My desk is a Constant Mess

The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake – you can’t learn anything from being perfect.

Adam Osborne
The mess on a creatives desk (photo by Hanna Andersson)

 There is a mess on my desk. Again.

There is a finished art journal. A started art journal. A current art journal. My diary, another notebook, and a bunch of stray pens. Loose papers with no home. A painting project. The brayer. Glue stick, date stamp, heavy book for flattening collages. The sewing machine. A turquoise glitter yarn I found when I was (actually) cleaning this week. And lots more stuff. Beloved materials and unfinished ideas.

I wish I could get into the habit of clearing the table after each work session, but that is not how I work. I bring this out, that out, and then I remember (sometimes) that I should eat something. Or the computer pings with yet another registration for the DIY postcard Swap, and that distracts me and I forget all about putting away my projects.

I’m lucky if I remember to rinse the paint brushes.

I guess I’m gonna have to live with the mess. I like to do a big clearing every now and then, for sure. And in between I’m okay with the mess I create. What I really dislike though is when it’s so messy that I can not find a single centimeter to work on. Overflowing with piles. Then I know it’s time to sweep. :-)

I’m embracing not being perfect!

How do you work?

7 Responses

  1. Oh I cleaned up and re-organised last week. Do you think one can see that I have done it??? It is already back to the mess it is as always. And I haven’t done so much…strange!
    Have a great sunday – Irma

  2. I work just like you, amidst piles of stuff that inspires me… until it doesn’t! That’s when I do a clean up. I also clean up when I finish a big project in order to make room for new ideas. Thank you for sharing your mess – we all have them! Happy Sunday!

  3. I thought having several workspaces would help keep things under control, but the mess just expands to fill them, like water. Only the surfaces in my sewing room stay clean when I’m not working there, thanks to my cat. If I leave out any fabric, he sees it as in invitation to pee.

  4. I feel your pain and your lamentations, Hanna. I try and tidy after a big project, but oh, look….. there’s something I missed and I’m off on a creating tangent….again. I call it organized chaos while I’m working. Thank goodness I have to totally clean it up every Monday evening so the housekeeper can dust and run the sweeper. Otherwise, the ephemera would be to the ceiling!

    Betty