mis-en-place for the studio and the well appointed gadfly

I forgot to mention that my wife, Jami, made the most incredible pecan pie - as well as bruschetta (wasn't there a 70s cop show of that title?) , a wonderful spread constituted with olives and love. As the picture above indicates (actual footage), she rounded up all my favorite meets and vegetables. And the pie - I can't say enough: it's richer than the treasury, better than (or just as good as) my grandmother's.
Now I meant to talk about studio mis-en-place, that for the artist such a mis-en-place is even more important than for a chef. I daresay it but when I was in New Mexico, scientists from Sandia labs, who worked in the infamous safe rooms reverse engineering alien technology so we can have safe microwavable popcorn, would come by and visit my studio and study my methodology, hours later shaking their heads in wonder as they returned to their black helicopters and left. So I think I know something about organization.
First off I let chaos have its way. Entropy is the natural state of nature and nature teaches us, as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes might say, so that we may pursue things in their proper course. When we learn from nature, we copy God's creative process. And what we see in nature is that God delights in blurring edges, moving things around, losing things, and having stuff pop up in surprising places.
Second - and we may have to come back to this later, as the topic may shock, scare, or nonplus some of the more delicately constituted readers of this blog.
Third off (out down up) it's important that the studio space not be too nice. Or maybe it could be all right if it's nice - I've just never had a nice space. There should be plenty of light, and it helps if a train track is nearby and it's convenient to restaurants, coffee houses, and bars. For a number of years I would water color in bars and coffee houses. If your studio is your room, that might seem to be a downer, but one benefit of painting in your room is that you don't have to get dressed: I've enjoyed painting in my underwear. Certainly I can't paint in my underwear in a "nice" place.
Fourth it's important to have flat surfaces, tables and wall to prop canvases on - easels are a fabrication of the art supply industry and you don't necessarily need them. If you do get an easel get a good solid french easel, season it by throwing a bucket of aged turpentine and linseed oil on it, hack at it with a knife, and partially burn one of the legs. It is important that the easel not look better than any painting. It is important that the easel look like you found it in the woods and brought it home. One of my favorite easels was used to trap rabbits. Sometimes a piece of fur would come out of a crack and become embedded in the paint. Moments like this are what makes a studio's mis en place. Chance should always be in play.