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Yesterday I got a burr under my saddle, and had to finally address the cluttered bookshelf in the office.  My husband and I each have a bookshelf for our own books, and treasures, but mine was the one that had to be focused on!  After taking all the books, papers, and pictures off the shelf, the fun started.  There were many papers with tutorials  for artwork, or methods to accomplish some random piece of art that had long been forgotten.  Mostly, there were things from my old watercolor days, and those days are long finished.  Oh sure, I still use watercolor in my travel journals, and even little journal sketches on a daily basis, but these papers were “how to’s” on techniques I’m not even interested in trying, or would never use!  They must have meant something to me at the time, or I loved using a new printer to print all this out!

After clearing out all the books, I then had to sort out everything, categorize the books I wanted,  and set aside the books I’m  not  interested in keeping.  There were so many books,  it was difficult to even know where to begin.  It took at least half of the day to unload the shelves, sort through the books, put the keepers in categories, and still there is a pile of books to go through!  I can’t believe how many books, mostly reference books.  I must have found a half-dozen books on cats.  Cats!  What’s that about?  We have a cat, we love our cat, but until he found us, we hadn’t had a cat in years, and I’ve never really considered myself a cat person.  So all those books, I must have been recovering from a surgery, and on drugs  when I bought them!  Many of the books were watercolor books with several on color theory.  Now that’s all good, but how many do I need?    In my opinion, the  easiest color theory book  to understand  was written by artist and instructor, Cathy Carey  called,  “The Philosophy of Color.”

There I sat with stacks of books I wasn’t interested in keeping any longer wondering what on earth I would do with them all!   Some of them will be donated, a few saved for my grandchildren.  I’d better think about that again, or I’m going to end up with many of them  back on my shelf!   If any of them have found their place in the vintage category (and they are all in great condition), maybe eBay is the place for them.  Only time will tell!  However, sooner rather than later would be best,  since our home is too small to have stacks of books all over the floor.   I have art to create,  sketches to do,  and besides I just ordered two more books!