While I have been quite unmoved to knit and to blog about said stagnant knitting, I have been quite marvelously inspired by many other things! Don’t you just love and relish those moments where you feel giddy with creative excitement?

There is nothing quite as pristine and inspiring to me as a brand new Moleskine notebook. A sleek, sexy black book held together with fresh, taut elastic, and wrapped tightly in plastic. The crisp, unmarked, untorn, unglued, unscribbled, undawdled, unsketched, unscrawled, unpainted, unsquiggled pages lie uniformly perfect. 240 pages of INFINITE possibility! I find myself hurriedly scribbling, doodling and gluing my way through the final pages of my current moleskine, deliciously dirty and scuffed, held together by the strained, twisted elastic, and bursting with bits and pieces of my life from the past few months. Oh new beginnings, and that sense of possibility and satisfaction of writing that opening word on the first, crisp, empty page. The little joys of life!

(2 of 5 moleskines...many more to come! Prior to the 5 are about 10 other filled books, the first of which was started in 1994! )

My moleskine, the “large blank notebook” variety, has permanent residency in my very full purple bag that follows me everywhere I go. Despite the rather rough treatment it is subjected to, the binding and elastic closure stay impeccably tight, and have never started to break. The pages lie flat, and the paper is perfect: smooth but not overly so, tolerant of light watercoloring and such a joy to write (draw/ scribble/etc.) on.

Some great books about journaling creatively that have inspired me: Everyday matters and Creative Licence by Danny Gregory, How to make a journal of your life by Dan Price, and Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art by Jennifer New. Clicking on the images will take you directly to Amazon!

Other highly inspiring things....

(FYI, the first three are video links)

This stunning performance by Pilobolus truly defies words.

Ross Lovegrove's work. Two statements he made flows perfectly with what I've been thinking about lately “observation, curiosity & instinct create good art”  and "What nature does is drill holes in things…it liberates forms”   

The idea of “open source architecture”

The Brothers Karamazov, a book that deserves to be savored slowly, preferably with a good cup of coffee, or with a frosty dark beer!

Discovery HD theater channel on hospital boy’s new 58” plasma TV and 5.1 surround sound (hello personal injury/ pain and suffering money!)  Truly mind-boggling.

Be inspired!

Comments

[April]

I love journals, but all of mine are different. It's always nice starting a new one, though.

[Dani in NC]

I've felt the tug of a fresh notebook before, but I don't keep a journal any more because I tend to lose them. These days, I stick to my Treo. It doesn't inspire me creatively, but it's great for keeping up with appointments and to-do lists.

[Julia]

Thanks for the great book recommendations! I could use a little inspiration.

[Erin]

I love journaling. It used to be one of my major passions. Now it seems blogging has filled in that niche... but I still write occasionally.

[nicole]

i saw "the brothers karamazov" and i did a double take. i need to read that book! i took a russian lit class a couple semesters ago and i find myself reading russian books for F.U.N. who does that? me and you apparently :D

i had something like a moleskine and i filled that baby up so quick -- there's something about notebooks like that that just makes you want to write and draw and put down silly little ideas and projects and the list goes on forever. at least mine makes me do that. in fact, i used mine up and need another. btw, yum, gyoza.

[lacy]

Oh... I saw Pilobolus about 8 yrs ago and it was awesome. I mostly just sat there with my mouth hanging open the whole time.
I've been knitting some baby gnomes the past couple of days but can't find my yarn needle to sew them up! Hope you come out of your knitting slump soon :)

[nicole]

MAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY
COME BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nicole]

may -

what in the H are bloglines and how does it work. sounds like blogvertisement, amirite?

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