Working Space Quandry

As long as I’ve had a studio, I’ve had the following unanswered questions. Let me know if you have an answer:

Michelle Allen’s workdesk. Mne is no better. Her site is Close To My Art.com

1. I’ve had big studios and small studios, but no matter how much space I have, when I’m working, I’m using  about one square foot of space. Everything else is filled with ink, glue, and papers. I swear, if I worked on the surface of an aircraft carrier, I’d be working in one square foot and the rest would be piled up with stuff.

2. As soon as I buy something and put it away, it disappears. I can look till my eyes cross and can’t find it. The instant I buy another one, the first one appears. Jumps out of the closet.

3. Finally, in an effort to reduce clutter, I decide to get rid of boxes of supplies I haven’t used in months. The instant they are gone, I desperately need one of those supplies and have to re-buy it.

4. I own four or five aprons. But there is never a clean one in arm’s reach.

Not at all a studio apron, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were hanging behind the door.

5. Putting on an apron does not occur to me until I have a lap full of glue or gesso. This has been true for the last 30 years.

6. The book with the instructions that I need right now is no longer in the book case, where it has been for 12 years. It is now gone.

7. The book I do not need smiles at me from the book case. In fact, both of them do. I ordered that one at least twice.

8. My favorite tool is the one that has just been discontinued.

9. I stop reading magazines to have the time to work out a project problem. Takes me weeks. I finally brag about my clever solution on Facebook. A dozen people tell me the article that solved the problem was in last month’s Cloth, Paper, Scissors. There’s a video, too.

10. I proofread my business card three times. I show it to a friend to proofread. It’s fine. The package of 500 cards arrives, and the one they company used as a label has a typo. I see it before I even register what the box is. Yep, a missed typo. On all 500 cards.

-–Quinn McDonald thinks her studio is haunted. Or possessed. Or possibly just over-run with supplies that know how to vanish and appear at will. 10.

Filed under: Inner Critic, Recovering Perfectionists, The Writing Life Tagged: art supplies, managing art supplies, studio space