Cleaning up Spring

What is it about Spring....

I love Spring.  I was born in Spring.....So many wonderful things have happened to me in my life in Spring...Good luck-ness seems to happen in spring.....

I love the newness......the awakening......the vibrancy of greens......the birds coming back to what seemed like such a dormant garden......and my word does it make my own feathers twitch.  I know we are meant to spring clean at this time of year but something rather overwhelming comes over me, particularly in May, that makes me turf everything out of the nest and re-transform my home and my work room.  Every corner disturbed, every drawer and shelf unpacked and purpose re-thought.....

As you may know I am a hoarder with a capital H.  I can't quite comprehend what it is like on the other side of having to live with me....things arrive in plenty through the front door and letterbox and not much seems to vacate at the same rate of passion.  'Until May'.

So, here I am, middle of May and all in the studio has been sorted, organised, arranged, re-arranged, categorized, valued in worth, re-painted, re-hung, re-positioned, re-considered and most importantly re-freshed.  And it feels great.  It is the only cheap form of therapy I know that places a full stop on what 'was' and re-energises the introduction of the new.  New chapters.  New directions.  New ideas.  New partnerships.  New purpose.  New energy.  New passion.  New reason.

So here is how the studio looks in May......a few new introductions of furniture, all re-arranged and walls re-painted in Plaster Pink....  I wonder where I will be/what I will be doing this time next year....

...and while all this was happening I am engrossed in listening to...

the changing character of the studio

If, like me, you spend far too many hours in your studio then it becomes more than just a place of work.  And, if like me, you make/design/collect for a living then your surroundings will be that of a happy place.  

Every flat wall, every corner, holds so many memories.  

I take a lot of photographs of the studio to document its changing faces...Every few months it changes in character and in appearance and purpose.  This suits me.  I am not too good at routine, similarity from day to day is not my ideal, rooms have to change in layout, hoardings come and go, and furniture dances around the house in turn, particularly as a new piece arrives through the door.  

I suppose it it why I have adapted to working from home so well and have a family, that either don't mind, or, have become so used to my ways that they now do not even notice......