My creativity has been BLOCKED. It seems CLOGGED by my massive amounts of scrapbooking supplies. It takes me more time to unpack my shopping bags and attempt (I do stress this word "attempt") to keep my art studio somewhat organized. Over the last few months, I have definitely spent much more time cleaning and organizing and putting away than I have scrapbooking, making cards, or painting. This makes me sad. Sad indeed.
“In everything the middle course is best: all things in excess bring trouble to men.”
There is a book that I recommend to every artist (I believe that's everyONE): The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (note it on my bookshelf to the right...) On page 83, she talks about what it's like to PURGE - to throw the old out and make room for the new:
"Shifts in taste and perception frequently accompany shifts in identity. One of the clearest signals that something healthy is afoot is the impulse to weed out, sort through, and discard old clothes, papers, and belongings.
"I don't need this anymore," we say as we toss a low-self-worth shirt into a giveaway pile. "I'm sick of this broken-down dresser and its sixteen coats of paint," as the dresser goes off to Goodwill.
By tossing out the old and unworkable, we make way for the new and suitable. A closet stuffed with ratty old clothes does not invite new ones. A house overflowing with odds and ends and tidbits you've held on to for someday has no space for the things that might truly enhance today.
When the search-and-discard impulse seizes you, two crosscurrents are at work: the old you is leaving and grieving, and the new you celebrates and grows strong. As with any rupture, there is both tension and relief. Long-seated depression breaks up like an ice floe. Long-frozen feelings thaw, melt, cascade, flood, and often overrun their container (you). You may find yourself feeling volatile and changeable. You are."
Last night I was talking with my mom about this, while organizing my ribbon-by-the-yard into my awesome new ribbon organizer (that I MADE with Kristin last weekend - so awesome!) There were dozens of little snips of ribbon. I wanted to keep every precious one. After all: what if it would be the PERFECT little ribbon for my next page?! What if I NEED it? No, my mom said. I don't need it. She told me to throw out all those snippets - to throw them in the yucky kitchen garbage and get rid of them for good.
And that's what I did.
It's time to let go! It's time to make room for the new! Shed the excess and enjoy the process. The old is gone, the new has come!
