When I started art journaling i used the following materials: pen, glue, tape and my journal. Sure some of those pages are pretty damn ugly but there is a truth and raw honesty in those pages that is powerful. When I look at pages online I'm often drawn to pages with a similar make up. The ones where the maker's raw emotion is visible.

One of the things I've noticed now that I've gotten rid of TV is that I don't want so much stuff. The truth is I don't need it. The same goes for art journaling. For awhile there I was getting caught up in stuff and materials and this and that. I kept telling myself if I just had THIS or that THING I'd be able to reach some further imagined potential.

If I can be blunt here, it just blocked me, drove me into a rut I couldn't get out of. I was always looking for the next best thing, spending money on crap I didn't need and falling into the trap of companies that thrive on a person's need to keep up with the joneses art supplies.

A couple months ago I dialed it back, picked up my journal and a pencil and just started to draw and write.

I felt free. Free.

So here I am 3 months later and I've still kept it dialed back. the materials I used on a regular basis: pencil, watercolor crayon and acrylic paint. My work has progressed further than when I was collecting stuff, and lets face it that's what it was a collection of crap I didn't need or want.

A few days ago I cleaned out my upstairs "crafting drawer" and took out all the Tim Holtz's masks, the spray inks, colored pencils, stencils and other stuff I wasn't using and put it in a box and took it to my downstairs studio and shelved it. Some of the materials have great uses but for now, I don't need 'em, they simply help to clutter my space and mind.

So I implore you to simplify, if only for a day, grab only one mark making tool and your journal and see what you can do with just that one tool. Be free with me.