It is that time of year again – time for Spring Cleaning.  Time to clean out the drawers, organize, and clean,

Below see the collage I did for my niece Mallory using souvenirs she collected after spending a year in Europe.  She didn’t want to put them into an album – she wanted to be able to look at them and share them with her friends.  She recently moved into her first apartment, so I put this together as a housewarming gift for her.

First, I guess I should explain the lawsuit.  Back in November, my niece Erin was having car trouble.  (She broke down on I-75 with her 3 year old).  We have a “family” truck, which I was using, so Erin borrowed my car.  On her way to work the next day, she rear ended someone.  As Elvis Costello says, accidents will happen!  I naively thought her insurance would take care of it, BUT in the state of Georgia  a wreck will follow the owner of the car.  Now, I have a little Corolla that I just keep running (I haven’t had a car payment since 1992!)  But, there was absolutely no damage to my car – it was all buffed out by my brother.  So, when the other car was repaired I thought the story was over.  However, I received a call last month from an insurance investigator. The person she hit has hired a lawyer – he apparently started having neck probems six months after the wreck!    My car has since been photographed to show the lack of damage.  I have dreaded hearing an updates.   So, on my way home tonight, my cell phone rang and it was the insurance investigator.  I couldn’t get the phone (I was driving after all), so I don’t know what has transpired.  Of course, I fear the worst.  This got my adrenaline going and I knew I have my “dream” studio to work on, so I came home and tackled the closet you see above.

What you see in it is old halloween costumes, wrapping paper and junk, and some nice rice paper hanging up.  I decided to make it into a collage paper closet.

I began by getting rid of the old Halloween costumes.  Gone is the caterpillar outfit, complete with 6 pairs of children’s tennis shoes.  Gone is the dress I made out of koozie cups (made after seeing a dress made out of flip-flops in Priscilla Queen of the Desert).  I have to admit, I kept the dress I made out of condoms, more on that at a latter date!  The wrapping paper is mostly old, so I put it in the recycling bin, and kept the gift bags and put them in the storage room (which I cleaned out after our garage sale this past weekend).

I hung all my bought paper up on hangers with clothespins, organized by color.  I discovered some beautiful paper that I had stuck in the wierdest places.  I put a shelf in with small pieces left over – as well as tissue paper.  On the left is a shelf with stained paper that I love to use.

The top shelf is my encaustic tools.  

I’m proud of this – it will help me keep organized.  

Next????   The bookshelf and the flat files.

This will be a challenge as I still have “stuff” from when this was a den.  Note the top of the book shelf – those boxes contain pictures from travels – they will go into storage and the rest will be cleaned up and organized as collage material.  I will reserve a shelf for instructional books, DVD’s, and catalogs from shows that feature artists that have inspired me.

I will then tackle the flat file and organize the drawing pads below and clean up around it.  

I’m happy my adrenaline surge caused me to make not only a start, but a plan on how to organize the studio.   Joel even measured my table, which will be 4×6′ with a shelf. 

 But, I still don’t know what the phone call regarding the lawsuit is about.  I guess that will wait until tomorrow.