Tidying my studio is problematic, always and forever! I save & accumulate far too much “stuff” for re-use in my assemblage/collage works.

I replicate parts for my completed works by making archival prints and casts from molds of my originals. These labor intensive parts and pieces for artworks pile up. Pieces that I like, but that are not quite the right color here or the right size there, are set aside for future use. I love to re-interpret special pieces, incorporating some of the parts, and thereby creating sets or series of related works. And I fall in love with scraps: bits of string, hardened drips of resin, palette scrapings, cut pieces of old prints, shells, sea glass, pebbles, and more!

Tidying usually means making new work. I stop sorting, to complete a good “arrangement” as a permanent work. Or I find myself re-working an older piece when I remove it from a frame that I will repurpose for my new piece! All of this is much more fun than actually making sorting, discarding or putting things away to really clear my work surfaces!

There is no such thing as just putting everything away; I have long since run out of “away”! So instead, I just move things around and, I hope, make better art!

Tidying my studio is problematic, when everything I touch could lead me to make a new piece of art!