Yes, save all of it. I don’t mean forever, but at least for a year. I read that somewhere, or heard it, maybe? Anyway, I have been saving stuff and then reviewing it after awhile. The reason is so you can see how you progress. I didn’t know anything about drawing or painting when I started, I just went for it. In some ways that is very admirable as ignorance can be bliss and gives you more freedom to try new things. On the down side, not a lot of what I did was very good. This is why it is good to try a class or two, and read a book or two, and watch a video or two. Then when you have done that, you can worry about technique. Haha! I am a big believer in self-education and I am grateful for all those talented people out there who teach classes, write books and make videos. The rest is then down to me. I have learned a lot.
I am amassing a lot of paper. In fact, I had a lot of work in a portfolio. Somehow, this portfolio got lost in the loft. My husband managed to find it for me the other day (he’s the one who lost it) and I just went through it this morning. I hadn’t seen it for a couple of years. I threw out half of it, some is going to the charity shop, and the rest is staying in the portfolio as it is too nice to throw out, but nothing I want to frame, except for two.

I can’t believe I did this in 2011. I had been looking for the original photo and I found it in the portfolio with this painting. I looks really nice in a black frame and blue mount card. I painted this when I didn’t know anything about painting.
I also found this:
Watercolor on paper – A3
Sorry about the quality of the photo. (It looks better in person) I can’t even remember how I painted this! It’s different for me and was probably done when I first took a watercolour class and did life drawing classes. I liked it enough to frame it.
It was nice to look back on my old work and reminisce with myself. I can remember most of what I had been doing at the time. I mainly worked on still life in every medium except oil paint and watercolor. As I said earlier, I am amassing a lot of paper. Instead of hanging onto things for a year, I am now reviewing every few months. Some of the work has been cut up and made into cards or I will be working on the back of them (if they are clean enough). There is no sense in wasting paper. Working on the back of a piece you don’t like is not an uncommon thing to do. Even if the backs are not that clean, you can still use them to test out colors.
I am still painting myself calm and doing painting exercises that will hopefully turn into something other than some nice color combinations one day; but even if they don’t I am finding some joy in just putting paint to paper.