My mother called this morning to let me know my email box was full. I usually check my mail online and don’t always clean everything out like I should. It slowly gets filled up with junk and emails that I just “might” need again someday. Until all of a sudden, it’s so full that it doesn’t work anymore.
Rather like my studio, and sometimes my life… We’ve been doing some decluttering in the house lately. We’ve discovered while moving furniture from room to room when we were painting, that we really liked it with almost nothing there. Without all the extra furniture and the clutter, it was restful and relaxing. The open space gave us room to breathe and made the rooms look so much bigger.
So we’re getting rid of as much stuff as we can. It’s hard though. This thing here was a gift from that person, and that bureau there is still nice and solid. Yes, it’s also neon green from when my brother was ten years old and that was his favorite color and we really don’t need it for anything – but it’s tough getting over the packrat tendencies. We’ve taken to putting anything we don’t need or want but is still “good” with a Free sign out by the side of the road. If anyone else can use it, they’re welcome to it. If not, it goes in the trash after a couple days. Not much gets to the trash.
And it’s not just physical clutter that I have to watch out for. What about all those things that eat up your time that you don’t really enjoy or need to do? That event that you feel like you probably “ought” to go to but have no interest in, or that tv show you watch every week that’s mildly amusing but you wouldn’t really care if you missed it? That time could be spent on something that really matters to you. Like your art.
Or like Dave and I did the other day – coloring a Chicken Run coloring book with crayons (the big box, of course). It was alot of fun actually even if they have renamed alot of the colors. Fortunately, periwinkle is still there. I think that’s my favorite and I’m not sure if it’s because of the color or the name.
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I LOVE this post. I have just brought in the outdoor plants and I love them and they are gorgeous but they do take up space. I need to declutter some of that stuff you name (belonged to my mom – must keep; read and loved; must keep – and my books increase like topsy). I hope next year to move toward an actual studio out in back of our lot – probably where the old trailer/shed is currently residing (it has aluminum siding which is the only thing that makes it look like it should still be standing). Then I’d have everything in one space and that would be very nice….now I just have to sell a bunch of work in the next few months to make that possible!
Thanks Tammy. I’m glad I’m not the only one
Good luck with creating a new studio for next year, that would be wonderful. I have a nice big workroom which I’m supposed to share with my husband but I ended up with three quarters of it. It just needs another round of decluttering and organizing. It never quite gets clean though. I excavate my work table and immediately a million ideas rush into my head and I want to dig out all my supplies again. 
But I guess that’s how it should be.