Simply..step by step....

31/7/2018

..and gently does it.

As long as I concentrated on just putting like with like and designating a place for each category, binning only the obvious rubbish, I got on really well with clearing the studio.

I went in there this morning and my heart lifted! That has not happened for a long time.

At the end of day three it looks ordered and calm but that's very superficial! A good start though. The next step is to go through each category making decisions about what to discard and what to keep.

This is where it gets difficult.

All those boxes, files and drawers are stuffed full of my history as an artist. I am reviewing my career here so this may be a time to remember the joy I've had (and hopefully given).

Marie Kondo suggests you start with the easiest things, so I may begin with empty sketchbooks and notebooks - the empty ones have least emotional charge and I may put some on Freecycle. A young art student was thrilled with some supplies and old frames which I gave away through Freecycle once and that felt good, and freed up a lot of space.

What are you currently clearing? And how are you going about it?

I really appreciate your support, insight and humour - you are helping me see this through.

I do believe I am beginning to enjoy it!

16 Comments

Lotta link

1/8/2018 02:27:22 am

I have drawer envy... I've always wanted a plan chest! Quite where I'd put one I don't know, but still... :-)
Something I've noticed when decision fatigue sets in is that I have stopped choosing with my heart and started choosing with my mind. (The clue is usually that I'm lying on the floor surrounded by chaos despairing about how I'm ever going to make progress!)
I hope going through all your work will be joyful though Freda... maybe you could create little exhibitions round the house of work you are unsure about keeping, even if they are just little sketches, and see if you enjoy looking at them or just breeze past them. It is hard with things we have created because so much of us goes into them and they are so reminiscent of time and place and the person we were then that they are bound to have an emotional charge. I often think that decluttering is an opportunity to gather and reclaim the fragments of ourselves. Go gently.
I'm pretty much done with decluttering here (although I'm sure there will be more as I change) but I have been helping someone else declutter their whole house - a big job but fulfilling. And it's always easier to throw out other people's stuff!

Freda

1/8/2018 02:08:47 pm

i love your idea of little exhibitions, and about the psychology of it all. How interesting to help someone else declutter!

Mary

1/8/2018 03:28:43 am

Good job so far.

I like what Lotta had to say about putting your finished/unfinished art work around the house. Sometimes seeing an object in a different location may evoke an entirely different viewpoint of it and perhaps it will help clear your mind as to whether or not you retain it, rework it or put it in the 'to go' pile.

Currently resisting decluttering my office/craft space. :)

Freda

1/8/2018 02:11:15 pm

As to resisting, isn't it funny that you can just wake up one day ready to tackle it? The day comes when we just know .

Mary B

1/8/2018 05:46:41 am

You have done an amazing job so far ,it looks orderly and peaceful. I find the emotional aspect of sorting through life history clutter the hardest thing to deal with . My lifeline then is to play the piano. Just something simple and soothing . It has been a source of peace and relaxation for many years. My family know that if Mum is playing that piece she is feeling stressed !

Freda

1/8/2018 02:13:11 pm

That is a wonderful way to deal with stress Mary B. My music in the studio is getting louder and louder. (Verdi today.)

Susan

1/8/2018 05:53:55 am

A little while back, you mentioned a retreat house where you stayed. Maybe this, or similar, might be somewhere you would gift paintings that you're fond of yet ready to let go of, knowing that they'd be in a soulful place.

Freda

1/8/2018 02:14:36 pm

I have picked up one or two things and thought of someone who would probably like them...

Damsonlily

1/8/2018 09:26:57 am

Ah, it’s all looking wonderful already. And you have sorted the categories of things and you know what you’re dealing with now.
I found the more I packed up and donated and got rid of, the easier it was to make the decisions about what to keep. And as someone else has said, if you are making decisions of the “I ought to keep this” variety, it is not a decision from the heart.
Personally made things are the hardest to decide about, you are right. But I did let some go and have not mourned them yet.
I now have the luxury of several months in the rental house, sorting yet again through all the boxes I brought with me to do what a friend calls “the second pass”. And I have already moved some more things on. Momentum is everything!

Freda

1/8/2018 02:17:00 pm

Knowing what I have got feels great. It sounds as if you are doing well too, with all your things not just one room! Good luck with the rest. Momentum is the thing!

cath

1/8/2018 10:56:50 am

After spending some time making decisions I tend to get overcome by ´decision fatigue´. It is not that I no longer make decisions from the heart, I am getting indecisive. What helps me is making the category I am working with smaller. More subcategories. It requires a different kind of decision making, helps me take distance again and start afresh later. How is that for you?

I am clearing ´paper´. All kinds of paper. The written kind at the moment. And I have produced a lot. Both professionally and personally. You are so right in referring to ´reviewing your career´. It is emotional stuff. With the professional items it sufficed to leaf through the writing and decide on ´the feel´, keeping only a few items I want to review again. A few I have passed on.
Apart from journals which I all shredded a while ago I reread all personal writing (columns, reflections, biographical etc) This is like ´reviewing my life´ and is emotional and rewarding. I don´t keep much but try to distill the essence or copy a particularly nice piece. Producing new ´paper´...

I guess what I am trying to do is kind of illustrating the course of my life with key pieces which more than others show who I was or was becoming at that very period. I suspect the professional pieces will fit into that seamlessly.

Freda

1/8/2018 02:20:23 pm

I say to myself What would be simplest? And I always know. Now I am very curious about your profession! I am enjoying the process now too.

Susan

2/8/2018 03:58:54 am

Cath, Thank you for naming 'decision fatigue', and suggesting breaking things down into smaller decision categories.
Freda, Thank you for your 'what would be simplest' concept.
I'll find both very helpful.

Freda

2/8/2018 05:38:57 am

I do love how we can all help each other here!

Julia

2/8/2018 12:46:14 pm

Well, i am simply amazed at what you have managed to fit into a 9’x12’ space! This is the size of our shed..and i will not shock you with photos of it...i clean it out and organize it, it gets turned upside down...this goes on and on.....you are so right that our stuff can come to overwhelm and “own” us!...we have to tackle it and get our selves back! Good going, Freda!

Freda

2/8/2018 01:37:56 pm

I do feel like myself more in the studio than anywhere else - so it is really important that I get it back isn't it. Getting there...

Simply..step by step....

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