Welcome to Day #16 of Art Every Day Month, day #4 (of 15) of “A Little Bird Told Me” book give-away and Day #16 of Gratitude. Whew! Wonder what else I could add???
Although I’m seeing many of you come by to visit, I’m noticing not many are taking time to comment, and so are not being entered into the book give-away. Have I confused you, I wonder? Or are most of you coming by for AEDM and not interested in the book? Just want to make sure! If you’d like to be entered in the book give-away, you have to comment. It’s the only way I know who you are. People who just visit, are anonymous. I can tell a person has been here, but not who. Which is great, I guess. But it doesn’t getcha a free book! So comment! It doesn’t have have to be anything brilliant – no reason WHY you want to win the book. Don’t need to tell me how awesome I am. Just “hey, I’m here!” will do the trick.
So. Art.
I’ve mentioned that my studio has become so over run with STUFF that my artistic urges have been cut off. Just being in the room just stifles whatever creative interest I had. Those of you who visit often know this is a recurring theme. I get overwhelmed with the disaster area and finally clean it up, only to have it return to its former mess within months…okay, weeks. Hell. Days. I’m a messy creative person. What can I say? I need everything out where I can see it, reach it.
Seriously. It’s beginning to look like an episode of “Hoarders.”
Yesterday I went in there and came out and worked on my knitting instead, thinking that today I would begin tackling the mess. Today I went in planning to tackle the mess and came back out and read a gripping mystery novel instead. The room scares me. And anyone who knows how messy I can be, knows how bad it has to be before THAT happens.
So. It has come down to this. I HAVE to get that room cleaned up before I do another thing that I want to do. (She says with a strong resolve that she doesn’t really feel.)
Check back tomorrow and see if I was able to come up with another excuse to avoid it!
Gratitude Day #16 –
I’m grateful that the scary room has a door on it that I can close and pretend the mess isn’t there. No, not really. I’m grateful that I get a whole room to dedicate to the mess instead of having to have it all over my house. And I’m grateful that whenever I have the itch to do something creative I have so many things to choose from to work on. And I’m grateful that Mr. Tattered has (for the most part) learned to stay the heck outta there ‘cuz going in is just going to make him crazy, and saying anything about it is going to fall on deaf (or belligerent) ears. But I am NOT grateful for the mess. I wish it would go away on its own. And I WILL be grateful when I’ve got it restored to order. Because there WILL be a when. It’s just a question of when “when” will finally arrive. And then how long it will stay.
Tattered 'n Worn 
I feel like you read my mind and wrote this post about me! I went into my mess today, grabbed supplies, and went to the kitchen bar to work! I couldn’t stand to be in that messy room! Everyday I swear I’m going to tackle it, and everyday I find something else to do! I feel your pain!
It sooooooo helps to know I am in such distinguished company!
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I’m sending the Cleaning Fairy with her cousin the Sortout Fairy… hope they cross the Pacific O.K. and arrive in time to help!
Woohoo! I’ll keep an eye out for them!
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Ahem, I think you wrote this post about me. It doesn’t help my room doesn’t have adequate storage. I’mworking from the kitchen right now anyway, so I in the summer I decided to give myself the rest of the year (which has now been changed a little because our finances are so bad right now) to do up the room, add storage. I have been knee-deep in there, sorting and purging whenever I’ve had a moment. Anyways, good luck to you. Hope you get it organised.
Thanks, Carin. It seems to be that a lot of creatives have the same issue. I would LOVE to be both organized AND productive, but it doesn’t seem to be a part of my DNA!
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A little at a time, room enough to create, at least that is what I tell myself. At the moment I am down to the last of it then hopefully my mojo will be back. By the way I love you room.
Thanks, Jan! I love it, too, at least when I can breathe in it!
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I decided to opt for more storage options where I could see my stuff – which helps with putting things away, because they are not hidden – but I too am a messy creator – I posted about this on my own blog a while back here
and like you I am grateful for a room of my own (actually now my daughter got married I have TWO!) where I can leave my creativity (read mess) and no one sees or minds 🙂 Have a great weekend and good luck with the clean-up!
I LOVE it! Thanks for sharing your space! Yeah, mine is never going to be featured in a magazine, either!
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I find that it is much easier to tackle the overwhelming task of cleaning up and organizing my space when I have my daughter with me to help. We just slowly chip away at it and before I know it, everything has a place to live and I feel much better! My problem is that I can’t stop bringing more wonderful goodies into the space. I’ve come to realize that this will always be how I operate and that I’ll just have to do a good cleanup at least a couple of times a year 🙂
I can’t either, Heidi. I see this as being a recurring problem…forever.
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i completely understand that feeling of wanting everything within arms reach but feeling overwhelmed when it starts to pile up. i’m due for a day or two of straightening as well!
Ha! I wish it would only take a day! Heeheehee!
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I thought mine had been bad before I cleaned it, but sorry to tell you Janet, without a doubt, yours is worse. I agree, you need a cleaning fairy and thank goodness for doors!
Yup. It’s pretty bad! But I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for the cleaning fairy!
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I too have a scary room with (thank God) a door on it! I’m the same way – creatively blocked because of the mess, yet every time I clean it up, it ends up the same way in time. I’d love to overcome this habit!! Good luck with your cleanup!
Thanks, Judy…if you figure out how to be neater, let me know!
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HI Janet, I get that way too, when things get WAY too piled up, and everytime I reach for something it’s like a house of cards, and everything falls. I have been trying my “hardest” to pick up each project’s after- stuff before I start another. Never lasts for more than an hour or so, until I start once again. So far it’s working ok, the challenge is that I don’t do just one thing. One day, sewing, next collage art, day after that, painting etc…. I feel ya. Hope you find your spark. And Good Luck!
Thanks, Flutter! I’m like you – so many projects going at once. If I could stick to one thing at a time, it might be easier to keep organized. So, I either need to organize better or get used to working in the midst of so much chaos!
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I never could figure out how to live a “simplified” life and be creative, too…I have one room very uncluttered and then there is my “creative” room. They are complete opposites!!! They both fulfill my needs so when the creative mess gets to me I meditate a while in my neat room. The best of both worlds. 😀
Smart girl!
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Janet – I envy your space (that room looks to be the size of my apartment)!
I know, huh? I often wonder how amazing it would be to live right in the heart of NYC, but I just don’t know how I’d manage in a small space! Life is all about trade-offs, I guess.
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I wasn’t going to comment, until I read your question about comments! And then I got to the place where you bared your messy artistic soul and I knew I HAD to comment.
Art and mess seem to be inseparable for me as well. My studio space got so bad that I just stopped cleaning it…for 3 years. Needless to say no art was done.
In April I had a whole 8 days alone in my home and I gutted the space. Took out every single thing, cabinet, table, box of unidentified stuff and did a major cleansing. Bye bye to the lavendar walls; fresh off white on everything that didn’t move! Now I am able to spend hours in there. Keeping it this way has been interesting. I caught myself putting something on my art table recently (that did not belong there) and heard a little voice in my head say “you know, this is how it starts?” Needless to say I put it where it belonged. Not certain how long I will be able to keep up the ‘order” but it does feel so nice to not dread going into the space that is supposed to serve as my refuge and temple to creativity!
Wow, Linda! That’s impressive! I know I don’t have that kind of time to dedicate to getting it cleaned up, but I HAVE to do something. It’s wonderful that you’ve been able to catch yourself falling into old habits, and stopping!
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ummm … I’ll clean your room!!!!!!! :o)
Watch out! I may take you up on that!
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