I’m Not a Neat “Artist”
No. I admit, my craft desk is busy.
I spent the past two years writing academic papers for a counseling Master’s degree. My artist’s corner became a haven for stashes of this or that piece of paper, picture, or item perfect for the next scrapbook page. I sat down a couple weeks before our gathering to celebrate Christmas, and I was overwhelmed.
Once I cleared off the top layer of creative things, I found a stack of card-making magazines, dated a year ago, each one adding to the distance between when I bought the first magazine to the last.
My area became the gift wrap corner, the stash of stuff corner, the pile of magazines for art corner, and the catch all for pens, papers, and other artist materials I did not have time to organize.
I am responsible for the mess. Myself, and my brain felt exhausted during the past year, especially, as my assignments became more taxing. It became easy to push aside the art area.
My place of refuge became my storage of dreams and the baggage dreams unused collect.
As I scanned the neat, tidy desks on Unsplash, I began to berate myself. Yes, I fell into the negatives and guilt over the lack of a spotless environment to create my artistic gifts. Then, the idea to write the article presented itself.
How often do we compare our lives, desks, closets with those around us? Is it necessary to all develop a cookie-cutter approach to tidy? My creative artistic side tends to leave bits of scraps about and my analytical soulmate has a tendency to move, touch, shift, and change things, thinking he was helping me to organize my spaces. It is more irritating than helpful.
My art corners have ranged from pink and pretty to rustic basements, decorated eclectically, where I created some amazing pages (50 pages one Christmas) for memory books.
Eclectic art spaces generally are creative and fun. Occasionally, when life gets hectic, they become a noisy place of objects and ‘stuff.’
My goal is to reinvent my art corner, so it is accessible to use and creative to visit. I want to sit in my craft area and feel art, not feel the need to tidy it up.
Working on the 365 days to clear and ending Day 11, I find the task easier to consider. Before I began the clearing what holds you back idea, I felt overwhelmed and avoided the corner. The one place which makes me happy, because a chore.
As I consider how I feel and what my area needs in order to be a place to create, find one’s thoughts, and build a legacy, I believe I am on the right track. Every day is a chance to shift our paradigm. My desk seems to scream out to me, “Hello, what will PammieJ87 Create today?” as I type this article.
I laugh as I muster up the courage to write to potentially no one, someone, or everyone who passes my site. I suppose the title catches the interest. Neat? Tidy? Artist?
Sometimes those words are in conflict with each other. Today, for instance, I was finishing up a two-page spread of a scrapbook creation and as I popped the foam lifters off their pad and placed them on the photo, I caught myself flipping the little circles of non-stick paper off to the side. Pretty soon, I had about ten little white dots on my desk, collecting with other odds and ends I used in the creation of the page. I laughed. I caught myself red-handed.
My way of creating is so focused, I forget what is around me. I have a grand plan, a trash bin, and I work along. However, once I am in the groove, I forget the trash bin and begin zeroing in on my work. I love the creative side.
I do clean up my creative disaster after the piece is completed. It seems to be a delayed experience though, when I am distracted to other more pressing issues in life, I tend to forget to tidy my space, layers of creativity piled upon each other.
I have grand dreams of a great artist space; with an old manual typewriter, hopefully pink. I want to pursue my craft; writing and creating beyond simply hobby styled. I find it drawing me closer to the future and more than my future in counseling. After my internship and my hours, the connection between growing awareness in human connections to my own growth as a therapist and educator provides me with the ability to write with passion, dedication, and hope. The artist inside blossoms…
Creating, whether you are a neat and tidy artist or one who is more, say, collective of stuff, the work you do brings joy to others. Art is creative; personal. Today, during your moment of time when you spend time creating, what is it you are hoping to do? Spend time on something to take away the boredom of life? Are you working to change lives by the artistry you make?
Take the time to find your creative niche today.
~Just a thought by Pamela
