Joy Murray
I had a great time yesterday, but today I was spent. Years ago, when I was still learning to manage my disability and the accompanying fatigue, I decided to take some lessons from cats. Today was a cat day:
I’m drawing daily to help manage depression, long-term disability, and life in general. If you’d like to see the beginning of this project, you can see it here. You can also follow me through WordPress or on Facebook.
Your thoughts and shares are appreciated.
I spent most of today at the art show for Bridge Meadows, the community I live in. It’s an inter-generational community where elders (people over 55) support families adopting children from the foster care system. In exchange for affordable housing, elders mentor children. I lead several art classes and mentor children in art and reading. Once a year we have a recycled materials art show — Box Art. This year we made Box Meadows, a little village made of imagination and cardboard and other recycled material. It was a lot of fun, and many supporters of Bridge Meadows came to see what the children created.
Before I went to help set up the show, I did my daily drawing. A few days ago, I’d had a conversation with a friend about animal tokens and symbols. I said I was a turtle, tree, fox, monkey. She asked what that would look like, so I tried to draw it.
I was in a rush, but I’m glad I took the time to think about the way we create symbols in our lives, the way color elevates our moods, and the way I perceive myself changes over time.
I’m drawing daily to help manage depression, long-term disability, and life in general. If you’d like to see the beginning of this project, you can see it here. You can also follow me through WordPress or on Facebook.
Your thoughts and shares are appreciated.
One of the many benefits of doing this daily drawing practice, is that now I have to accept my mistakes, my wonky lines, my watercolor ineptness, and my imperfect handwriting. For years, I waited until I was really, really good at my art before I started sharing it, but it looks like I’m always going to be off-kilter. I don’t even know what it means to be really, really good — it’s a transitory judgement that keeps shifting, depending on my mood. So here is my drawing, complete with mistakes. I hope you have some creative mistakes today, too.
I’m drawing daily to help manage depression, long-term disability, and life in general. If you’d like to see the beginning of this project, you can see it here. You can also follow me through WordPress or on Facebook.
Your thoughts and shares are appreciated.
I’ve got rather too much to do today, so I thought I’d post a visual journal entry from the summer. In going back through my journals, if I’m in my right mind, I’m surprised by the delights I’ve recorded. I tend to hang on to sorrows and let delight slip through like water through a sieve. The practice of keeping some sort of daily record, and aiming to record some of life’s blessings, really works as a way to mange depression and life in general.
I’m drawing daily to help manage depression. If you’d like to see the beginning of this project, you can see it here. You can also follow me through WordPress or on Facebook.
Your thoughts and shares are appreciated.
