For the past few months I have been working my way through
Jane Dunnewold's Creative Strength
Training and Julia Cameron's The
Artist's Way. Both of those workbooks have helped tremendously with
unblocking my creativity, although I'm still feeling a little lost in my
direction. But I'm working on it, and making progress.
Then I heard about another book entitled The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: the
Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. This being
Spring, and myself being a product of the generation that did semi-annual housecleaning,
I had already begun the tedious process of organizing and purging. I also
happened to be in the throes of moving out of my rented studio space and back
into my home studio, so purging is a must since my home studio spaces are
already full. Thank goodness I found this book! For anyone who has tried to
tidy, only to find you've just moved things from one place to another, this
book is for you. I cannot believe how many carloads of "stuff" I have
given away, things I thought were so important and so useful, but were in fact
stifling my creative life. Give it a try...you have nothing to lose but a lot
of useless clutter!
This past week I came across a wonderful website: TextileArtist.org. This site is filled
with high-quality articles and links to amazing artists, whom I have found
inspiring and motivating. The articles are equally as motivating, and often
have links to videos and free eBooks. I especially enjoyed the article entitled
"Are You a Textile Technique Addict?" The video described a short
exercise to help you decide which techniques in your collection are worth
keeping and focusing on, and which ones to perhaps let go...very helpful as I
continue to clear out the clutter in my creative life.
I'm looking forward to a renewed energy this Spring. How
about you? Have you felt the "urge to purge" yet? I'd love to hear
your comments!
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