UPDATE: The winner is…Cindy!
*~*~*
I didn’t have any notes for what I wanted to talk about today. I sat at my desk, turned to my computer, and opened an empty “page” for the blog. Then, I clicked on a few news/gossip sites because I can’t be still for a second on line.
Still no ideas, so I turned to my desktop which is littered with open paint palettes, a basket of paint pens, dried paper towels with dabs of dried paint, which make them very pretty, my planner, which I’ve been underutilizing lately, and my cups and pots full of pens. Not to mention the plants that line the back of my desk that are waiting for me to take them back outside since we’re done with freezes. It’s a very messy desk.
I left the palettes open last night so the paint would fully dry. This is the messiest and most used.
It’s also the first watercolor palette I ever purchased. It’s a Van Gogh travel palette–a kind of medium, student-grade palette. The Azo Yellow and Madder Lake Deep (that dark red) in the lower left corner are almost gone. I started to close the palette, but all that lovely messiness reminded me about how far I’ve come.
When I first purchased this, I was so careful not to get different colors mixed in their paint pans, and I’d CLEAN the mixing wells at the top after every use. I loved the pristine look of the palette and wasn’t comfortable with the messiness that comes from paint. Now, look at it. The white has yellow in it. The Azo has green in it. The ochre has more green in it. And those wells haven’t been cleaned in forever because that’s where the color magic happens after you mix and forget what you mixed and then mix some more…
And there aren’t enough wells for color mixing, so I use the logo space at the top to mix more colors. I love this palette. I love getting a wet brush and working the water into the dried paint until it’s buttery, and then stroking it across paper. That sounded almost sexual, didn’t it? Hmm. I need to write a story about an artist…
And off I go again. “Squirrel!”
Do you have anything you let get really, really messy because it works best that way? Comment for your choice of a download from my backlist!
Comment
My kitchen table. I need to explain. There were 5 of us growing up. We had the old chrome and formica table. My dad loved tablecloths. The table was always cleaned off. That old kitchen was 18′ long and 11′ wide at one end and 12′ wide at the other end (yes–crooked). There was a chest freezer in the kitchen. My mom always kept a stack of stuff on it–bills, paper–stuff easier for her to access.
Over time–New house. We moved. Exit 1 child… exit 2nd child. Now 3 people. Mom’s stack grew at the f side of the table, including adding a plastic box of supplies. One the opposite side (side where I sat), I started my own stack.
Dad died. Stacks grew… Mom died and I was alone, working 5 or 6 days, Stacks encroached across the table.
Enter covid. Working from home 23 months at my kitchen table. Why not? Everything was within reaching distance. Covid over–back to office. Still worked 6 days a week.
So today, I try to excavate through the piles… But I now believe paper multiples in the dark. Either that or I am a victim of ‘table creep’. It is like land creep, just in the house. Look up land creep, it is real. Someday I DO want to have at least half a table back.
Comment
LOL! Your table sounds like my art room! Great story. I suspect the stack is comforting to you.
Comment
Both of my John pike watercolor palettes are both messy.
Comment
My desk, LOL! It works for me!
Comment
I’m going to say my desk. I just keep piling stuff on there…everyday mail, receipts I bring home from places that need to be recorded. I know what’s there & I can grab anything I might need…but nobody else can find anything. Even if I tell them exactly where to look.
Comment
can’t think of anything
Comment
I keep my desk messy and it just works for me. I deep clean once in a while but not often.
Comment
my desk….and i do find what i’m looking for ( but if i clean then it’s a disaster for sure)
Comment
My dining room table. I hardly use it to eat. It is where all the mail,receipts,important papers, books,newspapers and work supplies and desk supplies land. I know just where to find stuff. When I try to clean it up I can’t find anything. Then before I know it goes right back to the way it was before.
Comment
Thanks for sharing about your messy places!! I’m glad I’m not the only one.
The winner of the free download of her choice is…Cindy! Cindy, congrats! Email me at delilah@delilahdevlin.com to let me know which story you’re like to read.