Lessons Learned Through Studio Organization

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I came home from a workshop in Louisiana with a terrible cold and cough which steals one’s ability to create.

As I stood in my studio I realized it was a ridiculous mess. Paintings here and there, stacks of papers that, of course, were important but I hadn’t a clue what they were about.

I remembered what my Mother did when she couldn’t stand my messy room any longer. She would remove everything from all the drawers and put the pile on my bed. This required me to clean and organize so I could sleep that night.

Since I didn’t feel like painting this seemed like a great project so the hurricane began.

Everything came out of all the drawers, off of the shelves in the storage area and out of the file cabinet. I found scissors in the watercolor drawer, scissors beside the canvases in the storage area and scissors under the pile of important papers.

I found items I didn’t know I had. I also found paintings that were half finished, paintings that were finished but were terrible and ragged watercolor paper that looked like it had gone through some torturous ceremony.

Gees, what if I died tomorrow and my children found all these terrible paintings! Yuk!

Two trash bins were filled with papers I decided were no longer mine…things I had held onto for years.

The studio is so organized I bet I won’t be able to find anything!

When all was said, and done the scissors were placed together, watercolor paper in its own drawers, collage paper organized and those dreadful stacks of paper gone through and about a dozen pieces kept.

Cleaning and organizing is truly cathartic.

But here are the surprising things I learned…

  • There is a purity when throwing away stuff that is old but hangs onto you like a bad friend that sucks out all your energy.
  • There is now space in my heart available for new ideas
  • There is a lightness in the air
  • studio now has meaning and a gentle feeling of purpose
  • The old energy is gone and new life is ready for the New Year.

I think it must be the same for thoughts and projections we have about ourselves as artists but that is for another newsletter.

Happy New Year to YOU…you are the Best of the Best!

Hugs,
gwen