as a kid, i was a collector. mostly stuff from the natural world. i had an extensive rock collection, a shell collection, a leaf collection and the best bug collection that mr. fryling, my 7th grade science teacher, had ever seen! i spent the whole summer working on it and since my dad owned an air-conditioning and heating business, he had his guys make me a beautiful sheet metal display box with a see-through lid to store my bugs in. (oh, for a pic of that lovely hand-crafted box with the meticulously-labeled insects stuck into styrofoam with pins!)
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| Love using these in collage! |
i also collected stamps, coins and napkins. while most of the other stuff has gone by the wayside, i still have the stamps and coins today.
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| saving them for a rainy day! |
as an adult however, and especially as i get older, i am finding that, for the most part, instead of collecting stuff, i am driven to get rid of possessions. i seem to have a strong drive to de-clutter and keep things very, very simple. it comes partly from moving a lot – every time i have to do it, i swear i am going to “travel light” and i have been doing my best.
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in spite of that, look at the treasures i carried back with me from oregon! while in general i am unloading extra possessions, i still seem to want to collect things that i am drawn to from nature. i think my new-found involvement with mixed media art and art journaling has been a catalyst of sorts. to bring me back to my childhood roots of collecting. can’t help but think what goes around…..comes around!
are you a collector or a de-clutterer??
