Situation: A watercolor artist and instructor needed to get his art supplies organized. He is planning to move to a retirement community in about 5 years and doesn’t want to be overloaded with extra stuff he doesn’t need or won’t be able to fit in his new home. He decided to seize the moment and take advantage of the free time he has now so he won’t have to worry about it when it comes time to move. He knew he could benefit from hiring a professional organizer to help downsize because he found it hard to make decisions on his own about what to let go of.
Challenge: This artist had supplies scattered all around his studio, on his work bench, easel, and shelves. The supplies were not grouped together or organized. Because his work area was so cluttered, he had trouble thinking clearly and staying on task. His easel was so overloaded that he was using a second portable easel in front of his main easel so that he could actually paint. His workbench was completely covered and did not have the recommended 60% of his work surface open. He also had a shelf off to one side that was full of miscellaneous supplies.
Solution: We pulled out all of his art supplies and grouped like items together. We found that he had multiples of things- 10 packs of watercolor paint, extra brushes, palettes, etc. He kept what he wanted and then filled 3 bags of extra supplies that he will donate to his students.
The supplies he decided to keep were containerized and given new homes. He has a great cabinet for art supplies and his easel has shelves and drawers built in that were not being utilized. We organized his paperwork and painting examples for his classes and stored them in one of these drawers so he can easily find what he needs when he is preparing his lessons. The drawers are also used for paints, tools, paintbrushes, and palettes.
While we sorted through his art supplies, we found his wife’s gift wrapping supplies mixed in. She organized her gift supplies and separated them from his art supplies while we worked.
We also separated completed and incomplete artwork and set aside some of the completed work to be displayed in an art show. We are working on setting up a local art show at a bakery, which is something he has always dreamed of.
He is a retired dentist who then became an artist and then an art instructor. One of my specializations is working with artists (and I find many of them used to be dentists, which is interesting!) Artistic, creative, talented people are one of my favorite kinds of clients to work with.
When we were finished, the client said that organizing goes way beyond just the items being organized. It’s more about having open space to feel clear and have room to find inspiration and be more creative. He feels like he is going to be a better instructor, be able to make better paintings, and he will definitely feel more inspired with this newfound space.