Winter has a way of changing how I want to be in my studio. Snow outside, quiet streets, and suddenly I’m craving order, comfort, and the feeling that my space is cozy and organized.
A place that makes me feel calm and creative rather than overwhelmed. That feeling means I need to do a bit of creative nesting!
For me, studio cleaning and organizing isn’t about dramatic before-and-after photos. Instead, it’s a series of small resets that remove friction from my art practice. I share a bit about it in this video:
Organize Against Resistance
One of the most useful ideas I’ve learned over the years is this: organize for how you actually behave, not how you wish you behaved.
My biggest resistance point is putting things away. I really hate it. I really avoid it. I really stink at it.
In my studio, if something is even a teeny tiny bit annoying to put away, it will sit out forever. Therefore, I have organized my studio to make “easy putting away” a priority.
Some of my solutions:
- drawers instead of bins
- open carts instead of closed boxes
- shelves that don’t require Tetris-level precision
- I label e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g
Labels = Easy
No matter how confident I am that I’ll “remember where everything goes,” I won’t. I label every box, drawer, bag, and container in my studio.
Labels remove decision fatigue. They turn cleanup into a mechanical task instead of a thinking task, which matters when mental energy is limited. Or matters if you want to keep your mental energy for creative decisions rather than cleaning up.
I’m a huge fan of making as many things as possible in the studio mechanical. It’s one of the ways you make your art practice sustainable.
Keep in Mind that Maintenance Tasks Are Creative Support
Refilling a watercolor palette or cleaning tools doesn’t feel creative, but I wholeheartedly believe that those tasks directly support creative momentum. Here’s what I mean:
- A full palette means I’m more likely to paint.
- Clean tools mean less frustration.
- Being able to shelve and find the books I’m looking for means I actually use them. They don’t just sit on my bookshelves collecting dust.
- Writing a shopping list now means that I’m not buying stuff I don’t want or need at the store and my studio will be well stocked and ready for use.
Somebody once told me that she views any cleaning she does as a gift to her future self. That has helped me a lot. For instance, last week, when I noticed that I was out of or running low on several colors in my watercolor palette, I told myself that taking the time to fill the palette was a kindness to my future self who would, no doubt, be super annoyed to discover missing colors next time I wanted to watercolor. And that was enough motivation to get it done instead of kicking the task down the road.
Cozy Is a Valid Studio Goal
My bit of unsolicited advice for the day is: not every studio reset needs to be dramatic. Sometimes it’s simply cleaning up the bits of paper all over the floor. Or deep diving into a pile of stuff you’ve been meaning to put away. Or creating a space that feels calm, welcoming, and easy to return to, especially in the middle of winter. For me, this week, it was about doing a few small tasks that made me feel cozy and organized. I may hate cleaning while I’m doing it, but I’m always glad afterward.
If you’re feeling that nesting urge in your own art practice, consider letting it guide you. A calmer studio often leads to calmer making and that’s a win!
Thanks for stopping by!
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Yep! Putting things away is something I avoid like the plague! It helps me to see how you battle this in your studio. I do like labeling, and I’ve thought I needed to do some more of that, so that may be something for me in the near term. Thank you, Julie.
I’m so glad that you found the post useful, Yvonne. Thanks for taking the time to share your own experience!