Clean Slate

I'm just finishing up putting all of my art into storage containers. Originally I was just packing up pieces I need to bring to art sales in the next couple months. Then I had a realization. Generally, when I do not have my own pieces hanging down here in the studio and in the hallway leading to my stereo, I create more. I also create different things.

I am a person that is heavily influenced by my surroundings. I'm surrounded by nature in the views out my studio windows, and that is the most common subject in my work. The trouble is, if I have pieces hanging in the studio, I tend to be swayed by the colors or fabrics in them. Or I feel too "imprisoned" to create. Sometimes having all those pieces on the walls, just starts to feel like another layer of clutter.

This might be a sign of growing as an artist. My earlier works, I still do not have for sale. Mostly because I am attached to them, but also because their quality of workmanship can't compare to the pieces I am making now. (And obviously the museums will want them some day when they feature me as a famous artist, right? Right?)

I know that I should have the oldest pieces photographed as well, after all it is a record of the progress I have made. Even if I don't use them in a portfolio, somehow is seems like the "right thing to do" to have them documented at least. And then they will continue to be stored in their plastic clear tubs, and wait for day when someone might be interested in the first pieces I ever made.

I find myself wondering though, is it common to have previous pieces in the studio create almost a "block" from new pieces coming forth? Anyone else out there find you aren't as free to create when surrounded works you've already completed?