I feel like I’m standing in front of a 12 step-recovery group and coming clean! Any of you that have read my blog or know me, know I’ve never hid that fact that my studio is ALWAYS a mess!!! But now, one of my yahoo groups for Licensed artists is having a "Messy Studio" contest. I uploaded my photos to them this morning, so I decided to let you guys peek into my disaster area as well.
My studio is actually the formal dining room of our just under 2,000 sq. ft. ranch style house. We bought it 3 1/2 years ago, sight unseen over the internet! The real estate market was red hot at that time and we were living in our "ware-home" in San Diego. We had sold our home and had decided to relocate here in the mountains. We pretty much grabbed the best property, with the prettiest view we could find and figured we’d work on it in the next few years. Ultimately we’ll build a new studio for me, probably configured as a new master suite so that it adds to the value of the property if we decide to move on.
I own 1,000 sq. ft. of mexican saltillo pavers that are stacked on a palette outside the garage waiting to be installed, but I’m so busy now that I can’t let my studio be torn up long enough to install the floor in the entry, living room, dining room and kitchen!!!
The transition was a little difficult for me as I went from an 800 sq. ft. guest house in San Diego where I used about 1/2 of that space to an 11′ x 17′ formal dining room and a corner of my third bedroom that I share with my daughter Jacqui when she’s home from college.
My biggest struggle to be organized, is that I create such a wide variety of projects that my work area/organizational system is always changing. In reality I have had to accept that there is no actually way to effectively organize it in the space I have alotted for that purpose. After many years of struggle, I think I am finally at peace with that concept.
We have two 40′ cargo containers that we’re getting ready to move, organize and set up for overflow storage. At that point, a lot of what I have to have inside the studio can go out to the container to be accessed only when I need it. Until then, much of the items on the floor are overflow storage!!!
The right side of my studio is used the most with my graphics, scanning and hand-lettering areas. I tend to work in a big circle around me and then I carefully tiptoe from there to the door 
! When I start to clean this mess up (after I wrap up my current project of 48 designs with Cottage Garden Collections) I will drag a trash can in here and start "filing" my papers!!!! It seems that paper in all its forms is my greatest enemy.
Now… why would I share my mess with you? To help you understand that you’re not alone! All of us creative types struggle with organizing our creative side. Which, by the way, is about as doable as herding cats!!! The first step is to realize you can keep yourself organized enough to remain sane, but that if your studio/crafting space is too neat it usually means that you’re not actually using it. Creativity is pretty much always a messy process. Neat, organized, perfectionistic people are rarely also able to be artistic or creative. Be at peace with who you are and what you love to do and do your best to keep things just below the health department’s condemnation standards, and HAVE FUN!!! That’s what crafting and art are all about.
The second thing I wanted you to see is that even professional artists don’t have perfect spaces to work in. Over the years I started with the dining room table and a desk in my bedroom and one in the dining room. Then I moved on to the two car suburban garage that had no insulation. I grew my company too large for the garage so I leased a studio/warehouse and my art studio ended up being right smack in the middle of the facility. I could go on and on… my favorite studio of all was the wonderful space at our last home in the guest house and the third bedroom inside the 125 year old adobe home. The adobe area was my watercolor studio with perfect light and the adobe kept the watercolor from drying out too quickly, it had "magical" properties for painting in.
The other thing I liked the most was that I could shut the door on things and "go home,." across the brick patio. I loved being able to do that. But I want you to know that I could go back to working at our kitchen table if I had to… it really isn’t the studio that makes the artist, it’s the passion for art that drives the artist to create no matter when, where or how.
So if you’re a crafter working on the kitchen table… find a way to organize yourself as best as you can, but don’t stop creating! Enjoy what you do, dream of better place to do it in, but don’t wait until you have that perfect space before you use the gifts and talents God gave you!
THE PROVERB OF THE DAY: Proverbs 27:7-9 When you’ve stuffed yourself, you refuse dessert; when you’re starved you could eat a horse! People who won’t settle own, wandering hither and yon, are like restless birds, flitting to and fro. Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul. The Message Bible
I guess I qualify as the too neat person. I can’t stand papers piled up where I can’t find anything. And then you spend all morning looking for what you want. And I am not very creative so what you said above fits me to a T. Sure wish I had some of your creative abilities but don’t want my house to look like that either. I can’t even stand for you to leave the newspaper out at night when you go to bed. And my clothes are all lined up shorts, long pants, knit shirts, blouses, coats.
