THE ART OF PEACE, HOPE, & LOVE BY DEBI STRONG
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Picture
Fish #27 from "30 Frivolous Fish in 30 Days" series.

Hello and welcome!!
  
How All this Began:
Although I have been a working mixed media artist since 1998, my foray into art journaling began as a gratitude practice; a way to find more joy in my life. After a lifetime of struggling with depression, a serious -- but obviously unsuccessful -- suicide attempt, and nine weeks in a psychiatric hospital, the journaling evolved as a way to help manage my depression and remain in recovery.  For the "rest of the story," see the next page... "365 Days of Gratitude."

The 30/30 Project:

These newer pieces of my art are a part of my most recent art journaling project, which I started July 22, 2018.  It has since become a dedicated personal practice: create 30 original pages, on a single theme, in 30 days (or so...). My subjects always incorporate the philosophies of kindness and peaceful coexistence, sometimes incorporating words, sometimes just images.  I am a mixed media artist at heart, but practical aspects regarding the amount of traveling I do often necessitates using markers and ink for my journal entries, with only an occasional collage.  As the 30/30 project progressed, friends and others began requesting prints and cards, and asking, "Why don't you have a website?"  So, here we are!
 
The Joys of a Daily Practice:
Suffice to say that the practice of creating something new each day, day after day, no matter what is going on in my life, helps me in many ways:  I have to focus my mind for an extended period of time, I have to manage my time (I can't spend all day on these!), and I have to let go of my perfectionism (when I began art journaling five years ago,  I made a personal rule that once started, a page had to be finished...no ripping out pages and starting over!).  And since people seem to appreciate the works I've been creating, I've decided to share them and make them available to everyone.

So, please check out these pages and send me your thoughts (or orders)!  
ALL my original images are available as cards or prints.

Cards: 1-10, $4.00/each
Prints:  4" x 4", $5.00/each
             5" x 5", $7.00/each
             5" x 7", $8.00/each

Contact me for bulk discounts!!


Most gratefully yours,
​Debi

-----------------------------------
Let's make the world more peaceful, one friend at a time.
Hagamos un mundo más pacífico, un amigo a la vez.    
בואו להפוך את העולם יותר שלווה, חבר אחד בכל פעם
Portiamo la pace nel mondo, un amico alla volta.
Spravme svet mierumilovnejším, jeden priateľ po druhom.                                         
Laten we de wereld meer vredig maken, één vriend per dag.
Rendons le monde plus paisible, un ami à la fois.
让我们使世界更加和平, 从一个 朋友开始.
---------------------------------------------

The "Rest of the Story" (2015):

365 Days of Gratitude: An Art Journaling Project

By Debi Strong

  • The Premise
  After years of trying to keep a daily gratitude list or journal, because it's said that remaining grateful brings more joy into one's life, I kept failing miserably.  Having finished an art journaling course led by Dr. Brené Brown, based on her book, The Gifts of Imperfection, I happened to watch a TED talk by Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk and interfaith scholar, on Thursday, November 29, 2013, Thanksgiving Day.
 
When I went to his website, www.gratefulness.org, and saw there was a link for a Word for the Day, I signed up.  And that Thanksgiving Day I committed to creating an art journal page-a-day based on the quote I received from the site, for an entire year -- beginning on Thanksgiving Day, 2013, and ending on Thanksgiving Day, 2014.
 
  • The Practice
It was a challenging practice.  First, it took time out of an already busy schedule.  Second, it required consistent self-discipline in that whether I was in town or out, sick or well, feeling happy or sad, I still had to create that page...every single day.  And third, I found very quickly that I also had to give up any sense of perfectionism, because I simply couldn't spend endless hours each day making something "perfect." (I also decided that I would not give myself the option of tearing out pages and starting over.)  As a result, I like some of the pieces significantly more than others. 
 
But the pages are all there, every day of an entire year.  I fulfilled my commitment to myself by creatively practicing daily gratitude.
An additional bonus was that in working on each piece I had to repeatedly go over the words in my mind,  setting them more firmly in my consciousness  than had I simply read them each day.


  • The Purpose
 The deeper reason behind my search for more joy concerns a lifetime
 struggle with severe depression.   In March 2012, I attempted suicide and subsequently spent nine weeks at The Menninger Clinic, an excellent inpatient
psychiatric facility in Houston, TX.  Maintaining my recovery since returning to the Flathead Valley has included finding different cognitively-based ways to manage depression.  Art journaling was one of those ways.
 
Since November 2012, I have been peer-facilitating a Depression Support Group which I founded at Kalispell Regional Medical Center's Pathways Treatment Center.  I also began a weekly talk to inpatients in 2014 and have become a spokesperson for suicide and depression issues, and the battle against the stigma of these subjects.  
 
  • The Promise
The daily commitment to this practice was difficult.  In fact, during the last three weeks of the project I spent my days with my ailing uncle in the ICU of a Colorado hospital.  Many times I was overwhelmed by life in general, but I kept going, and it did pay off. I felt much better while I was   journaling, and the practice was worth the effort.  I now have to agree:  A gratitude practice can increase one's ability to experience joy and happiness. 
 
And who doesn't need more of that?




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  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • New Images!!
  • 30 Fantastic Fungi
  • 2020 Positivity!
  • Black Voices Matter
  • Covid Art!!
  • 30/30 Nature Doing Yoga
  • 30 Birds in 30 Days
  • 30 Hearts in 30 Days
  • 30 WiseWords
  • 30 Trees in 30 Days
  • 30 Creative Candles in 30 Days
  • 30 Scintillating Suns in 30 Days
  • 30 Frivolous Fish in 30 Days
  • 30 Funky Faces in 30 Days
  • Miscellaneous Delights
  • An Alphabet for World Peace - Poster
  • 365 Days of Gratitude