I started this linocut over a year ago. It’s actually two blocks, each 6 x 9″ (~15 x 22 cm). I did the radiator first, then decided to do the extension cord in the foreground. I also have two additional, half-carved blocks that include other parts of the room, and eventually this will be a full-sheet, multi-block image. This is just a poorly-inked proof made on sketch paper; the finished prints will be amazing.

But I can’t find the blocks. They’re wrapped together in newsprint, and I can see the packet in my mind’s eye, but I cannot find the damned thing to save my life.

And there are so many other things that have just sort of vanished amid the chaos, and it’s driving me insane. I should do a major cleanout at least once a year, but it’s been almost five years since I did the last one, and I am up to my eyeballs in clutter and I simply cannot function. I barely have room to make art at all. And every time I need something and can’t find it, I go into a rage–mainly at myself for letting things get so bad.

Anyone who tells you that a messy desk, or room, or house is a sign of a creative mind–well, they may be right. But I’ll tell you this, from experience: it’s also the sign of a creative mind that can’t fully express itself because it hasn’t got the space and can’t find the tools it needs in order to do that.