Studio Clean-Up

I've been working in the studio for almost two hours, and I managed to sit in practically one place the entire time. Hm. I think this is going to take a while.

It's a mess. I've been struggling to figure out exactly why it's so much worse than the rest of my house, and have finally decided it's because I tried to cram in several, well, layers of possessions without sorting and winnowing first.

Everything was fine when I initially finished the room. The only art supplies in evidence were essentials I carried from my home when house-sitting plus a few things I bought for my horrible drawing class. Everything fit, the counters were empty, and I was happy.

But then I started cleaning out R's stuff, and inherited a ton of supplies in the process. Jewelry that didn't sell in the garage sale, jewelry-making supplies, tools, a book press, paper-making screens, and a bunch of general stuff like colored pencils and half-dead paint brushes. Magazines I intend to cut up. More collage-y type books. Paper. And a bunch of stuff I can't even name offhand.

All my room-painting supplies got added to the mix, plus anything I bought for interior decorating. And then I started cleaning out my parent's house. Hello, pysanky supplies and endless reams of paper. Spray paint and fabric dye. Old calendars. Sixth-grade sticker collection. Family photos. Vintage postcards. Board-game pieces. Micro wheels. My jewelry-making supplies. Children's egg-decorating kits. Found object collection. All the magazines and books I intend to cut up one day. And all my office supplies, including a small fortune in sheet protectors and index cards.

Eventually I ran out of places to put things, so stuff started accumulating on the counters (intended as work space, not storage space!) and all over the floor, too. Storage containers were only half-full. Nothing was labeled. Endless piles of stuff, some of which has doubtlessly dried out/dessicated/rotted/broken/irretrievably tangled constantly threatened to cascade off the counters into the floor.

So now I'm going through everything, slowly, trying to figure out the best way to use the limited space at my disposal. Labeling as I go. Trying not to get distracted by "finds" like my Star Princess and Pluta paper dolls. (Wonderful costumes!!) Today I mainly organized 8x11" paper into file folders.

I think this could take all summer to finish. Maybe then, once fall starts chilling the air, I'll have money enough and space enough to install better lighting. Then I can spend the winter creating instead of accumulating.