Category: Uncategorized

I want to resolve that I’m going to start writing again. Long time ago — 40 years ago now — I was writing and sharing poetry and stories. I went to the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute and studied under Allen Ginsberg. I had a few short stories and poems published. But I became disenchanted with the Beats, and the whole writing process. I went into a shell, started doing visual art, but I didn’t quit writing. I have written all my life and it has made my life better, especially in dealing with a life long mystery illness, and recovering from a toxic family of origin.

I have volumes of journals. Some are visual.  Some are filled the stories I see around me every day. Some contain imaginings and poems.  A lot contain process writing, which is a kind way of saying they contain a lot of navel gazing and complaining. 

This coming year I hope to look through them and find stories and poems that I want to share. I don’t feel as vulnerable as I did when I was in my 20s, though that sense is still there to some degree. I’ve decided just to do my own sharing, no working though gatekeepers and editors (though I will have friends look over my work for editorial and revision help). 

So here, on New Years Eve, of 2023, is a poem.

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Thanks for reading my blog. Feel free to share it, if you’d like.

This blog is brought to you by the generosity of people who support me on Patreon , buy my art, and who support me in so many different ways. 

If you’d like to make a one time donation, you can do so at paypal

Cards and prints of some of my art is available on Redbubble.  Also T-shirts and stickers and other odds and ends. When you click an image, in the lower right hand corner you’ll find a link to all the various products that these are printed on. If you have any trouble finding what you’re looking for, let me know. joyzmailbox@gmail.com 

You can subscribe to this blog by email in the link below this post.

If you find a typo, let me know, and I’ll send you a postcard.

I start these paintings out with small canvases I’ve wiped brushes on while working on other paintings. I started using the canvases instead of a rag, so I can use all the paint possible. I squirt the canvases with water and let the colors form patterns, which often get completely covered when I finally get around to painting on them, but some of the color always seeps through in the final piece. I’ve got quite a stack of them now, and I’ve been compelled during this solstice season as just about every last leaf has fallen from the trees around my house. 

I meant to take a picture of the canvas before I started the tree, but had already started on it before I remembered. But you can see what I mean.

And the result:

I painted this one last week but didn’t get a photo of how it started, only the finished piece. 

The Eccentric Tree of Life is still for sale ($150.), but It Only Blooms When We Sleep has sold already. You can see other pieces I have for sale here.

~~~

Thanks for reading my blog. Feel free to share it, if you’d like.

This blog is brought to you by the generosity of people who support me on Patreon , buy my art, and who support me in so many different ways. 

If you’d like to make a one time donation, you can do so at paypal

Cards and prints of some of my art is available on Redbubble.  Also T-shirts and stickers and other odds and ends. When you click an image, in the lower right hand corner you’ll find a link to all the various products that these are printed on. If you have any trouble finding what you’re looking for, let me know. joyzmailbox@gmail.com 

You can subscribe to this blog by email in the link below this post.

If you find a typo, let me know, and I’ll send you a postcard.

Opulent Mobility, an art show celebrating disability in its many forms, is now open online. The show at the live show Makery in Los Angeles will open on January 7. Here’s a link to the show:

https://www.opulentmobility.com/om2023.html

Here are my pieces in the show:

The online exhibit has great descriptions of these paintings, as well as my painting philosophy. Soon an online interview between Laura Brody, one of the curators, and myself will be online, too.

I’m very honored to be part of this exhibit. I hope you enjoy it!

Also, I’ve updated my Art for Sale page, if you’d like to browse that. I’ve added the paintings from the Look Closer series, which these paintings are a part of.  

~~~

Thanks for reading my blog. Feel free to share it, if you’d like.

This blog is brought to you by the generosity of people who support me on Patreon , buy my art, and who support me in so many different ways. 

If you’d like to make a one time donation, you can do so at paypal

Cards and prints of some of my art is available on Redbubble.  Also T-shirts and stickers and other odds and ends. When you click an image, in the lower right hand corner you’ll find a link to all the various products that these are printed on. If you have any trouble finding what you’re looking for, let me know. joyzmailbox@gmail.com 

You can subscribe to this blog by email in the link below this post.

If you find a typo, let me know, and I’ll send you a postcard.