Part 2: Storing my ever growing output of paintings in a 1,200 square foot house

There is a limit to how many paintings can be stored in a 1,200 square foot house. My husband and I need room to move about and live so I am OK with  limited storage. Limiting the number of works requires retiring some of my paintings every time I make a new painting. I am forced to try to strengthen my entire body of work by keeping only my more interesting paintings.  I keep representative pieces. The pieces  that do not make the grade become table coverings, rugs, cloth books for children, or pillows.

While some artist friends manage by moving displays between galleries to other alternative spaces monthly, I keep that activity minimal to give me the maximum time to paint.   I also have work on loan like the Mennonite Corvallis Caring Place rotated every 6 months.  I donate or  loan works to The Oregon State Fall Creek Fish Hatchery and Research Center.

I spend more time thinking of what I can live without in everything from clothes to cookware and books. For years I donate the accumulated stuff from living in a product marketing economy.  Mostly I give to Habitat for Humanity, St. Vincent de Paul,  and Goodwill. When my parents moved from Washington to California, I took a whole trailer full of paintings and furniture, stopping at Goodwill, I donated a few 4' x 6'  paintings one of which was awarded best in the show in a Blaine, Washington Art Show.


After the donations I've ended up with closets devoted to sentimental family pictures and objects passed down to me and collected over the years.  These treasures are in boxes designated for my daughters and grandchildren. Sometimes they are ready to take what they agree is precious and sometimes I keep a few items until my children are settled.

Every time  I donate items like manual typewriters or one of my old fashioned meat grinders. Or family heirlooms are given to a family member who promises to be a  steward of our past. When I have gained a little more space for Don and I to expand I feel good.


 In an effort not to overfill my limited storage, I reinvent some of my paintings. Last Thursday's post about my least interesting Ritner Creek painting underwent an addition of radical reds that made the whole rest of the painting less precious.  I soon became immersed in new avenues to explore.



My new journey is about the tree that died since I completed the original painting last year. This year the flow of the creek is slower. The  very shallow water is warmer. Some  of these steps in the change could be called finished but I am open to more experience.








A number of different near solutions help me learn what linear quality will slow down the flow of the creek. What lines in the tree will be most expressive of struggle?   Stay tuned for a possible resolution. Not sure it will be a keeper.The risk is worth all the learning on how the linear changes effect expressiveness.

More ideas are covered in previous posts can be seen by looking over my previous posts by clicking on my name under labels.