365 revo’lution is still going strong— this project focused on my 2013 revo’lution intentions just passed the 4 month mark! Woo hoo!
When reflecting on my daily practice for this month’s revo’lution bits, I continue to be grateful for the moments I am able to slow down to work on each piece and the perspective & awareness they teach me about the intentions simplicity, honor, stillness, light, service, and trust. Each are precious gifts. Simple, but 120 powerful lil’ memos to myself in this visual form.
Reaching 100 revo’lution bits during the month of April and my commitment to this practice was awesome!
Lots of thanks for the encouragement and support received for this effort- I believe sharing these daily intentions is an important part of the manifestation process…for what we all want to invite, have more of, and give in our life, daily practice, relationships, and well-being…
Previous months and 365 activity can be viewed here:
I was super excited to re-visit Lani’s Elephant Training lessons from her blog transformed into book form. This time I took notes while reading each chapter! 🙂 The 24 chapters include lots of Lani’s inspiring art, reflections, links, and take aways from the teachings of Christine Carter, Christine Arylo, Rick Hanson, Kelly McGonigal and others.
Elephant Training and the Happy Artist focuses on many helpful and encouraging ways to develop or strengthen your creative (or overall well-being) practice from a positive psychology, reward driven and neuroscience lens. Reflections on self-compassion, mindfulness, willpower, and gentle ways to cultivate motivation & change are presented through Lani’s narrative, as well as creative prompts you can use to explore these concepts in your own art-making.
These writings from Lani have been a huge support for my revo’lution manifesting this year, including my 365 project, which continues to focus on the intentions simplicity, stillness, service, trust, honor, light, and simplicity.
Here are only a few of the Elephant Training and The Happy Artist gifts from Lani I found valuable to remember (and re-remember):
The process of change– i.e. transformation of what we do (or what our brains do) takes time & practice (lots of practice sometimes) to re-wire- and it’s okay if it’s “super hard” and to appreciate that making even the smallest steps toward this change is just as important. (small change –> leads to big change (page 12)
The act of rewarding yourself and creating a reward driven system to keep giving yourself a regular dose of motivation, dopamine and not to underestimate the power of simplicity when trying to create change… for me, this has become visible in my 365 project… (page 12)
Value your strengths and incorporate them into your reward system- Yes! (page 17)
Simplify: Let go of what creates distraction & spend your focus and energy freely on what contributes to what you love to do (page 36)
Practice, practice practice: Learn from your mistakes, show patience with yourself, and find small ways to help strengthen your practice towards revo’lution making (page 23).
So here I am with 90 days of revo’lution art bits done for my 365 project— wow! My revo’lution ring of creative goodness keeps growing…
Here’s a peek at the flipside of March’s revo’lution art bits…I continue to label each one with the day’s number/date, the bit’s core intention in that moment, as well as an inspiring quote, phrase, or words related to the expression. I found this month’s practice especially valuable: sometimes it was challenging to find time to stop and work on this project, but when I did… the expression for that day surfaced as an important reminder to pay attention to.
Here is a collection of revo’lution art bits completed this month for Days 60-90:
“At the deepest level, the creative process and the healing process arise from a single source. When you are an artist, you are a healer; a wordless trust of the same mystery is the foundation of your work and its integrity.” ~Rachel Naomi Remen
It’s Day 59 of my 365 revo’lution art bit project. 2 months of this practice & time of reflection on my core revo’lution intentions continues to unfold as an inspiring process of growth and awareness.
During the month of February, I upgraded to another metal binder ring, as finished revo’lution art bits were quickly outgrowing their space. I hope that this larger ring will be able to accommodate all 365 very nicely and securely. I also received 3 more lil’ sketchbooks from Tracy (thank you again!) to add more paper to the original stash I was using for this project. The support, feedback, and interest I’ve received for this adventure has been encouraging and super helpful! Much gratitude!
This month I was introduced to the write up, 15 Reasons Why Artists Keep Visual Journals, that I thought was an excellent summary of the benefits for art journaling. The information supported many aspects of this project as a safe holding place for expression, self-awareness, learning, and transformation. On another resource related note, a HubPage article published by Art Therapist Carly Sullens this month, Writing in a Gratitude Journal to Manage Stress, provided the idea of adapting and creating “Gratitude Art Bits” inspired by this 365 project. Super nice!
Here is a collection of revo’lution art bits completed this month for Days 32-59:
I am going to take some time later today to reflect & focus more on the themes and connections inspired by this month’s 365 activity. I feel like each revo’lution bit I create is an artful seed of effort to foster stillness, trust, service, simplicity, honor, and light into my actions and awareness, as well as into my life for growth, harvesting, and sharing with others. 🙂
One of my 2013 revo’lution reading companions has been Christine Arylo’s Madly in Love with ME. I was inspired to seek out & get this book after reading this Subversive Book Alert from Lani. I’ve been very pleased with this recommendation! Arylo’s book has been full of reflections for not only my revo’lution making, but to implement in my art therapy sessions with women & adolescent girls.
