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| The beginnings of a paper flower. |
Anyone? Anyone?
When acrylic paints are added to brown paper, the material takes on a rubbery quality. Cutting it with a craft knife feels like vinyl because the edges have a little give to it. I find this very satisfying--yeah, I know that I'm a strange bird.
And if you really must know, I also like to paint on cork tile. Take a look at the title art on top of this blog and you'll see the continental U.S. painted and cut out of cork tile. Here's the full map:
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| Can you spot the mistake? Hint: I got a little carried away with the paint. |
When I was in my twenties, I had an apartment that had really ugly plaster walls. One day I decided to paint them, but I couldn't decide on a color. So I kept painting them over and over again until I realized that the act of painting was euphoric. I painted almost every day, and not because I fancy myself an artist. I mixed leftover or sample paints on the walls (oh, please don't ask me where I got my paints) because I was more interested in the colors. Sometimes the combinations were inspiring. Other times they were muddy and indistinct. But most of the time, they were in a state of flux with vivid swirls going in and out of each other.
I still paint, but back then it was my apartment walls and now it's brown grocery bags. My husband is a little more than grateful for the change in substrate. I dare not touch the walls of my house, which need to contain the moods and whims of two impressionable children. My daughter Masana has already picked up the graffiti artist's need to "tag" things, like her bookshelf or the doorway. So if she caught me painting on my walls, I could only imagine what that would lead to.
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| My little graffiti artist. I think her graffiti name will be "MaeTag." |
So I paint brown grocery bags. And cut them into shapes. And sometimes sew them together. And transform the plain and everyday into something other than.
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| Cherry blossoms. |
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| Daisies. |
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| Hibiscus. |
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