An Organizational Sweet Spot for Creativity

At the moment, there seems to be a lively discussion about whether 'tis nobler to be thoroughly organized or authentically messy.  Perhaps this has been brought about by the publication of Marie Kondo's new book on "tidying up" and a little push back is in order. (pardon the pun) In any event, the idea of order and chaos is something much on my mind. We are in the process of condensing two households into one and so, if we want to actually be able to move in the remaining domicile, we are going to have to let go of a fair amount of stuff.  Right now, I am going through things in the village house to see what can go to make room for things from the lake house.  Mostly, I am working in my workspace and there are some things that don't fit neatly into the going to Goodwill pile, for example, a sheet of mahogany veneer.

       We are also into February and I decided maybe it was time to take down the little Christmas tree that had been serving as a sort of nightlight.  To replace this source of illumination, I thought of the valentine star that I just ran across in the attic. Up it went. Interesting...but too bright and too red (though in the photo it looks pretty good--gentler.)

      You probably know where this is going. I am trying to think of how to process all this stuff and I have a need for a little night illumination that doesn't set my teeth on edge. I could make a new "shade" for the light in the star. I could use the mahogany veneer, and I have all kinds of materials lying around waiting to be chosen for productivity.  I sang that chant, "All I need is here..." and it was true: board, paint, parchment paper and some handmade paper in a favorite shade of green. I happily spent the day creating our new lamp in my new space. The windows looking out to the front allowed me to see the mail carrier coming up the walk with a new book--A Perfect Mess. And I had already learned the lesson. Maybe. Is there room for another book?

p.s. It occurs to me that my comfort zone for order in life is exactly like my preferred aesthetic for creating art. I write about this in my blog statement.