I'm on a roll...

... or maybe I'm just rolling over.  This purge has me alternating between howls of laughter, amazement and pure unadulterated stunnery (is there such a word?).

I've been working like a fiend to cut papers down to a size small enough to fit into a file folder.  I now have more than a yard of folders, crammed full of colour lusciousness.

 

Apparently, I'm still not done;  I keep finding more and this stack of heavy texture is a case in point.

Years of teaching means that I've a huge stash of material to go through.  At the risk of you thinking I'm absolutely crackers (and truthfully, at this point how could you not?), I have to show you what I found this week - a box crammed full with bags of painted mats, conveniently chopped into odd shapes and sizes.

Obviously, at some point, I decided I had waaaaaay too many painted matboards (done for background demos in workshops) and chopped them just for fun.  I say that because I've no idea now what the end game was, and my mind is whirling with 'what the hecks?'.

At any rate, I have to show you some close-ups of the mouth-watering colour!

  
I hope you can give me some suggestions in your comments below because there must be near 1000 pieces here, and the colour is so good it would be a shame to throw them away.  If I had a wood panel big enough (yup, they're all gone now), I'd be doing something wild and wonderful, but I'm hoping you've got a ton of ideas for me instead.

To end this post on a truly joyous note (apart from the colour, of course) I'd like you to meet our eagerly-awaited first-born grandchild who arrived this week. 

Linkin Nathan Christensen, born Nov. 6/17  6 lbs. 13 oz...welcome home!

May your week have been filled with as much joy and laughter as has ours. 

In the studio...

today, I've had more fun than I think is strictly legal.  When I teach the mixed media classes, I encourage great use of the matboard cutouts provided by Louise Olinger at Olinger Art & Custom Framing for mopping up leftover paint.  It's a great way to get rid of White Support Anxiety.  During the first Colour Boot Camp on Wednesday, I scored some left-over paint on students' palette paper.  Slapping mat boards onto them was quickly accomplished and the following 3 painting starts revealed themselves..

This colourful matboard looks like flight to me.

Interplanetary journey, perhaps?

I feel a maelstorm coming.

I don't always use these boards in a painting, of course.  I've been collecting them throughout the years, and finally got a start on a project I've had in mind for some time.  Emmie Roelofse at Creston Professional Framing & Art Gallery very kindly loaned me some time on her guillotine chopper and I spent a couple of happy hours on Wednesday chopping to my heart's content.

It was no surprise to me that the pile of chopped blues and greens was so large that while I was sorting, some of  them escaped off the pile on to the floor.

Some of the escapee blue/green pile

The yellow and orange pile really got my juices flowing.

Yellow and orange

I was surprised at how small the red pile was in comparison - may need to do something about that.

Mostly red

The range in the purple pink pile was fun to see.

Pinks and purples

Even the neutral pile was interesting.

Black, white, neutral

I'm excited to start using these gorgeous pieces, and wonder what your muse sees for them...all comments gratefully accepted!