Since February 2006, Kate Bingaman-Burt has created daily drawings of items she has purchased. A new book Obsessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today includes hundreds of her possessions--including the credit card statements required to buy them--as humorous musings on consumerism, spending, budgeting, celebration, indulgence, and of course, guilt. Bingaman-Burt walks us through some of her favorite images in the book as well as some more recent daily purchase drawings.

Bingaman-Burt began drawing her monthly credit card statements in the fall of 2004, pledging to keep drawing them until she was debt-free. Later, she started selling the drawings for the "minimum amount due" price listed. "This credit card was opened while I was in graduate school," she says. "I just recently paid off a computer that had been out of commission for about two years."

Bingaman-Burt is unapologetic about her impulse buys, like when she fell in love with this Louis Vuitton purse from Walmart. "I find blatant knock-offs very funny," she says. "I still use this bag, actually."

Keeping track of her purchases has also made Bingaman-Burt more aware of her brand allegiances. "I have worn a $20 Timex for the last ten years," she says. "I have also purchased four of them during this time."

Bingaman-Burt now sells all her daily drawings as well as monthly zines of her drawings. "One of these days I am going to add up all of the supplies that I have purchased specifically for my daily drawings. Sometimes I am like a snake eating its own tail."

Sometimes the purchases are more abstract, like when Bingaman-Burt paid $43.60 to receive her official MFA diploma four years after graduation. "I get stubborn about fees," she says. "I am also pretty sure that I returned those books on time."

Now when Bingaman-Burt eyes items for sale she immediately starts to think about how they'll be rendered in her hand. The iPhone was no exception. "I have drawn two of these so far. I also love drawing app icons. Perhaps I will be drawing the iPad soon?"

Drawing food and meals is a bottomless trove of inspiration for Bingaman-Burt. "2010 is the year of the Banh Mi sandwich for me," she says. "There is a food cart right next to my office at school."

A little over a month ago, Bingaman-Burt paid off her last credit card, bringing an end to her statement-drawing exercise. "As of this day," she says, "I am debt-free."

Bingaman-Burt renders all her drawings in simple black ink and of course she knows the best place to buy them. "I have been using this brand of pens for almost two years now," she says. "The Portland State Bookstore has the best deal because of my faculty discount."

In addition to her drawings, Bingaman-Burt also creates art shows on consumerism, like a recent one at Land Gallery in Portland. "I finished installing my show a few hours early. I wanted to get my hair cut, but the place down the street didn't take walk-ins (and they looked at me like I was a street person)," she says. "Instead, I hopped across the street and purchased this navy blue vintage dress for my opening that happened 45 minutes later."

As a clever riff on Bingaman-Burt's style, a group of artists "illustrated" her book and presented her with the prints on the evening of her latest show. "It is a rather flattering and fun experience to see my work illustrated by so many people that I personally admire so much," says Bingaman-Burt. "A bit surreal, but so appreciated." Shown here are illustrations by Frank Chimero and Lucy Berkley.