It Doesn’t Take Long!

It’s early morning on a cold, winter’s day. I’m sitting here in my little art studio thinking about the drawing projects I’ll do today. I’ll be drawing another pear, of course. I’ll also be watching a few “learn to draw” and “learn to draw better” videos as I continue trying to improve my skills.

A few minutes ago I eagerly grabbed a sheet of gray paper from my new sketchbook and was excited about getting started on a drawing. But then a bit of that excitement faded. I looked around my desktop, wanting to reach for a pencil, but earlier, when I first came to the studio, I “tidied up” a bit. Of course, that’s not saying much, really.

I don’t usually share photos of my messy desktop, but I’ll make an exception here. This was taken after I’d straightened up a bit.

Please note that those speckles are not crumbs! This particular desk is very old, was a very cheap purchase, and what you’re seeing is just the result of a lot of use as the surface material has flaked off.

Of course, this desktop is just a bit of my studio mess. I have a box sitting beside me that contains my charcoal drawing suppplies, and other supplies are scattered throughout the area. Watercolors, brushes, papers, sketchbooks, a storage bin filled with various inks and pens, boxes of pastels, and on and on. I love art supplies! What artist doesn’t? Years ago when I first began this adventure my husband remarked that an artist can never have too many supplies, and I took those words to heart.

In truth, maybe we can have too many supplies if they are cluttering up our space and/or making our creative process more difficult. Over the years, I know I’ve bought 3 or 4 different sets of “artist pencils” — and the same with “artist pens” — if only because I wanted to try a different brand, or possibly because I’d misplaced something I wanted or needed, and yes, my studio does get very, very messy.

That’s why I started the day with a bit of cleaning up. I’d looked at all the pencils and other items that were on my desk and shook my head. Nope. Not going to let things get out of hand, I told myself. So I picked up my charcoal supplies and returned them to their box. I gathered up all the drawing pencils that were loose on the desk top and dutifully put them away. I organized the tortillons and erasers, moved a few other things around, and I felt I’d done something good.

Then as I settled in with my drawing board, I naturally reached out for a pencil. It wasn’t there on my desktop. I’d put all of my pencils away! Aaargh! This means I now have to open my pencil set, and since I’m planning to use charcoal, I’ll also have to get into the “charcoal supplies” box, and instead of happily starting to draw as the mood hit me, it’s now becoming almost a chore. Do I really want to draw this morning? Yes, but do I really want to do it right now? Maybe not.

I’ve only been back to “doing art” for a very short time, and already I’m getting caught up in this studio dilemma: Do I keep materials out within easy reach despite the mess that creates? Or do I put things away as I use them, thereby slowing down my creative process and causing frustration as I get things out and put things away again and again?

There are pro’s and con’s for each approach.

Leaving everything out is handy — up to a point. If I’m working on too many different projects, this method can lead to a lot of mess in a lot of places and sometimes causes its own frustrations as I go from one area to another to get various supplies.

On the other hand, having things neatly put away — a place for everything and everything in its place — feels good when I first come into the studio, or as I close up the studio for the night. But in-between, it means opening boxes and bins, taking out specific items, and then reversing the process and putting things away, and oops! Not yet! Wait, I still need that pencil!

Right now I’m thinking maybe I should have an “at the moment” box, a box that sits beside my desk with all the art tools I’m currently using. Or maybe, since I’m focusing mostly on drawing skills now, I should simply keep all my drawing pencils out on the desktop, all within easy reach and avoid the frustration of getting them in and out of their box every time I use one.

I don’t think there is any easy answer. I’ve wrestled with these “studio organization” questions many times in the past. It’s just surprising to see how quickly the problem has presented itself again.

Art is messy. Creativity is, according to my favorite definition, “making a mess” — it simply can’t be avoided. It sure doesn’t take long to reach that messy point, either.

But creativity also involves cleaning up the mess. But when? How? My husband just made an interesting suggestion. Buy more art supplies. That way I could have a set of pencils with my watercolor supplies, a set of pencils with my ink-drawing bin, a set of pencils anywhere and everywhere I might possibly need them. And the same with any other “FUS” — frequently used supply. I should buy more erasers so I can put them in every bin. I could buy more sketchbooks and… yeah, right. There’s a lot to be said for his idea of trying to have everything I could need close at hand, but I don’t know.

That’s the point here. I really don’t know the best way to organize my studio so that it’s relatively neat, so that I have convenient areas to work on different projects, but all done in such a way that it doesn’t cause additional frustration. I’m open to suggestions!

How do you organize your art supplies? Do you put them away after every use? Do you keep out ones you’re working on? Please, share your ideas!