Category: Uncategorized

She Exhales

Posted in original art, Uncategorized9 Comments

When feeling grief at it strongest, you think you’ll die.  But you don’t.  The mornings and nights keep coming.  You find yourself distracted by that, the way life goes on.  A crocus appears in the winter ground.  A week later, a carpet of daffodils bloom where there was only winter-nipped grass.  Tulip magnolias open on leafless trees. Camellias drop at your feet.  You exhale.  Your breath joins a billion others, giving life to earth, and the earth breathes back oxygen, and you live, you live, you live.  You lower your shoulders, the grief somehow transformed into a scar, tough and visible, like so many you carry, like skin, like life.  Flexible now, you remember to exhale, as you move into the new day.

11 she exhales
She Exhales, acrylic and ink on canvas, 8×10″ by Joy Murray

~~~

Thanks for reading my post.  If you like it share it.  If you find a typo, please let me know and I’ll send you a thank-you postcard.  

You can now follow me on facebook here,  Instagram@joymurrayart.

You can get prints and cards of some of my work on Redbubble.  They also print my work on lots of other items, including phone skins, tote bags, shirts and journals:

https://www.redbubble.com/people/JoyMurray?asc=u

If you’d like to support my art and writing, please consider becoming a donor on Patreon.  If I get enough supporters, I can make this blog ad-free!  Here’s a link to my Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=8001665

If you prefer to make a one time donation, you can do so at paypal.com  Please email me at joyzmailbox@gmail.com if you’d like details.

Fat

Posted in disability, Uncategorized, WheelchairLeave a comment

I’ve been concerned about gaining weight since I started using a wheelchair more.  I’ve never been thin, and I’m usually happy with the body I have,  but I get worried about my looks and then obsess on what I consider my flaws.  I never judge others so harshly and I really like diversity in body shape and personality.

But like many, I also have this illusion of what I should look like.  That I should fit in those “healthy weight” ranges that doctors recommend.  I exercise some and I try to use my manual chair when I can, but the nature of my handicap is that I get tired very easily.  I also really like to eat.  Good food is one of the true pleasures of life.

So I think I’ll continue to struggle with it, with body image.  Does this wheelchair make me look fat?

I visited my 102 year old friend, who is in a wheelchair that tilts back a bit, so her belly pokes out more than she’d like.  “I hate that it makes me look so big,” she once said when she was having her picture taken.  I thought, how can it be this lovely woman can reach 102 and still be worried about that?

A few days ago, a friend of my brought me a fat laughing Buddha.  It’s a white ceramic statue.

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Since I’ve had it, I’ve had such a better attitude about my body, my life, my luck.  I’m lucky to have friends who give me a better perspective than I could ever attain on my own.

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He’s in my studio/bedroom so I see him first thing in the morning.  I once I heard a story, I can’t find any evidence of it anywhere, but I liked it.  After a life of austerity and fasting and working towards enlightenment, when the Buddha got older, he got happy and began to enjoy all the bounty of life.  That’s why there is the austere Buddha and this one.  It’s not true, but I like it anyway.

 

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So, this wheelchair, this body, makes me look like I’m enjoying life, getting out there, trying to get as much light as possible into my heart.

~~~

Thanks for reading my post.  If you like it share it.  If you find a typo, please let me know and I’ll send you a thank-you postcard.  

You can now follow me on facebook here,  Instagram@joymurrayart.

You can get prints and cards of some of my work on Redbubble.  They also print my work on lots of other items, including phone skins, tote bags, shirts and journals:

https://www.redbubble.com/people/JoyMurray?asc=u

If you’d like to support my art and writing, please consider becoming a donor on Patreon.  If I get enough supporters, I can make this blog ad-free!  Here’s a link to my Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=8001665

If you prefer to make a one time donation, you can do so at paypal.com  Please email me at joyzmailbox@gmail.com if you’d like details.

 

Patreon Winner

Posted in UncategorizedLeave a comment

I got my purple hat out and put the names of all my supporters on Patreon in it. I now have 8 wonderful people supporting my art.  Their support pays my phone bill and I have a little left over for art supplies.  I drew a name to give this water color painting to:

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Moonflower Vine, watercolor, ink, acrylic by Joy Murray

 

If you’d like to be a part of regular give-aways (about every two months), consider becoming a Patreon supporter.  As little as a dollar a month makes a big difference in my life.

And thanks to everyone who supports me through sharing my work and giving me “likes.”  It keeps my spirit up and inspires me to keep creating.

~~~

Thanks for reading my post.  If you like it share it.  If you find a typo, please let me know and I’ll send you a thank-you postcard.  

You can now follow me on facebook here,  Instagram@joymurrayart.

You can get prints and cards of some of my work on Redbubble.  They also print my work on lots of other items, including phone skins, tote bags, shirts and journals:

https://www.redbubble.com/people/JoyMurray?asc=u

If you’d like to support my art and writing, please consider becoming a donor on Patreon.  If I get enough supporters, I can make this blog ad-free!  Here’s a link to my Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=8001665

If you prefer to make a one time donation, you can do so at paypal.com  Please email me at joyzmailbox@gmail.com if you’d like details.

`

 

Carnations on a Rainy Day

Posted in original art, UncategorizedTagged 3 Comments

Sometimes I think wonkiness is part of my DNA.  Even when I measure things out and am very careful to try to follow lines, the things I make come out crooked or off balance.  It’s not surprising, I suppose, since I am crooked and off balance.

My latest painting was started last week when it was raining and had been raining for what seemed like eternity.  Before Valentines day, I bought a small bouquet of carnations to brighten up my room.  And they have lasted and lasted, a bright bit of pink and white to rest my eyes on when everything else seemed gray and overcast.

So I decided to paint them.  I wanted the gray background of the day, and so I put them in windowsill and went to work.  It became a case of starting out with reality and ending up with something else — hopefully my delight at having tenacious flowers during a tenacious rainy season.  But the measured window sill and frame I carefully drew became all out of balance as I painted, something I didn’t even notice til I scanned it.

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Carnations on a Rainy Day, Acrylic, 8×10″ Joy Murray

Now it’s sunny and warmer, I’m starting to see spring blossoms here and there — camellias, daffodils, crocus, tiny hyacinths.  It’s not quite the big burst of blooming I’ll see as we get closer to spring, but I’m glad we’re heading that direction.  Meanwhile, I have my carnations, still  healthy, and this wonky painting that I hope shows the way  a flower can brighten a dark day.

***

On February 28th (Thursday),  I’ll be giving away a moon flower painting to one of my Patreon supporters:

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Moon Flower Vine, watercolor and ink on paper, 7×10″

Patreon is a micro-donation platform that allows people who support my art to give a little bit each month to  help me buy art supplies, pay living expenses, and have a little security.  Even a little bit helps me so much.  The monthly donation is automatically taken from your credit card each month.

You can read more about this give away here:  https://joymurray.com/2019/01/26/patreon-give-aways/

Thanks for your support and for reading my blog.

~~~

Thanks for reading my post.  If you like it share it.  If you find a typo, please let me know and I’ll send you a thank-you postcard.  

You can now follow me on facebook here,  Instagram@joymurrayart.

You can get prints and cards of some of my work on Redbubble.  They also print my work on lots of other items, including phone skins, tote bags, shirts and journals:

https://www.redbubble.com/people/JoyMurray?asc=u

If you’d like to support my art and writing, please consider becoming a donor on Patreon.  If I get enough supporters, I can make this blog ad-free!  Here’s a link to my Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=8001665

If you prefer to make a one time donation, you can do so at paypal.com  Please email me at joyzmailbox@gmail.com if you’d like details.