Sketchbook Share Saturday

Welcome to Sketchbook Share Saturday!  I’m sharing a peek into my art experiment notebook, and I hope you will share yours as well.  If you’re just tuning in, you can find all the “what”s and “why”s at The Great Art Supply Experiment Introduction.  I’m trying some new things, picking up my art supplies, and having fun, learning along the way.  No rules, anything goes!

Use Extra Paint to Make Gift Tags

 

I’ve discovered I have a little problem.  I am terrible at estimating how much paint to add to my palette.

As I’ve been diving deeper into painting with acrylics, and especially now that I’ve been experimenting with adding gel medium, I seem to always have leftover paint left when I’m finished.  Even if I’ve underestimated, I have leftovers from adding a second blob (I’m sure that’s the technical name for it.)  And since good paint is pricey (and lets face it, I’m cheap), I’m not wasting it.

If I’ve really overestimated, I’ll use a blank sketchbook page to make shapes for future practice.  The circles above were made using paint leftover from a background.  I used them to try out my new black and metallic silver Gelly Roll Pens, and to test the opacity of the white artist pen.

My favorite solution? A stack of simple 3×5″ blank index cards!

In addition to the leftover blobs on the palette, this is a great use for extra paint still on the paintbrush before rinsing.  The cards are a good small size, for trying specific techniques or colors, using in future projects, or for making gift tags.  I made the set above by die-cutting tag shapes from the index cards, and the one in the first photo by just trimming the corners of the card into a tag shape.

I have quite a stack of painted cards already.  A quick stamp or sentiment and I have a tag for any occasion. Convenient and no wasted supplies.  Yay!

I’d love to see what you’ve been working on this week!

Thanks for stopping by!
Carla