Creative mess management for generative people

Next time you find yourself in the company of a mess you just can't face, be it a withered balcony garden or pile of taxation documents, I have just the strategy for you:

MessScapes.

Mid-March MessScape by Cecilia, Ballarat 2010

This one was created while waiting for my Rasberry breakfast cake this morning, at a lakeside Cafe in Ballarat. Well, waiting beside a pile of the last customers dishes would have been the drongo's option, but when you decide there must be other options, they always appear.

And once I'd finished with mine, I got the kids at the next table to have a go, to keep me distracted.


It turns out they were indeed talented MessScapers, much more figurative in style than me.

Green tounged red mascara MessScape monster


Jam Man with collar


Glasses with Glasses

Trouble and Freindship, master MessScapers

MessScapes and balcony gardens, whats the connection? They are both about making something out of nothing, seeing patterns, making connections, and joyfully wasting time.

Also, the most dramatic way to improve the look of your balcony garden is simple subtraction - saying 'this plant, this pot doesn't belong. I don't love it. Just because it ended up here doesn't mean I'm obliged to use it', and sending it on. All the remaining pots and plants can then relax into a harmonious arrangement, and you can say 'Im a balcony garden artist'.

Practice on mess first, its easier.

'Freindship' and 'Trouble' the MessScape artists, with Bruce (?) and Peanut.
Bruce and Peanut are the Dogs.

Best of all, a messScape is so much less scary to clean up than a mess. Divide and Conquer.


If you ever make a MessScape, I'd love a photo to add to my collection.