100 pieces of parchment

We’re in the middle of a big home decluttering project (inspired in part by Marie Kondo’s excellent book). In the course of sorting through our office supplies, I came across a ridiculous amount (4 boxes) of ‘fine parchment’ ivory-colored printer paper, no doubt acquired by both my husband and me for printing resumes right out of college.

I’m guessing it is no longer the style to present one’s resume on paper that looks like it should have burnt edges and emo love poetry. Plus, all this paper is US Letter sized, which is not used here in Scotland. I was about to chuck it all into the recycling container when it occurred to me that I could try to use it for art.

Turns out, this wasn’t a half-bad idea. The paper is very sturdy, and takes water and scrubbing well. I decided I’d use it to make 100 artistic experiments, since it’s been a long time since I last worked in such volume (arbitrary challenges like this one can bring some interesting new energy into an artistic practice).

So far I’ve made about 10 (that I’ve kept, anyway), and most of them are versions of Scottish seaside towns based on sketches and other works I’ve done this year. I’m using a variety of media, including watercolor, acrylics, inks, charcoal, pastel, pencil, and probably a couple other things that I’m forgetting. They are a lot of fun to make, and feel a little bit too much like play to count as work, but hopefully by the end of the 100 I’ll have some new ideas to inform my more serious art.