…materials is something I’ve dabbled in from time to time, and it’s something I greatly admire whenever I see it done by others. Sea creatures woven out of old nets and rope found washed up on the beaches. Horses made from driftwood, beautiful baskets woven from colourful plastic shopping bags. There should be more of it.

I try to include a little bit of recycling in my body of work, I should do more, I intend to do more. I did some today.

I’ve had an old frame (I seem to collect them , from the side of the road or op shops when I see suitable ones, or like when my sister gave me a box from a deceased estate auction she went to), I have a little pile of frames and boards here and a bit of a stack there… …and old books, I collect those too, for recycling/repurposing.

I can’t remember where I got the old frame from that I used today, but I love it. It reminds me of those gorgeous ornate frames in the art gallery. I adore those. I don’t frame my work usually, but I love those ornate gold frames. Sometimes it’s the frames, not the painting, in the galleries that makes my jaw drop.

At first I thought to mount a painting in it. I’ve got some completed work on loose canvas sheets in my art drawers, but when I pulled the frame apart I changed my mind and decided to paint straight onto the board. I like painting on board, and in this case it’s pre-cut to fit the frame perfectly and what I ended up with worked really well, I thought.

I didn’t have a plan, and it was a few months ago now that I pulled the frame apart - I tried a few different completed paintings on loose canvas sheet in it and I couldn’t decide on one so I started painting an abstract straight onto the board with left over paint…and then it sat there for a while with a weird abstract start.

Then, a few days ago I had more paint left over so I obliterated my abstract start with it and left that to dry, and then the next day I had more paint left over and that’s when I decided to paint the portrait I ended up fixing in the frame.

check the progress:

Another thing I like repurposing is books. I’ve used them in collage creations:

and I also love keeping them as books and re-writing them entirely, like this vintage stokers note book that has hand written notes and mathematical figuring out stuff in it. I repurposed it into Cupid’s little Black book that I work in when I’m feeling particularly poetic.

My latest book endeavour is a 1931 Beethoven’s sonata music book, gorgeous with a hard cover and the pages are silky smooth and surprisingly tough and wrinkle resistant when paint is plastered over them. This has become my expressive abstract enquiry book, and I work in it when I’m feeling particularly rebellious.

So I’m hoping this inspires you to do some repurposing stuff into art, so some of that stuff that is just lying around with no purpose and destined for landfill will have a purpose again.