I needed to create, to leave behind the rain, the dark clouds, the dark thoughts.  But when I climbed the stairs to my neglected corner of the universe my spark fizzled in a storm of clutter, disorganization, and sheer chaos.

The spacious room lay buried under piles of past and future projects and felt crowded by the ghosts of the people I have been.  I knew that to create something new I must make space for it.  And I must make space for the person I want to become.

So I cued up a few podcasts* and set to work.  The initial thought to “tidy up” quickly mutated  into a need to move furniture, store objects of questionable worth, and contemplate new organizational strategies.

Some tasks came easily.  Putting away the art supplies that littered the horizontal surfaces, tossing paper scraps and old notes into the recycle bin, finally throwing out those weird little fabric scraps I kept for absolutely no good reason.

Part of the fun of tidying up is rekindling the love for adored possessions.  In this instance I lingered at my bookshelf.  It could use an hour devoted to simply cleaning it out.  I tossed out old jewelry making catalogs, workshop instructions for digital scrapbooking and Photoshop Elements, and pulled a pile of graphic design magazines out to recycle.  But this is where I began to falter.

I had purchased the magazines at a used book store.  I had spent hours pouring through the magazines marveling at the digital secrets held within their pages.  But with a rudimentary understanding of Photoshop and zero understanding of Illustrator, their secrets seemed closed to me when I purchased them.  But now- now is a different time and I am a different person.  I speak these languages!  And while technology has changed drastically, I thought those magazines could still hold some valuable lessons for me.  So I put them back on the shelf for another day.

I didn’t finish tidying up the space or clearing the ghosts.  I stuffed some of those ghosts into pretty little boxes along with a considerable collection of mostly dried up ink pads from my Rubber Stamping days.  There remain other ghosts- an English teacher who defends her laminated posters of illustrated literary elements, a crafter or two who dabbled in polymer clay and jewelry craft, a wannabe photographer, the mother of two Lego obsessed children.  But it takes energy and commitment to exorcise ghosts, and they don’t make too much noise.  So, I left them for another day.

*Would you like to know which podcasts I am listening to?  Click the links below to listen for yourself.

An uncomfortable but necessary look at our nation’s education system and how earnest intentions can cause more harm than good.

In the Studio

I attended my first live event early in May.  I spent many weeks preparing- and afterwards I needed some downtime.  I have been working with such an outward focus and I was missing out on the joy of doing for the sake of doing.  So, I returned to play!  My wonderful children and husband gifted me new liquid watercolors for Mother’s Day and I took them out for a spin. 

The image to the left is a page from my sketchbook:  dragon with Snapdragons.  Ink and liquid watercolors.  The previous image also comes from my sketchbook and is a leafy seadragon, further play with my liquid watercolors.

I am already preparing my next visit with you- a reflection on journals.  During my studio cleanup adventure I revisited my journals and I am looking forward to sharing them with you!  Do you keep a journal?