Tuesday:) Toni’s Tip of the Day~Never Waste Paint

“I know there are only Ten Commandments, but I think the 11th should be never waste anything.”

~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis

*************************

Many of my talented frugal artist friends will agree that we don’t waste anything. Also, we are not really hoarders, but we are saving possible art ideas for a crazy rainy day art project In the future. Just because I press leaves, save…egg cartons and egg shells, empty brownie boxes, wine bottles, dried flowers, scrap paper, brown bags, plastic bottles, feathers, toilet tissue tube rolls, and the ever popular dryer lint, this doesn’t mean I’m a hoarder. It’s all labeled and organized and waiting for a possible project. Remember last month, my senior artist friends made lovely 3-D paintings with grocery bag trees and left over tissue paper leaves. Awesome!

Another pet peeve of mine is wasting paint. If I’m working on a project, if there’s a little paint left, I paint a few notecards or book marks or glassware.

So, last week, when I was painting my glass bowl for Jerry’s birthday, I had quite a bit of red, orange, and yellow paint left on my paper palette. Not enough to scoop back into the bottle. Oh yes, that paper is recycled mail or old print outs. I didn’t want to waste the glass paint, as it’s more expensive than acrylic. I grabbed a glass ivy bowl in my stash of unpainted glass in my “crap room.” I have had many friends donate old glass items to me because they know they will be turned into a work of art and find a good home.

As you can see, I use an old foam egg carton lid for my makeshift stay wet palette, a little square of moistened paper towel, then a square of recycled paper. Then, I pour my paint on it.

I used the left over paint from the paper palette and mushed it around and around the bowl until it was nicely covered and blended.

I loved the fiery look of the blended colors. Now, to decide what to paint on top. My easiest go-to motif is a simple one-stroke leaf. It was already after 2 am, so I wanted something quick and simple so I could go to sleep.

Here’s a little video of how to paint the easy vine and leaves.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=bMA0d0mfJgg&feature=share

The finished project. Waste not, want not.