Simply..started....

29/7/2018

..on a major project.

I can't tell you how many times I have headed purposefully to the studio to declutter and organise it, stood looking at it and turned back and walked out, simply not knowing where to start, overwhelmed by nearly two decades of stuff....

I did the same again this morning.

The weather has changed to cool and rainy so I wasn't going to be gardening, and I have to say I felt somewhat invigorated by the change in temperature and humidity, but still I couldn't start, so I went to Marie Kondo's Spark Joy for some inspiration and found it on page 31 under When You Feel Like Quitting.

That woman is brilliant.

The photographs are taken after I had already removed a large seed propagator, the large glass bowl of a broken lamp, a bag of recycling, an old fire extinguisher, a pair of leaky wellies and a large tin of paint!

20 Comments

Lotta

29/7/2018 02:45:34 pm

I see your cluttered studio and raise you an even more cluttered and flooded tiny workshop! With everything covered in thousands of minuscule shards of glass... Well it was :-) I did battle a couple of months ago after years of putting it off so I can very much relate to that feeling... Still not completely civilised but it feels a million times better than it did, and yours will too. I was quite brutal - what sparked joy was empty space! Keep picturing the room you want... Good luck and let us know when to send in tea and cake!

Freda

30/7/2018 04:12:52 pm

How awful to have it flooded Lotta! I have had a mouse - not yet sure of the extent of the damage. Thank you for the cake and I will plod on.

Susan

30/7/2018 12:16:11 am

Once you've decluttered and set up a new system to meet your current creativity needs, you'll be able to lay your hand easily, on just what you need for your next projects.

Freda

30/7/2018 04:13:44 pm

It will be worth it I know Susan.

Madeleine

30/7/2018 03:27:09 am

I opened your blog and then thought, huh? Whose blog am I on? I quickly scrolled back up to the top and laughed my head off! The mess was so unlike what I associate with your blog that I thought I'd landed somewhere else!

Good on you for tackling it, I hope you have a delightful reward lined up for yourself when you are done :-)

Madeleine.x

Freda

30/7/2018 04:15:23 pm

Tee-hee....my delightful reward will be if I know what I want to do next by the end of it.

cath

30/7/2018 04:24:08 am

Do I dare to admit it... I am experiencing something that is best described as ´grand clutter envy´. I know the chaos which comes first in decluttering can be overwhelming but also it invites all creativity muscles even those one did not know to possess, to get working.
And the feeling when the job is finished is one of pure joy. Returning again and again to the healing space one has created.

In hindsight that happened for me in our renovation last year but I am only now starting to appreciate it fully as at the time I was too busy to notice.

Decluttering for me these days is fine tuning, demanding all my patience and persistence, and hardly visible when it is done (photographs, letters, writings, collected essays, magazines).
and I find that really difficult.

So I wish you a joyful decluttering, onwards to a studio evoking even more creativity. Don't forget to drink water and take pauses to enjoy small but colourful meals. Often.

Freda

30/7/2018 04:19:40 pm

It is an interesting, and emotional experience you describe Cath. I went into the studio this morning and my heart lifted! That has not happened for a long time. I am only at the beginning. Decisions about what to keep and what to let go of are still to come...

Mary B

30/7/2018 05:30:07 am

You brave girl ! I have spent the day running around after other people , not even started on my Monday to do list and trying to ignore the mounting clutter around me ! I sat to look at your blog and found inspiration. Thank you. Hope you take regular pauses to look out at the beautiful view from your studio window!

Freda

30/7/2018 04:21:39 pm

I am approaching it in a very measured way Mary B and yes, taking breaks and walks in garden too! Good luck with yours!

Mary

30/7/2018 05:43:59 am

Thank you for making me feel good! Only kidding, but I have more than a few places like that in my house and I felt bad imagining them against all your lovely and pristine places. Good to know I'm not the only one :). Must say I have exactly the same feeling you do when faced with those topsy-turvy spaces--turn around and find something else to do. Wishing you all the best as you take on the studio. Who knows what you might create once it is no longer taking up all your mental energy? xo

Freda

30/7/2018 04:24:57 pm

It's that last sentence of yours that is the motivation. And you are cerainly not the only one! The shed is my other place....for some reason I have eamarked September for that task. There is even a slight fear of 'what will I do when it is all done?' Do you know what I mean?

Damsonlily

30/7/2018 06:04:18 am

Freda, you will find real inspiration and happiness comes from this. I spent a very miserable 3 weeks recently fast track clearing my studio-come-sewing room ready for our house move. I knew I would have nowhere near the same space in the rental house we are in nor in our new house, as we are downsizing considerably.
Making decisions in what to donate, what to keep, how to organise it, thinking hard about what I no longer want to pursue have all helped enormously in getting ready for my new tiny studio. I feel really enthusiastic about what I want to do now and how to organise that and am already researching and making plans.
And there is such freedom in letting go of these things that you know have no further interest for you! I made sure I donated as much as I could, which salved my conscience somewhat over all the stuff I had managed to collect over 20 years, like you.
So, yes, it is incredibly hard to start but as someone else has said, hone your vision of your new improved studio as you clear and sort and all the joy will come.

Freda

30/7/2018 04:28:46 pm

You have inspired me Damsonlil to keep going - the hard thinking bit is yet to come but joy and freedom sound so very good.....thank you! And good luck with your move.

Viv link

30/7/2018 02:16:09 pm

That is not how I remember your studio when we visited!!
Just start in a small way - remember how you eat an elephant - and hopefully the momentum of starting will carry you through.

Freda

30/7/2018 04:30:45 pm

No Viv. It has crept up on me slowly and inexorably since Barry dies and I stopped painting. But now that I have got going....

Julia

31/7/2018 05:27:24 am

Well! I can certainly understand how difficult it would be to feel inspired when the studio is stuffed with things like recycling and an old fire extinguisher!...this might even have unconscious meaning! Hahaha...the passion for painting extinguished by a dead fire extinguisher! Your posts about getting on with the clutter-clearing there are veryinspiring freda! Good for you!

Freda

31/7/2018 06:00:24 am

With the kind of support I get from my blog friends I can hardly fail!

Lucille link

31/7/2018 12:38:31 pm

Oh my. What very honest pictures. At least you have an 'after' in your house to spur you on. You know it can be done and how good it feels.
Onwards! And do show us the studio in all its spacious emptiness with one beautiful picture on the easel.

Freda

31/7/2018 01:20:35 pm

I thought of putting one of the blank (large) canvasses on the easel as a gesture towards the future....Thank you so much for your encouragement Lucille!

Simply..started....

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