WOYWW #121 - Paint More, Pay Less

My workdesk this week for WOYWW is currently the floor in my outdoor studio. I decided a few days ago that I wanted to play with paint, I had no agenda, no particular painting in mind, I just wanted to slosh it around and paint like a child (act like a child in other words). So outside I went with a load of cheap acrylic paints, some cardboard to cover the floor, a piece of A1 paper and some tape to stick it to the wall.

By the end of that day I realised I had half the amount of craft paints left and a half-finished painting I didn't really like.  But, I had achieved that feeling of freedom when expression is in abundance - and you can't put a price on that right?  Well, I still thought if I carried on at that rate I soon wouldn't have any paints left to be expressive with so I figured out a plan - I went and found some really cheap (& large) acrylic paints & brought the prime colours:

These I found at Art Discount and they cost £5 for 500ml (and the vintage French milk crate I brought a while ago from an antiques market - nice home for them don't you think?).  Now the craft paints that come in 59ml bottles (Folk Art, Anitas, Do Crafts etc) are cheap by any standards £1.25-£2 each, still even if you compare with the cheapest 59ml bottle price these large paints are still a minimum of half that cost.

We all know that 'real' artists put out their few oils/acrylics on a palette and then mix their colours to be exactly the same colour as the purple sky, or green leaf they are painting. I'm not like that - well very occasionally - but right now I just want to paint, tube to paper and back to another tube, even without washing my brushes. So I used the large paints to mix my own lot of colours ready - using these pots that I have been saving every time I have finished with my cosmetics for years - for storing buttons, gemstones etc (because I just think it's silly to throw away something that is made so well and of really tough plastic).

So I managed to get some pastels

Some bright & some jewel tones

& some darks

So I finished the painting with these & just in case you were wondering I've found no difference in the quality whatsoever.  And just in case you were double wondering here is the finished painting:

It's had about 4-5 layers of paint (you can see the corners in pictures above, completely different colours were used - some I left in those lines & squiggles you can see on her) and I don't especially like it any more now that it's done. But I'm in a happier place now than before it was started and that to me is the point of painting. So I say save your jam jars, shampoo bottles or any other pots you may have & why not save a few pennies? You get to do some messy mixing as a bonus!!

Finally as this post is about art thought I'd mention that there's two days left to enter my giveaway for an art journal before I pick a winner, and yours artfully has a fantastic giveaway too to win some pan pastels so check them out. Happy WOYWW much love, Jenny