Declutter Your Studio, Refresh Your Mind : A Pre-New Year Creative Cleanse
As the year winds down, a unique energy settles in. It’s a natural pause – a moment to finish, tidy, and make space. Before we leap into the fresh ambitions of January, I want to suggest a powerful, gentle ritual: a creative cleanse for your studio. This isn’t about ruthless minimalism; it’s about consciously clearing the physical and mental clutter that can cloud your creative spark, making room for new inspiration to flow.
Why Bother? A Tidy Space is a Ready Mind
A studio overloaded with half-finished experiments, dried-out brushes, and piles of “someday” supplies can silently drain your energy. Each unfinished piece whispers “should” and each disorganised corner creates friction before you even begin. A cleanse is an act of respect for your practice and a gift to your future self.
Your Step-by-Step Creative Cleanse
- The Digital Detox First. Start with the easy win. Organise the photos on your phone and computer. Delete all of those blurry shots, file all your finished work into folders by year or series, and then (this is really important) back everything up. If you have cloud back up, great. I put off getting it for years but now have a very inexpensive cloud storage system alongside my external hard drives, which I just can’t give up. Clear your browser bookmarks and organise your inspiration pins. A clean digital space is surprisingly liberating.
- The Gentle Sort (No Guilt Allowed!). Set aside a morning. Put on some music. Take everything off one shelf or out of one drawer. I invested in some clear plastic dividers for my drawers which has made my life much easier. Be kind but decisive.
- Keep & Cherish: Current materials, favourite tools, finished work for inventory.
- Revive or Release: That half-finished canvas from six months ago. Do you feel the urge to complete it? If yes, put it in a prominent “to-finish” spot. If not, thank it for its lesson and let it go. You can gesso over a canvas or recycle the substrate. I do this a lot. Canvases are too expensive to throw out, so do repurpose them. Works on paper can be used for collage but get rid of the complete failures. We all have them.
- Donate or Discard: Dried-up paint tubes, ruined brushes, cheap materials you’ve outgrown. Pass them on to a school, community centre, or a beginner artist who would be thrilled.
- Create a “Future Ideas” Corner. Gather all those inspiring sketches on napkins, colour swatches, and magazine clippings. Don’t throw them out! Place them all in one beautiful folder, box, or pin them to a dedicated cork board. This contains the chaos and turns it into a curated source of inspiration.
- Finish One Small Thing. The most powerful step. Before you finish cleaning, complete one tiny, nagging task. Stretch and prime a canvas. Varnish that dry painting. Label a storage box. This single act of completion creates incredible momentum and proves to yourself that you are ending the year as a maker.
You don’t need a spotless studio. You need a ready studio – one that invites you in and says, “What shall we create next?” This cleanse is how you send that invitation to yourself.
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Wishing you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year, making lots of new artworks to feel proud of. X
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