I had every intention of sitting down this morning for a marathon session at my computer. Lesson plans, editorial calendars, blog navigation and a few pesky website glitches were on my to-do list.  As soon as I sat down, I knew my head wasn’t in the right space.

On my right a very impressive spider web was forming in the corner of my window and on the left,  a stack of books threatened to tumble. My desk was littered with coffee stains, scissors, papers, art lessons and stacks of receipts (tax season was a bit of a nightmare).  Video equipment strewn across the floor made navigating my studio space more difficult than it needed to be.

I had enough of my messy studio.

SPRING CLEAN-UP

Although I love color and textures, my studio space must remain neutral and organized in order for my brain to switch into production mode. Whether I’m editing photos or creating graphics for my lesson plans, my attention needs to remain focused on the computer. A stack of paper, too many post-it notes or even a stray pen is enough to make me lose focus.

Sometimes you need to take a step back and look at your workspace with fresh eyes to know whether or not it is working for you.  

Ask your self the following questions:

– Do I feel calm in my space?

– Do I feel the need to jump up every ten minutes to grab a coffee, go to the bathroom, put a dish a way, anything that actually prevents you from a sustained period of work?

– When I’m creating art or working on my blog, do I start out with enthusiasm but then quit in a short amount of time?

– Am I anxious?

Your workspace–whether it is a home office/studio like mine or an art-making space in your garage–must rise up and greet you (as Oprah says) and welcome you to a place where you are the most creative and energized. I love sitting down in my comfy chair and sipping coffee or a Chai tea and planning what my blog posts will be for the next month. Or looking through art inspiration files to plan my second grade art class lessons. I immediately sink into my creative zone.

For me that looks like this:

– A sense of calm and focus.

– Ideas that flow from paper to screen then back again.

– Creative energy that seems to flow without any effort.

That is hard to achieve in a messy space. It had been over a year since my last major clean-up so I put my Saturday morning to-do list aside, turned on some jazz music and went to work.

Ahhhhhhhh……..

I still have a few boxes of art lesson samples on the floor but I can’t do anything about that right now. The studio feels so clean and fresh and most importantly, uncluttered!

This is what I did:

– Remove everything from my desk and placed either in the recycling bin or in a stack to be filed.

– Organized my book shelves and discarded any books that no longer interested me.

– Edit all standing file folders (and threw more than half the contents away).

– Organized paints, brushes, pens, pastels, markers and placed on one shelf.

– Created a clean, uncluttered place to put my camera and lenses.

– Cleaned out bins that contained old batteries and ink cartridges.

– Threw away old magazines.

– Edited my lesson plan sample folders (a nightmare!)

– Tossed half of my ceramic project samples and kept only the good stuff.

– Created an uncluttered paper storage for my printer and binder.

– Cleaned my table top and dusted all empty shelves and spider webs.

– Made it a goal to keep all table and desk tops almost free of clutter.

– Swept floor and cleaned windows.

My art lessons are my biggest storage problems, but I have a few ways that I deal with them. You can read the post about organizing artwork here.

See the white plastic bins behind the glass doors? These are the best bins for storing art supplies. I have one for chalk/pastels, palettes, glue and mod-Podge and watercolors. So neat and tidy. I love these as I just slide off the cover, extract what I need and slide the cover back on. I use Martha Stewart chalkboard labels from Staples to identify the contents.

What does your studio look like? Are you a pack-rat like me who has to do a major purge every once in a while? Do you like to infuse your workspace with color? Go ahead…share your spring-cleaning stories right here.