Solving the Scrap Puzzle

During the summer of 2023, I created a whole bunch of scrappy squares and rectangles (above photo).

I had been using a large piece of brown paper to cover my work table and roll off my excess brayer paint while gel printing. Eventually, it was filled with lines of paint in a variety of colors, mostly greens and blues, with hints of orange, of course. 

I hate to waste...well...anything, which is part of why I love finding "trash" to repurpose for gel printing texture. It's also why I have a hard time throwing out even tiny paper scraps. 

I decided to cut the large piece of paint-covered paper into a bunch of small squares and rectangles. After I had created a large pile, I started gluing small shapes from my paper scraps, such as lines, arches, circles, etc... to most of the pieces. 

But I didn't stop there! I finally went around the edges of each piece with my sewing machine, adding lines of thread. 

It was a labor-intensive, labor of love for a bunch of small bits of paper. But I was enjoying the process of making these tiny works of art so much that I didn't care. And now that they were finished, I didn't know what to do with them.

At the time, I made this 12" x 12" grid piece for a local non-profit gallery, which used quite a few.

It turned out well enough, but I didn't really want to use the rest for more grids. And, so they went into an envelope and into a bin of other (slightly) organized scraps.

Until this summer....

As I was rearranging my paper scraps and studio shelves, I found the envelope containing these precious shapes. I had started formulating ideas for a new series of stacks, and these old scraps suddenly seemed like the perfect starting point.

I decided to incorporate 3-4 of these scraps into each stack, often using the colors and shapes in these tiny pieces as a starting point for the entire collage. Finding pieces where the lines or curves would meet to form a larger shape became a new game.

I often feel like creating art is solving a puzzle where only you, the artist, know the solution. Sometimes that puzzle can feel hard, like the New York Times Sunday Crossword, but other times the solution feels easy, like a kid's word search on the back of a cereal box. 

When I made these scraps back in 2023, trying to figure out what to do with them felt unsolvable. This summer, I finally felt like I knew how to put some of the pieces together. 

You can view all my new mixed-media stacks HERE. Or read this other blog post about the meaning behind my stacked formations. 

Thanks for reading.