What if you are messy but not creative? Where do you fit into the world? (excuse me….. creating a video game that teaches kids to sign is DEFINITELY creative, just of a different type of creativity!!!! So you ARE creative my dear! AJ)
you room looks like a very dedicated workers room. As long as you can
find what you need in it when you need it that is all that counts.
Looks like you are a prime candidate for the TLC show that helps create calm out of chaos, Clean Sweep! Maybe you should send them a picture of our studio and your story and they will come help you clean up and lay your tile!
HMMM actually my basement (my crafting area) looks a lot like your studio, I could use a dose of Clean Sweep myself.
Isn’t there some saying about a cluttered desk….
I hear ya, I have a little room that was our pantry before the remodel and isn’t reorganized yet, so I really don’t have as much room as I have stuff. I DO have a mug that says something like “a clean desk is the sign of a troubled mind” and I keep it prominently displayed. lol
What I want to know is… did you ‘clean up’ before you took the photos? LOL
Now I know my problem… I’m not messy… I’m creative 🙂 I’d rather be creative, not a neat freak! LOL Too bad my DH doesn’t see it that way 🙁
I guess it would help, if I had just one space to be creative in, not the whole house. :O
My creative space right now is the kitchen table so I have to clean up after myself but it keeps me from doing what I want to do becasue I then have to clean it up right in the the middle of what I’m doing. I so can relate. I would rather be creative when the mode hits me and be able to continue until I’m done.
I use to own a ceramic store and my pouring room was alway a mess. Now it’s paper which is alot easier to clean up… (I remember that frustration well. I used to use large sheets of plywood covered with vinyl and I would pick up the entire surface, go put it in the living room or on my bed or… while we ate then put it back on the table when I was done. It allowed my project to stay where it was but still be moved. Maybe that would help?! AJ)
I love your area. Looks good to me. Looks like someone is very creative and productive. At least thats what I tell dh when he thinks I have to much stuff around.
I am in the process of setting up my new craft room at the new house. I didn’t think I could fill up a space of 18 x 30. But guess what…..I’m running out of room! This room does double duty as I craft and do candy bouquets out of it. Takes lots of space for it all.
I love seeing where you work! I use a corner of our table, and a bookshelf behind it and … okay I’m all over the place 🙂 Isn’t it wonderful that God loves us no matter what!?! 🙂 Thanks for sharing with us 🙂
Thank you for sharing your pics! These could be pics. of my craft room. Creativity is a messy process. My family has learned to just stay out of my room, especially my hubby who is a neat freak.
Thank you for shaing! I have you on a pedestal and now I see you are just like us in your stuggles in everyday life! (Oh My Goodness!!! Pedestals make me afraid of heights! Glad I popped off of it before I fell!!! Hugs to you, AJ)
Just looks like you use a lot of tools of the trade. You know we have to have everything that helps us create.
P.S. I’m trying to learn not to be a neat freak. LOL Barb
Oh, this makes me feel so much better! That is how my craft/computer
area looks also. Believe it or not, but I know where everything is in here!
I really find it hard to put everything away because I’m always reaching
for certain things, so they have a tendency to never get “put away”.
Creating a computer game doesn’t make the house messy oops maybe it does since I can’t stop once I start LOL so I forget to clean while I’m involved.
Forgot to say that all that I have done on the new game I’m going to scrap. Not even taking into consideration Dixie’s story when I got the new flash/photoshop etc it came with one month of lynda.com training so I have been doing it for flash (I’m self taught from books) and I am learning new ways to do and organize things so I want to redesign it using this new information. Now if only I had my personal artist to draw what I want. LOL
While I must admit that I am a bit envious of your space, I can totally understand your thoughts on use the space you have available.
One thing that has made me look neat and tidy – wicker baskets! I put all my in-progress projects in wicker baskets, which are on shelves. This also keeps DH from knowing just how many projects I have on the go LOL
Thanks for the peek into your creative art sanctuary.
Thank you so much for sharing your space with us! My craft room started out as a never used guest room about a year ago. DH and I spent a week setting it up and getting it organized (getting me out of the bedroom, dining room, living room…LOL) It was so neat- tidy shelves, labeled containers, organized folders and books. That lasted about two days- the room hasn’t been neat since! But I know where everything is and DH can shut the door and not see my mess!
