Working around 'things'.

When is a mess not a mess? When it is my desk.

I do my best thinking in the midst of messiness. I do my best painting in the midst of messiness.

I clear my desk every three months and my art table every, ah, umm . . . every now and then. Can’t remember the last time I cleaned it.

I don’t like to put things away. I might need that thing or those things the next day. Probably not but I like to be ready. And I wasn’t even a Boy Scout. Well, I did join the Cubs but I didn’t like the beanie so I quit.

I sometimes don’t even put the caps back on my tubes of paint. Then when I do decide to tidy the table I can’t find the caps. I have plenty of tubes of solidified acrylic paint. I haven’t thrown them away either.

One thing I try to remember to place the top back on is my bottle of India ink. I forgot it once. I bumped the desk and sent the bottle onto the floor. I keep my chair over that section of the rug. Maria hasn’t noticed it yet. Good thing Maria doesn’t read my blogs.

I use wax paper for my mixing pallet. I don’t throw those out either. I have a bunch of them stacked up on the photo copier. I suppose I could get rid of those.

I drink coffee when I’m writing. I’ve ruined three, maybe four keyboards. Coffee and electronics are not compatible.

I have things hot glued to my desk; mechanical toys, stuffed toys, figures, sculptures; important things that I don’t want to sweep onto the floor when I do clean up. I clean with a Swiffer Duster. It gets around things without me having to move them.

Some things I have not moved nor have I dusted since setting up in this room some two years ago. The model of my ship looks like it is caught in an ice field. In a snow storm. Some important “things” are buried under the dust. I know they are safe there.

Spot is neater than me. I don’t dust him either.

Goodness, is that something moving under that dust bunny??