Category: Uncategorized

Three New Paintings

Posted in Uncategorized2 Comments

It’s been hard staying focused and awake since the quarantines started.  There has been a new undercurrent of fear in our lives, in my life.  I have handled it the best I could, but I’ve not been very creative since March.  Then last week I started to paint for about an hour each day.  My actual plan was to paint for 30 minutes before dinner, kind of earn my vittles psychology. And It worked.  I began painting for longer periods of time.  I got my Rosie paintings done.  I started painting an exuberant clematis flower, and two other paintings where I just did what the paint told me.

Yesterday was a bad day for me.  A bout of depression and loneliness nibbled at me for part of the day.  Then I had a flashback to a traumatic event from over a decade ago.  Luckily, I talked to a friend, not specifically about what I was going through but about loneliness and how to manage it.  It reminded me that the past was in the past, and I really don’t have anyone in my social circle that feels threatening to me.  Even though it didn’t completely clear up my anxiety, I painted.

I got three paintings mostly finished and put the final touches on them this morning.

This one really created itself.  I started brushing off extra paint on a small 5×7″ canvas, until the colors formed a shape and then it became a story.  Definitely speaks to the anxiety I have.

IMG_20200501_0001
Not Part of the Plan, by Joy Murray, 5×7″ acrylic and ink ($30) SOLD

I’ve been worried the impact this pandemic is having on vulnerable children.  I always have them on my mind because I have been one and I have worked with them, using art and stories to help them sort out their lives.  This painting started out as more of a cosmic abstract, but it changed to a child.

IMG_20200501_0002
Star Child, by Joy Murray, 8×10″ acrylic and ink ($60)

And then I finished my clematis painting.

IMG_20200501_0003
Clematis, by Joy Murray, 8×10″ acrylic and ink, ($60)

 

Every day I didn’t paint, I told myself not to worry (though I did), I just needed a break and some time to process this terrible virus and the shutdown.  I needed to learn how to take care of myself during the reign of COVID 19.  And everyday I saw the clematis vine growing on my porch, and more around the corner at a neighbor’s house.  I saw a bit of spring every day.

I experienced a wide range of emotions, but again a friend and art brought me back to my self, back to where I could paint from that place where things aren’t clear, but have meaning nonetheless.

I hope you and your friends and family are doing well, too.

~~~

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. 

Cards and prints on some of my art is available on Redbubble.  

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

 

Rosie Tackling Covid 19

Posted in Uncategorized2 Comments

I have a postcard of Rosie the Riveter on my kitchen wall.  And it gave me an idea of making a strong woman character for Covid 19.  When I sketched her in my sketchbook, she was too nurse like:

IMG_20200428_0001

And I wanted her to look like anyone, not necessarily just a health worker, so I painted this, which you’ve seen:

IMG_20200405_0001
Rosie the Risk Reducer, by Joy Murray, 8×10″

As the weeks have gone by and I see all these health workers being so brave and helping educate people.  They’re even standing up to protesters who don’t believe in the virus, or they don’t believe they’ll get sick.

So I went back to my original idea, with a few changes:

IMG_20200428_0002
Rosie the RN, by Joy Murray 8×10″

 

I’ve seen a lot of illustrations and photographs honoring health care workers, so this is one more.  All we have to do is follow a few protocols and wear masks and gloves to be heroes during this time.  I know it’s hard, and a lot of people are hurting for money and food.   It’s a worldwide crisis that hasn’t been handled well.  But we have dedicated people who are working to heal us and to keep us from ever getting sick in the first place.

I hope you stay safe and thank you for the precautions you’re taking.

~~~

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. 

Cards and prints on some of my art is available on Redbubble.  

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

 

 

 

Selling Art Online

Posted in Art for Sale, UncategorizedTagged , Leave a comment

I’ve been experimenting with selling art to people online, but not through Etsy or any of the other forums.  I felt I could do better with direct contact here on my blog and on Facebook.  I decided to try a facebook page dedicated to art sales because I want to help my friends Frankd Robinson and TheOuterCircle sell their art, too.  I wanted to see if it got more traffic than my personal page.

20200331_133734
I WISH I LIVED IN A BETTER WORLD by Frankd Robinson, mixed media, 11×23″ $300.

