Everybody Rotate

It’s almost time to change the art in my office.  I’ve had the same art since I moved in five
years ago and it’s now covered in layers of other art.   It’s time to relocate, re-shuffle and change
up.  Maybe you are not one of the people
who feels that deep need to redecorate periodically, but I happen to have it in
my genes.  Returning home to find my
mother peeling wallpaper was cause for eyerolling, but not surprise.  It works both ways though.  On more than one occasion in my teen years I
decided to re-arrange my bedroom after midnight.  My mother never once questioned these
decisions.  Because she fully understands
that sometimes life would just be better if the furniture were NOT where it is
right now. 

These are also good occasions for spring cleaning and
decluttering.  Someone once said that
clutter items are just decisions you didn’t make.  If you had decided where that item needed to
go, it wouldn’t be lingering there on the desk or kitchen table.  Although, I suspect that the person who
originated that idea never had children. 
Because the garbage can is not lingering on top my desk; it’s hiding
from my toddler.

The problem with decluttering art, is that I’m either
removing my own work or the work of an artist I admire.  It’s unfortunate, but apparently, I cannot
have ALL the art, ALL the time.  I’m not
a Getty.  I don’t get to have my own
museum.  This makes me infinitely sad.  My perfect house would probably look like a
library mated with the Guggenheim and married the Orsay.  Unfortunately my current house looks more
like the product of a library and a 1910 bungalow who married a carpenter in
the 1950’s. Which means we have books in piles and art in piles and we had to
remove the weird scalloped molding over the sink when we moved in.

So some art will have to go back in the closet and some new
pieces will have to get matted for display. 
And then, maybe, I can get back to writing.  

Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie
Mae Mysteries, Tales from the City of
Destiny and An Unseen Current.
 You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.