So, in Parts I & II of my series on “Upcycling,” we’ve seen that you can re-purpose empty bottles and containers, clothes, furniture, etc., giving them new value, beauty and purpose… but can you do the same thing with a house? Or an apartment building? Or a school? Why not! Today, for the finale of my three-part series on how and why to re-purpose just about everything, we’re looking at “upcycling” on an architectural scale.
This isn’t just a fun hypothetical or a cooky, avant-garde experiment. This is actually being done, and with good reason and a whole, glorious variety of results.
Hey everyone! For the new year, I’m really ramping up my efforts to get my artwork out there in the world. I stealthily started putting together an Etsy store, and am ready to share it with the world (or at least, my Facebook friends and the maybe two or three people who read this blog). For my Etsy debut, I’ve created a series of paintings which I’m calling “Hey Cupcake!”
In “Upcycling Part I,” we looked at the origin of the word “upcycling” and sort of the basic trash-to-treasure concept (if you missed it and have no idea what I’m talking about, you can find it here, but we didn’t get to really see it in action. It was all very informative and blah blah blah blah… ok we get the point. Now it’s time to put my Pinterest where my mouth is. Read More →
Wow, so I haven’t posted in over a month. Clearly I’m still getting the hang of this blogging thing, but what I lack in speed here, I make up for with a paint brush. At the end of October, Houston Young Professionals posted an open call for artists to attend a free art event at a newly-converted condo building called Promenade Place. Since I only heard about this art show a few days in advance, I challenged myself to brush up on my painting skills by creating three new pieces of artwork in 3 days.
Murals and Faux Finishes
Paintings
Hey Cupcake!
HYP Art Show
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Murals and Faux Finishes
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Paintings
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Hey Cupcake!
The larger 18" x 24" painting, created as part of my "3 Paintings in 3 Days" challenge is the one that started it all. I have since done a series of four 8" x 10" cupcakes on the same theme, with a slightly softer color palette. I think the slightly lighter color palette is a little bit more appropriate to the subject matter, but more importantly, it also creates more of a contrast in tone between the cute, bright colors of the cupcakes and their (figuratively and literally) darker garnishes. All of these are for sale at my Etsy store (link below). I am currently working on getting better photographs of all of these (these photos were taken on my iPhone) and will also have prints available for purchase in the near future! -
HYP Art Show
In preparation for the Houston Young Professionals art event (22 Oct.), I painted one painting per day for three days! Here are the results...
As part of my effort to learn more about sustainable decision-making, I’m going to be looking into some of the key terms, topics and “buzz words” that often come up in discussions of sustainability. This week’s topic: “Upcycling” – what does it actually mean to “upcycle” something, and how is it helpful (or not) to humans and the environment?
Hi! I’m starting this blog to talk about art, design and sustainability, and to share some of my artwork and projects around the house.