All the reasons why I’m loving working with painted recycled paper

A mess of painted papers on my studio floor makes me happy!

I love working with painted brown packaging papers. It brings a recycling process into my work, which feels like a way of connecting to loving the planet and nurturing - and therefore belonging to - something bigger.

I love that specs of the brown paper show through the paint, creating a wonderful warm unifying colour and textured pattern, and a yummy contrast of the earthy brown against the painted colours.

Incorporating surprise, trust, and “un-thinking” into my process

I make my papers many different ways, but I try to keep the process as unconscious and un-thinking as possible. They’re more of a by-product of my process than an attempt at intentionally creating beauty. Sometimes I just quickly and messily paint the papers with leftover paint at the end of the day, without really looking at what I’m doing. I also use the papers to wipe paint off my brushes so my brush washing process is more environmentally friendly. And I use the brown paper as table cloths to keep my table clean when I’m painting on my table, which results in random paint “mess” on the papers. All of this means that my papers surprise me with delicious unplanned textures and patterns. I love the way this lets me paint with my body without employing my brain (which is way more fun!).

I love searching through the papers for colours and textures that delight me. It feels like looking for shells on a beach - something I’ve loved doing since I was a little girl, and which has always felt like a deeply meditative and happy place for me.

Incorporating these elements of re-using, searching, noticing, collecting, finding beauty in what’s often discarded, re-claiming and re-incorporating, making up something new with the found fragments, switching off my thinky-brain, and embracing surprise, chaos, mystery, and trust into my art-making process… is all feeling so good.