my stash and reclaim my house!
Love the backsplash--I saw that on flickr yesterday and commented.
I am an abuser of paint brushes too. I finally realized that I better just buy cheap ones!
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