Whiff

I have developed the habit of smelling the trash I collect before it gets the all clear to go into the keep bag but sometimes a pungent piece escapes my nose. Now, I don’t mind the smell of the sea. If brininess bothered me, I would have a big problem! Some trash, though, has a smell that is beyond words repulsive- some kind of combination between chemical decomposing dead thing marinated in sewer. Maybe a few of you know what I mean? It is a smell that lingers long and stubbornly in the nostrils.

These smelly pieces always seem to be special finds that I am excited to add to the trash collection so I bring them into the studio anyways, hoping that somehow the smell will dissipate once inside- it never does. After comments from my family, I pull the offending piece/s and put them outside in a line of other poor evicted trash souls but sadly, none have made it back inside- they are just too smelly.

Other pieces are borderline. They do smell but are not totally repulsive and so they stay and are used but every now and then, I will pause and sniff a painting- just to make sure that the bad whiff I just got was from my son’s rotting smelly shoes and not a bit of offending trash.