Customer Reviews

Art Journals and Creative Healing: Restoring the Spirit Through Self-Expression

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just love this book! It confirmed what I've known and practiced for many years. Journaling helps bring a balance and healing to my life. What I didn't realize was how when coupled with art expression it magnified the effect. I took a one hour art therapy class at college years ago, so this set the foundation for this concept. I appreciate the openess in which the artists and writers share their stories and examples of their creations. The work is beautiful. The book is well written and well illustrated. My mother passed away last year. I have begun my own art journal titled, "The darkest day; the darkest night." It has been so helpful to me that I have taken this great book to my school and shared it with some of my students and they are creating their own creative art journals. This book has touched my life and now is touching the lives of some of my students. Thank you Sharon Soneff for sharing this great work and for all those artists and writers who shared their stories!

I purchased this book solely for the fact that a friend of mine was a contributor... when it arrived I sat down and turned straight to her pages and was just blown away by the book as a whole.

While it is an amazing showcase for what is possible when creating a journal-- this book is so much more when you read the contributions and let the words and feelings wash over you.

I saw myself and some of my life experiences laid out in someone elses words-- it was a powerful way to realize that we are not alone with our individual struggles.

Save on shipping and get two! You will want to bless SOMEONE you know with a copy of this amazing work.

This book is great for people who want to start their own art journal. It gave me a lot of great ideas and inspiration. There are a lot of personal stories to read and they really helped me with what I wanted to write in my journal. It doesn't all have to be happy. You can write the "real" stuff in life too. :)

While other books can inspire technique and artistic skills this book
focuses on the reason that we keep journals. When we are alone with illness, dislocation, pain, worry, grief or other troubles we don't always have a friend to talk to. But we do have the journal to confide in.

I respect and thank all the people who contributed to this book. It has made me see how journaling can be a tool for ministers, friends and family to reach through and encourage someone who is suffering. Also, we
will never know when the day presents us with a demon that we must live with.

Art has power to move through time and place as do words. This book is more of a testiment of how many people used journaling as a pair of waterwings while swimming through unknown waters. Their generosity is
wonderful. The book is an excellent tool and motivator.

It is true not to judge a book by it's cover. The cover of this one had me passing it by- but I happened to look inside and was hooked. This is ALL about the content... yes, there is lots of eye candy- but these are pages where people are working with content. Loss, illness, life changes, but also births and motherhood, moving, frustrations, difficult relationships, financial worries... but not as pity me sorts of pages, or agony aunt conversations- these are beautifully rendered, heartfelt, real thoughts and feelings of living and breathing people who are just sharing what real life is like sometimes. Artists who happen to be women keeping it real in the pages of their journals fill the pages of this book with their stories, essays, and their work. If it is all about the pretty or what the newest technique is, this one isn't for you. If it is about the journey, the process, the work- it's a good one. Buy it - you won't regret it.

I'm the author of:Mixed-Media Nature Journals: New Techniques for Exploring Nature, Life, and Memories and True Vision: Authentic Art Journaling

I really liked this book. The pages shown in it were raw with emotion, but there were also several clever ideas for journaling outside of the pages of a book. My favorite part was the blurb in the words of the contributors after each of their projects. I wish more art journaling books included that because having the peek into the mind of the creator really helped me to appreciate their art on a deeper level.

I think this is a great book for anyone serious about any kind of journaling. Exploring negative feelings and experiences and growing from them is a wonderful lesson whether your preferred journaling medium is a full arsenal of art supplies or just a pen and paper.

I was very hopeful this book would be one of those really inspiring ones you can use to juice up your mojo and start to lay out some new creation and feel really good while doing it. I am a major journaler, and at the time I bought this book I was going through a particularly rough period and felt like restoration of my spirit would be a good thing for me. However, this book did not help me with that, neither did it help me be inspired in a crafty way at all. I'm not into scrapbooking and felt like this book would be better for those who are. There are several stories contributers have shared of the difficult times they have had in their lives, and the journaling had helped them through it all which is great. This book didn't have the same effect for me.

I have long found art journaling to be a healing process. This book shares some profoundly moving journal entries.

This is one of the best books I have ever seen on making journals. I've never really thought of using a journal to express one of life's struggles particularly the major ones. But, putting it down on paper not only serves as a release from carrying the burden around but it becomes a great 'teacher' which many times the suffering person (especially from an illness)can not do face to face because it is too painful for anyone to listen.

A great book, a great read, and a wonderful start on the journey of creative healing! This book is a gift to those who choose to write and to those who choose to read, whether only this book, or delve further into the journals this book inspired! To the author...thank you!

This is a beautiful, informative book and I loved it. I bought it as a reference in teaching workshops on Altered Books and Artists Trading Cards. I created several altered books after reading it ([...] under "January 2009: Altered Book, part 2"). The book would be a great gift for any craft person who is into ATCs or altered art, or who is interested in art as a way to interpret and reflect on one's life.