My organizational tirade....or why I am Barbara.... a packrat.

Hello. My name is Barbara and I am a packrat. Boo! How did this happen?

I am a painter, amongst other artistic endeavors and so I guess I come by it honestly. One of my greatest weaknesses as an artist, I think, is that I like to do too many things. In art school, I was always envious of those who had this one media or vision that they never deviated from. For example, this one person whose focus was pencil drawing. They would draw and draw and draw with plain old pencils and never get tired of it.

Me, NEVER. If I drew, I wanted to try out every possible drawing media known to man. Pencil, colored pencil, pastel, oil pastel, charcoal. Same with painting. I like it all. Acrylic, oil, encaustic, collage….and the list goes on…..

For me, mixed media was and still is, the perfect vessel to try and focus my efforts. I am a Jane of All Trades. Herein lies the PACKRAT, in that I never expunge anything for fear that one tiny scrap of something will be the piece de la resistance of my greatest work ever. WHAT? That has never happened, but what if it did?

I think that I have every bit of art supply and bit and bauble I’ve ever accumulated. Actually, no, that’s NOT true, I’ve actually gotten rid of stuff, then I stumble onto some new nifty thing and I horde that as well. A sickness to be sure….

So here lies my dilemma…

mr. mike and I are leaving in just a few short weeks to spend the summer in North Carolina at the farm…we plan on gardening and practicing a much simpler lifestyle….But I need to figure out what to take from the studio so that I can continue to create up there, albeit on a smaller scale. We will have very limited space for transportation. We’re taking a small c-class RV plus the Corolla. I’m freaking out, have to tell you. I’ve been sorting and organizing for 2 weeks now…and the more I look at something, I keep thinking, WAIT! I MIGHT NEED THAT….

Being a mixed media type of girl, I always seem to want it all right at hand, so when I decide to add typeface with a stamp, I have 4 types of vintage antique typewriter fonts at hand to choose the perfect one. Or ribbon or paper, or wood, or canvas, or crayon. See what I’m saying?

So here’s my plan, I’m going to devise my perfect mixed media travel kit….and that is what I will take, all else left behind for the fall when I return and perhaps THEN I can purge the rest of it and I will FINALLY have developed this cohesive style that seems so elusive to me.

So stay tuned for my next post…. The perfect mixed media travel kit.