I posted this picture of my studio on Instagram the other day, and people immediately began asking me about my “clipboard system,” assuming that I actually have a clipboard system.
I wish I had some cool clipboard system. The truth is, when we were converting my garage, my wife saw a Pinterest board with clipboards used as picture frames and thought it’d be a neat look for the new studio. I said, sure, cool, go for it. (I even have a picture of her installing them.) For a long time, I just used them to hold pictures of some of my favorite artists. (That’s Warhol on the right.)
What’s (sort of) interesting is that having the clipboards up there inspired me to actually find some use for them other than decoration, so I started keeping legal pads up there with lists: one is a list of blog post ideas, the other is a weekly to-do list, the other is a to-do list for the month. (I plan on adding more to-do lists as I feel like it, start a book project, etc.)
This is one of my favorite themes: it’s not that I have a need and then I seek out the right tool for it, but most of the time, having a tool lying around (like a row of clipboards) will inspire me to find some use for it.
PS. After seeing the photo, a friend of mine sent me this Neko Case trailer, where she walks past a similar row of clipboards holding what look to be legal pads:
My wild guess is that those pads contain lyric ideas for each of the songs she’s working on. (If you know what she uses them for, let me know.) I’m sure they’re more exciting than mine.