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ORIGINAL POST DATE: August 17, 2006
The title for the post comes from the following quote by Alfred North Whitehead:
"The vitality of thought is in adventure. Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them."
This is a combination post of "Quotes for Your Notebook" and "Moleskinei Creations" themes, brought about by my need for a notebook to have handy to toss various ideas into. I generally use my Moleskine Pocket Daily Diary to record stray thoughts and brief ideas - of the more random and passing nature of made up movie titles or simple plot outlines for stories I will never get around to writing.
I also needed a notebook that would provide the space for larger ideas, where I could write several pages compared to the several sentence lengths in my daily diary. I chose a Moleskine large kraft Cahier with squared pages, but since I have several of these floating around for different uses I wanted the idea book to stand out from the others.
I started by making the painting of the light bulb in my pocket size Moleskine Watercolor Reporter notebook. I used watercolor colored pencils and Pitt brush markers to paint the image, and then removed the page from the notebook. I cut a hole in the cover of the large Cahier in the shape of the light bulb, and then used a combination of glue stick and tape to secure the watercolor page inside the front cover. I am happy with the results, and it is easy for me to find this notebook among the clutter on my desk.
If Alfred North Whitehead's words are to be followed, then something indeed needs to be done to keep our ideas - and the pages of a humble Cahier might be just the place for those vital intellectual adventures to work themselves out.
Original Comment Stream from NWD Blog
I interpret that quote differently: that ideas are nothing without the action, and action (the adventure) provides the life for more thoughts. Act on your thoughts, for without the adventure of action they are nothing.
An excellent quote no matter how it is interpreted. It just went on the back of my "concrete steps" checklist. Pure motivational goodness. Thank you.
Posted by: Evan "JabberWokky" E. | August 17, 2006 at 12:18 PM
Evan -
I'm sure your interpretation is what Whitehead intended - him being the rational mathematician and all. I was looking at it from a different angle, in that there are intellectual adventures just as stimulating as the type of physical action you describe, and that there are endless creative ways to explore doing something about them. Thanks - NW
Posted by: Ninth Wave Designs | August 17, 2006 at 12:44 PM
I like it. ;-)
Posted by: Chris Meisenzahl | August 17, 2006 at 09:27 PM
Thanks Chris!
Posted by: Ninth Wave Designs | August 17, 2006 at 09:30 PM
Hi,
Nice idea with the light bulb. Instead of the Moleskinnes, I use sketch diaries of differing sizes.
I have a heavy hand when writing and the heavyweight paper is a blessing for two sided writing. I also exclusively use the Zebra Sarasa Gel Retractable Pen, Bold 1.0mm, in blue and black inks.
Works well for me.
Posted by: mlhm5 | August 20, 2006 at 11:42 AM
Beautiful lightbulb drawing. I have been using Moleskinei cahiers for a while now for this purpose. I love customizing the cahiers; you can see two of mine here. The idea book being one of them; I work in it journal style.
I also just recently purchased a three pack of the extra large kraft cover grid cahiers. I already have two of the three started; one for the paper arts tutorials that I write and one for my chunky and collaborative book projects. The pages are thin, but thick enough that Sharpie highlighter won't bleed through; I am really enjoying them so far.
Ria :)
www.renmeleon.com
Posted by: Ana Maria Seaton | September 10, 2006 at 11:44 AM