Messy Me!

Over the past few weeks I've been bringing the Ladies of Lickety-Split alive and in the process my studio has pretty much been trashed!

Fabric stuffed willy-nilly into the wire baskets - no rhyme nor reason.  

Supplies jammed in pretty much wherever they will fit.

Paper rolled but not neatly and ending up with 'stuff' on top of it.

Who knows what lurks in this mess of paper stacked in every which way.

I promised myself that before the next "Lady" appears on the scene I would clean up, straighten up and pretty much get things in order (at least for a couple of days time - before it starts all over again).

After a fun morning of weeding through fabric, moving some into closed storage boxes and organizing by colors and patterns.  I had this.

My 'stuff' shelves became actually usable with a reordering and some things being carted off to the local thrift shop for donation.

 Now I can see what paper I have and it won't get more crinkled than it already has.

And how do you like this organization?  

I'd never take bets on how long this will last, but for now, I'll just enjoy it and enjoy the fact that now I can actually find what I know I already have.

"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos." - Stephen Sondheim

Absence vs. Fulfillment

Walking into my studio one morning recently -- looking at the most tidy of work tables.  Everything was 'put away', everything was neat.

A feeling of the blah's came over me.  Instead of being happy with this neat and tidy area I felt like something was missing.  It was not a feeling of satisfaction about having cleaned up a mess but a feeling that I most definitely needed to make a 'new' mess.

And so I proceeded to do just that.  I put 'stuff' here and there, I played with colors and images and thoughts of what I wanted to do next.  I made a joyful mess.

The next time you chastise yourself about not being 'tidy' or 'organized', pat yourself on the back and let your imagination take over. Each piece to be 'put away' may inspire you to start something new.  It worked for me...

"The happiness of  a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions." - Alfred Lord Tennyson