Gettin’ Organized for Creative Pursuits

I got a bee in my bonnet, at 11:00PM last night, to reorganize my drawer of craft paints. They were quite jumbled, and I have cussed myself every time I have gone to look for a particular paint color or medium that I wanted to use RIGHT THEN and couldn’t find it.

I divided the bottles into paint, metallic paints, and mediums like sealers, blending agents and antiquing gel. Then since the dresser drawer where the paints are kept is a little hard to access because of tight space, I decided to put a dot of each color on the top of the lid so I could see the colors at a glance…certainly not an original idea, but it’s going to be a big help to my impatient self.

Like many artists, I tend to use certain colors over and over as my go-to’s (blues, greens and browns), and then have certain colors I buy too many of because I like them but seldom use (pinks and purples). But nothing goes to waste, I often keep craft supplies for years, and eventually they are new all over again to me and I use them up!

Generally, my supplies are pretty well organized, and I have used some of my recent day-job-unemployed time to refine the organization. I do have a great variety of items both new and vintage, and yet never enough if you know what I mean. I have spoken to and joked with many others artists/crafters who admit the hunt for and acquisition of materials is a rush – almost visceral, we are hunter-gatherers all, I suppose.