These may really qualify as “one man’s trash” as opposed to secondhand castoffs finding new life as objet d’art, but either way they start out ordinary, end up special, and that’s enough for me.
I’m talking about painted cigar boxes:
You should have no problem finding a variety of boxes at smoke shops, or if you have a grandpa or an uncle, or even an interesting aunt who relishes a fragrant Cuban now and then (well who wouldn’t?) you may be lucky enough to find these boxes closer to home.
Once you’ve got the box then all you need is paint. I use that same acrylic paint I’ve been painting everything else in creation with…
and when I paint I let little bits of the original cigar brand artwork peek through. I like to pick out words or phrases like “ART” or “CAN DO.”
My patterns lean toward the geometric and often look like quilts. Not much of a stretch for me I guess.
Sometimes I play with the original images on the box and add more of my own to create a little story.
So if your recycling is more likely to end up in your studio than in the blue bin out back, and you would never refer to a raw material as trash — consider the humble cigar box.
And if you run across any fragrant Cubans let me know. I’m working on my Interesting Aunt credential.