A New Year & A New Start

I am not very big on making New Years Resolutions, but  I do like the idea of a clean start and looking forward.

So to start this year I hope to organize my studio space.  Basically its a hot mess bustin’ at the seams. It will feel good to de-clutter and organize and finally find a system that works for me.  I guess this is the trick, finding a system that works for your particular creative style.

A hot mess!

I tend to have many ideas and projects going on at once. Sometimes I need the immediate satisfaction of seeing  an idea born. I think about a certain combination of beads or a combination of materials and I have  the urge to take them out and and  see if they work, and what the possibilities are. Often  this ends up as nothing but an exercise in a distraction of endless possibilities and I get lost in the process.  But I have found  the process can be as important as the outcome. Unfortunately,   as someone trying to make a living at my art  I have to keep the outcome in sight. It is constant balancing act  which too often for me tips on the side of creative chaos.

I have realized that along with de-cluttering my workspace I need to de-clutter my mind too. So I am going to spend more time  meditating  and just finding that stillness within. Because I am such a visual I like to think of this in terms of  the artwork of Andy Goldsworthy. (And if you have not seen the documentary about his work Rivers and Tides, stop everything and go rent it now)

Rowan Leaves & Hole by Andy Goldsworthy

Creating simplicity  out of the random chaos of the environment  but not losing any of the raw power of nature.

Somehow I need to find a way to apply this to my creative endeavors.

Andy Goldsworthy stone sculpture

Like I said its a balancing act.

Diane Hawkey creates and blogs from hot mess of a studio in her Detroit area home .

You can visit her ETSY store and website, or read more of her ramblings on her blog if she hasn’t disappeared into a pile of beads and art clutter.