Is anyone as much of the paint slob as I am?

[Laurel Alanna McBrine]

I am in the "Jekyll and Hyde" category of neatness.

I am always surprised at how much paint I end up with on myself, so I usually wear one of my husband's old shirts as a smock. Since he goes through a lot of them, I don't worry about big splotches of cad orange. I can't seem to avoid getting paint on my easel, but I try to wipe it down so there aren't globs of paint all over it. Giant drop cloths for the floor are handy on occasion. So is barrier cream for hands!

Every now and then I can no longer stand the mess, usually after searching fruitlessly for some thing or other. I then clean and organize fanatically. Sadly, I can never seem to maintain perfect order. I still dream of finding the ideal system!

I recently read an interesting book titled "A Perfect Mess" which posits that the costs of maintaining order are higher than the benefits gained. I know I have probably spent time cleaning up my studio that I could have used more wisely to finally finish my latest painting. I think there may be a little procrastination involved wherein, right now, cleaning up my studio is less painful than figuring out what to do with my portrait.