20200331_133854

20200329_142644
THEY HAD NO IDEA WHAT THEY WERE LOOKING AT, by TheOuterCircle, Acrylic on Board, 10×13″ Framed $100
20200329_143044
THEY HAD NO IDEA detail

It did not.  The page seems cluttered and not any easier to navigate than the one I already use.  They want me to pay for boosts and are always bugging me to put money into advertising.  They told me there were messages I couldn’t find.  I may not be smart enough to do the page.  It doesn’t seem to lead to sales anyway.

In fact, since the safe at home protocols have been in place, I’ve sold three pieces, one from my regular Facebook page.  And two from the blog.  So that less assertive way of sales seems to be the way to go.

20200225_165228
IT’S COMPLICATED by Joy Murray

 

20191102_100156
YOUR SOUL GROWS WITH YOU by Joy Murray
sacred light
YOUR SACRED LIGHT by Joy Murray

So I’m going to take the art page down and let you know about art for sale through this blog and my personal Facebook page.  I’ll be posting things from the March show that had poor turnout because of the corona virus.  Contact me by email or on facebeook if you’re interested in the pieces by Frankd and TheOuterCircle posted here.

91377102_106094121044236_9151890801658167296_o
Frankd Robinson, TheOuterCircle, Joy Murray  Friends Through Art

~~~

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. 

Cards and prints on some of my art is available on Redbubble.  

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

 

 

 

 

Conspiracy Theories

Posted in conspiracies, Uncategorized2 Comments

I spent the weekend researching conspiracy theories about the Corona virus/Covid 19.  As I read through some of them, I felt my heart breaking a bit.  Many of us have hoped that this international crisis would somehow unify us.  We have this common enemy, we have helpers of all sorts trying to keep it under control.  We’ve had an almost miraculous cooperation between countries, states and communities.

But it turns out we’re not as indivisible as I’d hoped.  We don’t have a common enemy we have all kinds of theories and anger.

We’ve started seeing demonstrations to re-open the country.  Is it time yet?  Isn’t it because we’re staying at home that the curve is flattening?  Is the curve flattening?

A lot of people are suffering and the government seems to be dragging it’s feet in helping small business and individual workers.  So, of course, we are vulnerable to theories no matter how bizarre they sound.

IMG_20200420_0001
Visual journal trying out new watercolor markers.  The color on the lips bled, so it looks like lipstick is caught in wrinkles — a common look for someone my age.

I generally don’t watch the news, but I see clips from it on Facebook.  I heard one protester say “We want to go back to work, we don’t want government handouts.”  It irritated me because it’s not the government’s money.  It’s our money, collected by taxes, and there to be used when we have a national crisis.  Also, to make our country a better place to live.

But the way things are said can significantly alter the way a person perceives a situation.  And bleeding heart liberals like me aren’t getting the same kind of information that these people are getting.  They’re being told different stories, fed different kinds of fear.  And also a kind of insider “intelligence” that the mainstream isn’t getting, which gives them confidence in the cause.

I’m not going to talk about any of the conspiracies, and I don’t really recommend researching it if you’re prone to depression.  I also don’t want anyone to write comments about conspiracy theories of their own.  I do think it’s important to look at the information other people are getting.

I was really angry when I saw the protests where white men were openly carrying assault weapons because if it were Black people, it would have led to a violent response by the police.  And if had been Chinese people objecting to COVID 19 continuing to be called the Chinese virus?

So, I strolled around the neighborhood in my wheelchair, I processed, I thought about my fellow humans, feeling angry that we can’t agree on anything.  Then I got distracted by someone’s garden.  By the time I got home, I was calmer.

IMG_20200420_0002
bleeding hearts in bleeding marker and pencil

I say my religion is kindness and my greatest power is love.  I let a sense of gratitude wash over me for all those on the frontline who are treating the sick, those who are staying home, those who are selling groceries, those who are delivering packages.  It’s amazing that even though we’re divided and in crisis, most of us are working to keep people safe and healthy.

I sent some love to all those who are so frightened that it’s made them protest this new normal that we really haven’t figured out yet.  I hope they all get food, housing and medical care.  I hope they don’t use those guns.

20200410_174746
Love Never Fails by Frankd Robinson, and Bee sticker by Gwenn Seemel

There’s no reason that they should fill my mind and heart with more fear or anger or hate.

I sent them a quick blessing, and going forward I’ll do what Mister Rogers recommended and focus on the helpers.

There are so many heroes in this Covid 19 story, so many helpers.  My mind and heart is on them.  They make me proud to be human.

20200416_163105

 

~~~

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. 

Cards and prints on some of my art is available on Redbubble.  

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