Category: Uncategorized

I haven’t been blogging as much as usual for the past month or so.  I’m going through some life changes, including a change of my diagnosis, which I’m still processing.  I will writing more after the first of the year about that.  I’m still undergoing tests, so I want to get that finished with before I write much about it

But I want to take the time to thank all my readers and supporters for the dialogue and kindness that you’ve shared with me this year.  I usually post a picture of my pile of  journals for the year at the end of the year.  I moved from Portland back to my hometown of Memphis, and I haven’t totally recaptured my organization systems. Most of my journals are on shelves but they aren’t sorted by date yet.  That’s one of those chores I just haven’t gotten around to yet.

I’ve created a lot of painting outside my journal and I feel good about that. I’m grateful for the patrons who bought my art, and for those who are supporting me through Patreon.  You are the reason I can blog and stay connected to the world.

2017 was a year of changes.  It’s been  year of uncertainty, especially for those of us dependent on healthcare and the Affordable Care Act.  Contention and outrage has bubbled up around us.  Kindness hasn’t been featured much in the public discourse.  But in my own life, I see it everywhere around me.   And that’s the key to surviving through hard times — practicing kindness.  To others and yourself.

Despair can hang like a veil over us and distort our vision.  The only thing, though, we have some control over is our own lives.  What we contribute to the world is what defines our world.  I know it’s not that simple, but in many ways it is.

I hope in 2018, whatever challenges present themselves, we all hold on to our sweetness, our humanity.   Love is always the most powerful force.  If you don’t see that reflected in current event, you will see it in your heart, and in those you hold close.

Happy New Year!

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If you’d like to support my art and writing, please consider becoming a patron on Patreon.  It costs as little as a dollar a month and makes you eligible for exclusive content and free give-aways of my art.  January 15, I will be giving away this painting:

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

Some of my original art and crafts are for sale on Etsy:  \

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtbyJoyMurray?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

You can get prints and cards of some of my work on Redbubble:

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

During my recent sickness, I watched a lot of mysteries, documentaries and videos.  I kind of got addicted to watching art videos both on technique and what it means to be an artist.  When I was in the worst pain and feverish, I didn’t draw or write much at all.  And when I emerged on the other side of it, I felt like I might have forgotten how to do either.

Fortunately, I have been doing a daily practice for years, so that habit came forward.  In the first hours of the day, I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so I got back to journaling. I’d watched a lot Gwenn Seemel’s videos — her vlog was great when my brain was too mushy to read much.  As I started to get well, I watched her free drawing workshop for artists.  I made some rather horrendous drawings, over-working and blurring colors.  I have a problem with not knowing when to quit.

One of the things I love about Seemel’s work is her use of line and color.  To me it emphasizes the aura that surrounds people, invisible bits of their souls seem to dance to the surface.

I have struggled with ways of portraying that myself, but I tend to uses swaths of color and halo type coloring with heavy ink lines.  I’m still learning how to balance color and line.  Unfortunately, one artist’s magic doesn’t necessarily work for another artist.  I did learn a lot about anchoring features and how to blend color.  Gwenn was generous enough to show drawings she thought weren’t right and that’s always helpful.

During these weeks of illness, the plants on my porch have been neglected.  It’s time for them to go dormant anyway, so I didn’t feel too bad about it.  A few days ago, I was surprised to find, on a very cold day that my gerber daisy — that hadn’t bloomed since early September — had produced one big bright flower.  It was a little lopsided with more of an oval shape, struggling with the cold, I guess, and the lack of rain.  But it had come to life, deep yellow/orange rays among the green and brown leaves.  So I took some of what I learned from the drawing workshop — working with markers and making strong lines — and drew my  exuberant December daisy.  I used just a few Tombow markers and colored pens.  I didn’t try to match the colors exactly, just the shapes and delight I felt at seeing this daisy.

Not perfect, but happy.  I think I’m back to myself now.  Friends, teachers, nature, art — these are the things that keep me blooming, even in the cold of winter.

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If you’d like to support my art and writing, please consider becoming a patron on Patreon.  It costs as little as a dollar a month and makes you eligible for exclusive content and free give-aways of my art.

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

You can get prints and cards of some of my work on Redbubble:

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

 

 

In the last few months I’ve seen spectacular sunsets.  I’ve not been well, so I spent some quality time staring out the window.  And the sunsets have been earlier and earlier.  My heart yearns for the solstice, and the beginning of longer days.  In that spirit, I painted this 8×10″ sun RISE painting in acrylic.

I used thinned down pigments and many layers.  I liked layering darkness, then blotting it up to reveal the under-layers of light.

As I’ve aged, the winter solstice has become more and more of a sacred day for me.  Even if I haven’t been through hardship, getting through the year to that moment seems like a rite of passage.

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If you’d like to support my art and writing, please consider becoming a patron on Patreon:

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

You can get prints and cards of my work on Redbubble:

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