Sadly she has now had to be retired. I didn't mind all the paint stains, they were quite 'artistic' -- but she was tattered with holes, which just kept getting bigger and bigger.
A new 'faithful' has joined me here in my studio. Oh my gosh - she's so clean and bright. I almost feel like we're going to have a picnic.
Instead I plan to pile the 'mess' from the previous post right back on top. I'm not exactly sure I'll be comfortable with this 'newbie' until I've spilled a bit of paint, cut through her surface a couple of times and added some dollops of gel medium.
"It is easy to say how we love new friends, and what we think of them, but words can never trace out all the fibers that knit us to the old". - George Eliot