Interview with Debbie

I have a set of questions that I came up with that are a little bit Krista Tippett, a little bit Danielle Krysa, and a lot bit my own curiosity. I think talking about our creative stories is a way to bind us together and encourage us to keep going on our own creative path. I’m excited to be asking these questions and to be sharing these creatives’ answers with you. This month’s interview is Debbie.

Tell my readers a little bit about you.

I live in Berkeley, CA with my 17-year-old son (until he flies the coop in a few more months!). I’m a nurse practitioner providing sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion, for the past 30 years. I am recently divorced and navigating life as a newly single 56-year-old. I started art journaling about seven years ago and had no clue how much it would change my life. I’m addicted to art journaling, as well as sushi, street tacos, and sheep’s-milk cheeses. 

What is your first memory of creativity?

My mom has some artwork of mine up on the walls of my childhood home, so I have evidence of creativity from early on, but it was the photography and graphic design classes I took in college that are my first real memory of a creative practice. I loved them both. Then I took a life drawing class in my mid-twenties out of boredom. That was it until I took an online art journaling class with a friend in 2016. 

What did you love to make as a kid and are you still making some variation of that now?

I liked making cards and I still do, though there has been quite an evolution. I’ve also always loved crayons and fingerpainting.

What is your favorite creative supply and why can’t you live without it?

This is such a hard question. In this moment, I will choose the extraordinary UHU glue stick, though you can ask me again tomorrow and I might say stencils or acrylic paint or a brush pen or a Stabilo All black pencil, or, or, or…… 

What is a creative question you ask regularly?

How long can these brushes sit in water without rotting? OK, kind of kidding, but I am really not good about cleaning my brushes. The other question I ask is, what does this need to be finished?

What does your creative practice show you over and over?

That I have something to say creatively and that making art in a book helps my mental, emotional and even physical health. 

What gets you to start a new project?

Someone I’m inspired by offering a new class or a challenge; a transition in my life that I need to work out; boredom.

What is a book on creativity that you come back to often? Why?

I’m sorry but I have to pick three: The newest book that’s inspiring me is Feel Something, Make Something: A guide to collaborating with your emotions, by Caitlin Metz. Then I have to mention Get Messy Art: The No-Rules, No-Judgment, No-Pressure Approach to Making Art, by Caylee Gray, because Get Messy is my fave; and then I have to acknowledge the first art journaling book I ever got, Art Journal Freedom: How to Journal Creatively with Color and Composition, by Dina Wakley. Some of the supplies she lists are still my go-tos 7 years later.

How did we meet?

Well we first met through Get Messy Art Journal, where we spent quite a bit of time together virtually on Zoom hangouts with art friends. Then we met IN REAL LIFE on a self-organized art journaling retreat in Washington, DC. That was dreamy because you’re fun to hug.

I am always inspired by how you tie your passions together. You are a vocal supporter of reproductive justice and women’s healthcare and you document so much of that work in your art. It seems so natural coming from you. Do you ever struggle with articulating your thoughts on this? Can you talk a bit about how you pull these things together?

Reproductive justice and my work as a nurse practitioner in sexual and reproductive health are central to my identity and show up in my art all the time. Whether I’m angry about abortion access, or I want to educate people about something gynecological, or I want to carve a speculum stamp, it’s just always there. I post most of what I make on Instagram and occasionally lose followers over my abortion-related posts, but I don’t mind that at all. I am who I am and I believe what I believe, and most people who follow me know that and support it.

How can people find you?

On Instagram I am @thenewdebbieb!

Debbie, thank you for sharing your creative stories with us! I had so much fun reading your answers to my questions. And I know my readers will enjoy it too. (These photos belong to Debbie. She graciously allowed me use them for this interview.)

What about you? Are you formulating your answers to these questions? I’d love to know your answers! If you want to know more about this series read the post What about these Interviews? Catch up with me on socials, email me, or go oldschool and leave a comment on this post to be immortalized for all of time.

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