Using What's Available!

My mother-in-law entertained quite a bit in her hey-day. What we didn't realize until she passed was what happened to all those leftover plates, cups, and napkins she purchased for her entertaining! She might have used half of each package and then bought new ones for the next soiree! When my wife had to remove everything from her apartment the magnitude of what was there was well, overwhelming! We had those items stored in tubs on the shelves in the garage for years!

Leftover paper plates save a lot of water!

One day after a party where my wife used some of these items, she had a few plates left over. I realized that why not use these leftover paper plates for my painting?  There aren't enough for another meeting so, get some use of them before throwing them away. You squeeze a shot of paint here and there. You can blend on the nice flat surface. Rather than the plastic plate with places for paint I had that took forever to clean wasting water, a real no-no in California, I hit upon those plates! Because I use acrylic paints, sometimes I can use the same space twice as the original paint had dried. Be careful though. You might get some interesting colors as there may still be wet paint under the skin that you didn't notice.

If you don't want to be wasteful here is a wonderful solution. Don't have any left over dinner or desert plates? There is always The Dollar Store or Costco where you can buy 100's at a time that cost you pennies each. I don't know about you but its bad enough keeping your water trays and brushes clean without scrubbing divots in a plastic plate (the bottom item in photo). It is not easy or fun. I do not feel quilty about the plates. The processes that made them are already done and when I am done using one it goes in the trash with little or no water giving me a new clean surface for the next session.

Give it a try the next time you paint. You might find, like I did, its the perfect solution for use and cleanup.

I have a store, KrugsStudio so if you are interested in a variety of birdhouses or crafts,  photography or one of a kind paintings, please be sure to check out that store as well. KrugsStudio.etsy.com. Be sure to tell your friends, artists or not about this blog and my store!

Thank you for visiting.