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Hi Leslie,
One reason why I don't use a roll of paper towels is because I don't really need a whole sheet at a time, so I cut up those blue Costco shoptowels into smaller squares and keep a stack of them handy.
The other reason is because I'd rather use cut-up old shirts. Something Michael Workman said in a workshop several years ago has stuck with me. Workman is a tonalist landscape painter who strives for mystery and spirituality in his work. One of the workshop students asked why he was using an old shirt instead of a paper towel and he said that he was using one of his favorite old shirts and it gave him a lot of pleasure to hold it and make it useful to him one last time. Then he said something to the effect of "If you think all of life isn't interconnected, you're fooling yourself. Things are connected in ways which we can only begin to understand."
I know a lot of artists who talk this way, especially those who try to portray a sense of mystery in their work. I find all of this very interesting.
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