Friday, July 2, 2010

From the Art Journal: Simplicity

"Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!  I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.  In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds.  Simplify, simplify.  Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one; instead of a hundred dishes, five; and reduce other things in proportion." --- Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Lately, I have found myself turning away from multi-layered, complex journal pages, and turning instead to simple collages composed of squares of paper glued on a page with minimal pen work.  Clean lines and muted, earthy colours are what I find myself craving.  I have been re-reading Thoreau's Walden and these words of his were repeating in my mind as I worked on these pages.  This page spread is probably my favourite that I have done recently.  I have also been trying to simplify my notebook use.

Do you feel the need to simplify your life?  If so, how are you doing it?

2 comments:

  1. Wonderful! It looks weathered and richly layered. Excellent choice of images and background.

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  2. Thanks, Palimpsest! I'm glad you like it. I never thought of using the word "weathered" to describe one of my pages, but now that you have used it, I think that it is a pretty good description of the effect I was aiming for in these pages.

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