I dedicated today’s 365 revo’lution art bit (Day 45!) for Valentine’s Day and the day after International Self-Love Day to Christine’s writings on Self-Care (Chapter 6) by creating a “I Care for Me” Proclamation (page 128).
This “Me Art” prompt encourages the reader to reflect on, choose, and claim new self care beliefs that honor and value your true self, heart, time, and energy. The act of creating the proclamation in writing (or with art!) “is a promise and commitment towards this self-care and new ways of being and believing.” Wonderful idea!
On the back of this art bit, I’ve written beliefs and choices for my proclamation. Arylo adds drawing an arrow towards the heart (from your I believe & I choose sides) is “an action that signifies your choice and commitment to take on this new belief as yours…”
Yes! So happy to have this image & intention as part of my 365 revo’lution art and I look forward to more art inspired by this book’s contents…
Today marks completing my first month of creating revo’lution art bits for my 365 project. Yay!
Day 1
Each of these tiny pieces of art are inspired by my 2013 revo’lution and these intentions: trust, service, honor, simplicity, light, and stillness and kept together on a metal book ring. I’ve already upgraded to a larger ring size, which is an exciting, tangible result to witness as I work on this project. Neat.
Days 2 – 5
The size of these little pieces of paper (about 1 x 2.5 inches) has made this daily practice quite manageable to follow through with and for me, it also helps that the collection stays together on its ring and can easily travel with me on the go. I’ve been putting this lil’ book in my bag every day. When an opportunity presents itself, I take 20-30 minutes (more or less) to work on an art bit, photograph it, and share it online. This might be during a break at work, in my creative space at home before I start for the day, or when I get home.
Day 6
Often I use materials that are around me in my environment. I’ve also gotten in the habit (inspired by my gluebooking adventures!) of collecting tiny pieces of collage stuff: paper, words, stickers, thread, etc. in a quart size plastic bag (along with a gluestick and scissors) to use. I’ve also included goodies my paper stashes, meaningful keepsakes, or images. This incorporation provides strengthened connection to people, places, good energy, and intention.
Days 7- 12
On the back of each art bit I’ve been numbering/dating them and writing the core intention it speaks to, as well as any quotes, phrases, or words that helped inspire what was created and that moment in time.
Day 13
Some reading inspiration I’ve been following or discovered that helps encourage & support not only my 2013 revo’lution, but my new 365 adventure has included (but not limited to):
Days 14-19
The Concept of Deliberate Practice: On the site Artist Daily, this article describes Deliberate Practice as “lots of time spent alone working on whatever it is that you’re passionate about” in an effort to become better at something through intense concentration.
On Self Compassion and Mindfulness:These considerations from Lani Gerity offer thoughtful reflections on the challenges of new practices and the importance in being patient and kind to ourselves when taking them on.
Madly in Love with Me: Also inspired by posts on Lani’s blog, Christine Arylo’s book has many prompts, stories, and reflections related to several of my revo’lution concepts and have been inspiring lots of revo’lution bit making… especially around honor and trust.
Making a Behavior Into a Habit: This article goes into some of the science and concepts behind behaviors becoming habits after only 3 weeks of daily practice. As you may know, my 365 undertaking had a wonderful warm-up during Hannah Klaus Hunter’s 21 Days of Mindful Studio Practice.
Day 20
Some of my favorite art bits have surfaced in the last two weeks:
Days 21-26
During these first 31 days of 2013, many of my lil’ art bits have focused on stillness….which feels right for this moment in time.
Day 27
Intentions connected to trust and honor surface in many of this month’s art bits too.
Days 28-31
Tomorrow begins month 2, day 32… I am enjoying this process and new shift for my revo’lution practice. I look forward to sharing my progress next month…
I’ve been wanting to try a 365 project for a couple of years now, but usually resisted getting started because I wasn’t sure what to do or if it would be too overwhelming to focus on. Then I did Hannah‘s 21 Days of Mindful Studio Practice this past fall and was super surprised how much I really enjoyed the process of taking the time to make art everyday (and how I really did it each and every day!). I also realized how much I missed this practice when the 21 days were over.
And then not long after that…Tracy’s inspiring mini book came into my life….
I am using a simple 3 x 1 book I received in October with a paper stash collection (thank you Tracy!) to create my art in for this new adventure. I knew then that I would use this little book full of small slips of white paper and a metal book ring especially for this project. Working small makes this daily creative effort manageable for me, as well as something I can easily take with me on the go to do.
Revo’lution Bits | 365 Art
The images here are my first 6 days…only 359 more to go! The intentions light, stillness, and service have been the emerging foundations to these lil’ works of art. I’ll keep you updated here each month with my progress. Wish me luck! 🙂
creativity in motion 
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