Thanks AJ, I loved seeing your work space. It helps to put a person behind all your wonderful art. One thing you don’t have to worry about is trying to dust in there. LOL If I had a room just for the computer and all the things I’m working on or going to make(someday lol) I’d still have them all thru the house. It seems like I always end up taking things to the kitchen table.
Thank you Audrey!! You words are always so inspiring to me! Thank you! 😉 I too have been in “hiding” because of my Messy desk place. Like you, I have so many projects going, plus keeping things running “smoothly” at home.
I have come to the realization that I need to take each day as it comes, enjoy what I can and learn from everything.
You are truly an Earth Angle, Love your words and the possitive energy you always give. Lots of love! Alicia
LOL – I love it! It’s great to know that not everyone thinks you have to be neat. My biggest problem is that I pile everything neatly, but I have two cats who love to walk over them, sleep on or under them!!
AJ I can relate to you and your room very well. I too have a big problem with papers. I just don’t take the time to file them properly and before I know it’s a big pile setting on my desk. I used to be a neat freak but the older I get the less I worry about keeping things straight.
OH AJ! I can so relate to your room! I love it! I would be very at home there I think! It is so like me. I try to keep after the rest of the house, no easy task with boys, but my ‘stuff’ gets out of hand! Every now and then I go on a ‘reading up’ spree. Thanks for sharing!
I’m impressed you bought your place sight unseen! That takes some faith! I would say you did good!
AJ- Thanks for sharing this part of you. I must say I have a “creative area” that is similar at times to your work area. Once I get going on something – clean and tidy just doesn’t work for me. Chaos – works best for me during those times.
Thank you for sharing where you create all of your beautiful things.
Oh, AJ what can one say? It truly is designer’s bliss….as long as you can find what you need, when you need it! There must truly be some creative mojo in that room so I don’t think I’d do a thing to it if I were you. Thanks for being such a blessing to each of us. Has anyone told you today how much your loved?
LOL! So what’s so messy about those pics? I feel right at home. 🙂 Except, of course, beautiful work comes out of your “mess”. I only get dust bunnies. Thanks for sharing!
Aww, AJ, I’d be willing to bet that every one of us has a messy side to us! I can’t stand to have a messy kitchen, however, my work area around my desk is so disorganized that it’ll take a backhoe to clear all out! You just keep creating…messy or not, your work brings joy to so many, and that’s something for which you should be proud!
Aj, honey, I don’t think I have ever loved you more. I still have a million boxes that I have not unpacked since we moved in June. I feel as though we are twin seperated at birth!
hugs,
dixie
I am so glad to see that I am not the only one that has a disaster looking crafting area.
Hi AD,
I am the webmaster for a professional organizer, but I can’t afford to hire her, for myself to help me “organize” my creative space. I think the hardest thing that folks have doing – is letting go of those “pieces” of paper, and odds and ends that we are so sure we’ll need or can make something from. I have papers, things ripped from magazines, printouts of every sort of thing – to inspire me – buried somewhere in this space of mine. Sometimes I purge a bit – but even when I’m looking at stuff dated 1991!! I still think – I might need it. And everytime I fill bags and bags with stuff to throw out…somehow the room only stays cleaner for a couple of days and then it starts to fill up and overflow again.
Thanks for letting us see your workspace, AJ. I live in an apartment (small) and my husband treated me to a new built in study in our spare bedroom (also small) to store all my craft materials because he was apparently fed up with all the boxes I had. I just love my study so now I have bought (more) colour co-ordinated storage boxes. I have to confess though, that although I may be messy when I’m crafting I have to put everything I possibly can away at the end of the evening. I can’t stand untidiness, myself.
I am also quite organization challenged. I try to be neat but I get so engrossed with what I am doing that it just takes to much time to keep organized. I use to have a room to myself until my father-in-law came to live with us. I am now doing the kitchen table thing and thank heavens for my dining room, or my family would be eating on their lap. LOL I love you stuff, keep up the good work.
Thanks for showing us your space. At least I’m not alone. Hubby goes to my room and is always telling me to clean it up. I straighten up and then it’s messed up again. He says its been years since it’s been clean. I just tell him, he doesn’t need to be in it and I can keep it my way. I just keep the door closed.