Indigene Art Forms

Exploring Life Through Art

Shop / Illustration Friday / Clutter – IF

Clutter – IF

I’m not sure with moving, what I dislike more, the packing or the unpacking! Ugh!

I’m using a page out of my sketchbook for this week’s prompt. We moved several years ago and I was surrounded by boxes, bags and furniture awaiting the moving truck and I remembered I sketched the scene to alleviate the stress!

We won’t be moving for nine months, but I’ve been packing a few boxes at a time of books (I have over 1,000) to take to our storage unit, so that when the time comes to move, some of my stress can be warded off.

All that to say, that moving represents clutter to me, no matter how organized it is, it’s still clutter! Moving clutters the mind with too many details and your own personal space with physical clutter. It’s just clutter!

Breathe in, slowly breathe out and let that clutter go. Peace to all.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I'm with you….the packing/unpacking/moving clutter is the worst….great illustration to capture that all 🙂

  2. Your whole post about clutter is magnificent. I love this color choice, it helps organize this situation!
    Look at “moving” as a way to sort out and remove unwanted clutter.
    Change is good for growth 🙂

  3. Hey Indigene! Thank you for stopping by my blog. I know the whole stress of moving out – boxes – feels so unfinished…I wish i’d thought fo drawing my boxes too. 🙂

  7. True, true! I love the colors in your drawing. I think unpacking is way more fun for sure! Old clutter becomes new clutter somehow!

  9. Great idea for clutter!
    Seven years ago I moved next door. You wouldn’t think it would be as big a deal, but it was!!
    Good luck on the move!
    Nice color scheme!!

  10. yes and i still have two boxes unpacked since i moved three years ago…..so cool illustration and how it has helped you….

  11. Oh I know how you feel. I’m feeling this sketch too. I totally agree with you on this. I have an art studio that I have cleaned and out only to have my brother-in-law come in an reck it!!! By the third time I was just done. He and my sister have since purchased a home and I am happy for them only thing is I have no strength to get up and do this all again. Your picture is my testimony! Great work and play on the word Clutter.

  12. love your last statement. 🙂
    and i think moving is one of the best ways to ELIMINATE clutter!! no matter how you slice it, it’s still a lot of work!

    teri

  13. Great illustration. Makes me want to come over and help you unpack. Very effective use of the word clutter.

  14. very nice page from the sketchbook and wonderful story. We are helping our daughter move out to college, on the other side of the state…stress

  15. Beautiful piece from your sketchbook! Re your sketching moment during the move, wonderful you turned to the healing process of colors and art.

  16. love the imagery!… totally captures the chaos of moving.. one of the least favorite task of almost anybody i think!

  17. Perfect piece for this week! and Ditto. Packing and unpacking is so unpleasant. However, I do enjoy cleaning things out as a mental exercise. If my house is de-cluttered , then it feels as if mind is de-cluttered also.

  18. nice take on the topic 😀 i cant make up my mind either about which i hate more – packing or unpacking!

  19. ohhhh the packing is so much worse.
    the unpacking is like christmas. unless you lose a box.
    then it is like the worst week of your year.

  20. yikes! clutter do really leave us irritated at times (well most of the time for others too) like however you pack them its not gonna shrink. lol 8) but dont worry you have lots of time to get things done.

  21. I know what you mean. Very smart, to keep your inner peace while sorting through all that stuff.
    I like the way you captured packing, the labeling, the packed boxes, a part of a sofa?, the lamp… Nice work!

  22. I hear you – moving is CLUTTER! But it is also a time to ‘purge’ the clutter if you look at it that way! Very nice painting…good color scheme. I also really enjoyed a visit to your website gallery today.

  23. You sure captured clutter well with this one. I like that you sketched the scene to alleviate the stress. We should all do that more often.

  25. love the colours used in your image of clutter. good thoughts on clutter, your right we gather so much don’t we. thanks for your comments too.

  28. Great illustration! I can relate to the packing/unpacking clutter! I once got a quote to move states and miscounted the boxes so the removalist left half my stuff behind so my ex-husband sold it all! Thats a whole nother de-cluttering story! Thanks for the comment on my blog. Cheers from Brisbane! Angela

  29. lovely illustration and perfect for the topic, we moved just over a year ago to a smaller house – I have photos of the clutter, some of the boxes are still unpacked, this is what happens when you can’t get yourself to throw anything away

  30. I like your sketch. And I needed your words about moving. I’m currently trying (hopelessly it seems) to de-clutter the house to get it ready to sell.

  31. I certainly feel your pain! I hate moving so much. I told my husband the next house we buy will be the last. Last year, we moved from a big house to a small apartment, and I learned that I really don’t need all the material stuff I had. That being said, I’ll still be glad when I can get all my art supplies out of storage. HA! Glad you’re starting 9 months early. Slow and steady….

  33. Hi, Indigene! Are you supposed to unpack the boxes? I always keep one around from 20 years ago (I need help). You convinced me with your illustration, it looks Great!