I’m craving SIMPLICITY in my life. I want to simplify the way I live and the way I think creatively. I’ve been really trying to figure out where my thesis is going with my family portraits and what I am trying to say. My goal this summer is to get closer to figuring out my concept for my graduate thesis. Living Simply is my latest obsession and the more I read about it, the more I realize that in many ways I’m already living simply, but there are many other things I could do to as well. Baby steps is the key here. You can only make so many changes at once. Living Simply is all how you look at life. It is taking the extra step to ask yourself, the next time you want to buy something: “Do I really NEED this? This will make me happy if I buy it now, but will it make me happy next week, next year?”
In class this week, I got some really great advice. After talking to my peers about what I’ve been researching and not knowing what to do next in my studio, someone suggested that I take pictures of my house as a way of chronicling what I own, what I want to keep, give away, sell, etc… the first step in simplifying? The following pictures are what I took with this idea. What did I learn from this experience? Well, let me tell you:
1. I learned where I got the idea and the need to simplify. (My house is NOT simple. I have lots of stuff!)
2. I am very sentimental about my things and where I got them. (It is VERY hard to part with them.)
3. I found myself editing and taking photos that portrayed simplicity, but were not actually simple. (I edited out the clutter and mess.) I was embarrassed to show the mess.
This is a detail of the mantle in my bedroom. As you can see, I love old things. These things are actually bibles and a dictionary passed down in my family. The oldest one here is from 1866. To the right of these is a ton of clutter that I edited out. You will have to use your imagination.
This is my living room. Do I really need all those books stacked underneath that table? What was I thinking? I think I’ll move them today.
This picture expresses another reason I’m feeling the need to simplify. My house looks like a construction site. I had this bright idea to start graduate school in the middle of renovating my house. Duh! What was I thinking? So, naturally all of my projects had to stop. Yes, I’ve been taking baths for a year instead of showers and I’ve been brushing my teeth in the kitchen sink. The good news of the week, though, is that I have finally hired somebody to finish tiling my bathroom shower surround. So, showers here I come! Yippie!
