The studio clean up stalled last week because of my knee situation.* But I’m moving better and was back at it today.

I have lost count of the number of trash bags I have taken out of the basement. A lot, we’ll go with that. Many. I have been able to keep track of the recycling because well, the sanitation workers are still on strike, so recycling is still not being picked up.**

It’s a LOT of recycling.

Not all the recycling is coming out of the art studio, as I’ve mentioned previously, I’m also cleaning out some other hobby supplies on the other side of the basement, mainly beer and wine and mead brewing supplies. 5 gallon carboys take up a lot of space. I have gotten all the wine bottles out and onto the curb where people may or may not take them.

We had under utilized the space under the stairs and I cleaned that out completely and now have 5 of the 6 larger totes stashed there. 3 of the 5 have paper in them. I might need to evaluate my paper situation.

I also went through my plastic drawers and consolidated a lot of stuff into a few of the drawers. I was then able to move some stuff like small sketchbooks and en plein air supplies into 2 of the drawers.

I discovered that on one of my large shelves I have shipping supplies stashed, in sizes that I no longer use or will find useful. These will get moved off the shelf so that my cardboard drying rack can have a home as well as a few other supplies in totes. I have the dehumidifier running and I’m moving an air filter down there to help with the basement smell.

The bench top is getting more and more clear. I can see the bench in some sections. On more than one occasion I have looked at the stuff on there and thought, I could toss all that. But I won’t because some of it is still good stuff.

At this point i think I need one or two more weekends of work to get the studio to a actual workable set up. Probably 2 week ends before it’s more organized than not.

It’s going to take a lot longer to get the tool situation of the other side of the basement taken care of. Also we are now selling the VW Rabbit and that needs some love before it can be sold, namely, I have to fix the rear hatch lock issue. It’s a fiddly bit of annoying electrical nonsense, and honestly, I’m one step away from buying a whole new rear wiring harness and calling it good.

That said, despite my knee I’m making progress on both sides of the studio and feeling pretty hopeful that I can use it for art making soon.

The idea is that each bin houses only one art method’s supplies. So bookbinding stuff goes in one bin, paint making in another bin, acrylic markers in another, watercolor in another, and so on…
I am really looking forward to getting fully set up in the studio and making some art.

* I sprained my knee and I’m waiting to see sports med to get an mri. That said I’m now moving around much better and most of my range of motion is back though I still can’t squat down. I tried to squat down to label a bin and WOW ouch. Not gonna try that again any time soon. I think next week I’m going to attempt a short bike ride.

** We have scabs picking up the actual trash almost weekly and almost on time.