I joined an art challenge called Quarantined Creatives Art Challenge hosted by Matt Tommey. It’s still open to join and it’s free. You are welcome to participate with several thousand other creatives (online)!

The first challenge was to reflect on the following verse and then create art from something that would normally be thrown away.

…and provide for those who grieve— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Isaiah 61:3

As I looked around my craft room, I saw the boxes still sitting in the corner from the grandkids making acrylic pours (pre-quarantine) with the dried paint that dripped off the canvases. I’d also just gone through a bunch of receipts and tore off the long tails from purchases made at a craft store and tossed them in the trash can. I decided to use those “trash” items as well as a watercolor paper that I’d been experimenting on to make my art challenge.

I haven’t done any mixed media projects for a while so it was fun to work on this. I glued receipts randomly on the paper of my art journal and then brushed gesso on the top. The receipts gave a texture to the paper.

Then I pulled out my gelato paint sticks and quickly colored the paper.

Gelatos are water-soluble, so I used a brush and painted over the page with water. I took a paper towel and rubbed over the page to remove some of the water and also to blend in the colors better. You can see the texture that the glued receipts give to the page after coloring over them.

I tore the watercolor paper to make some vase shapes. My intention was to cut out shapes from the dried acrylic paint left overs, but once I pulled them from the plastic, I decided to use them as is. The shapes looked much like flower petals, so I went with it! After gluing those in place, I let the pages dry completely.

After letting it dry overnight, I used acrylic paint to add in some stems, leaves, white flowers, and other finishing touches.

So what do you have that you think is trash that you could turn into a beautiful work of art?

And whatever you may be going through in this time of uncertainty in our world, let the Lord turn your “trash” into something of value in your life.