life – joy murray art~stories~life

May You Have Flying Dreams

September 19, 2026Posted in UncategorizedTagged art, creativity, disability, life, paintingLeave a comment

I looked at my weather app recently and it said it would be 7 degrees “colder” today than yesterday. That means it’s 92 instead of 99. I think “colder” isn’t really the right word. “Lower,” or a simple report of the temperatures would have been sufficient.

Anyway, here in Memphis, it’s been hot, hot, hot – like it has been in so much of the country. And the world. Luckily I’ve got an air conditioned apartment. And though I’m still fatigued, I’ve been in that apartment working on a painting.

This is a piece I painted in 2019 called Flying Dreams.

It was inspired, of course, by the desire to escape from one’s limitations, and the almost universal dream of humans wanting to fly.

It was also inspired by the song “Flying Dreams” by the band Birds of Chicago. I love the lyrics.

The original Flying Dreams sold, but I missed it. I decided to do an update. (I may do that with a few more paintings, too.)

"I wish you flying dreams
I don't wish you wings
Because if you grow those things
That's everything
There's no more dreams
There's only silence in the night"

For my new painting, I wanted to try new materials that were easier on my hands, including acrylic markers. I couldn’t do the whole painting in marker, though, so I used acrylic paint and ink. Sometimes a brushstroke is so much more expressive than a marker or pen.

This is the new 2026 Flying Dreams: It’s on canvas board, 20×24”

I painted this to enter in the Opulent Mobility show in Los Angleles. I was rushing through it when I got out of the hospital, trying to make the deadline at the end of August. Luckily, they extended the deadline to the end of September, so I could slow down, add layers and details, and work more at my slow speed.

If you’re unfamiliar with Opulent Mobility, it “is an international annual exhibit that asks artists to re-imagine disability as opulent and powerful. In these shows we imagine a world where disability is celebrated instead of denied, ignored, and feared. These exhibits are curated by founder A. Laura Brody along with disability arts activist and photographer Anthony Tusler.”

You can read about it, see art from past shows and even enter, if you’d like, from here.

A. Laura Brody has worked for a while now to make catalogs for all the Opulent Mobility shows, and two are now available on MagCloud. You can buy both physical and paper copies of the catalogs at MagCloud https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/3406166?__r=8925506

Opulent Mobility is a non-profit and requires a lot of work by Laura and Anthony, and countless others who want to see disability t reflected in the mirror of humanity that is art.

Now it’s time for me to get back to another painting, hopefully I’ll have it finished by the deadline.

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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

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

Unsalted

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026Posted in UncategorizedTagged family, health, hyponatremia, life, low salt, Mental health, rehabilitation, SIADH, writing13 Comments

On June 11, I was taken to the hospital because I could no longer transfer from my wheelchair to the bed, other chairs, or the toilet without falling. I thought I’d fallen four times in 4 days, but my son said it was more like seven times in 3 days. I had just started a new medication for neuropathy and twitching muscles (part of my disability). I’d also just gotten one of those “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” buttons, so each time I fell and pressed it they called emergency services and my son. I also called my son a few times without calling emergency services. He lives a few blocks from me.

I was nauseated, and light headed and was pretty sure the medication was at fault. The last time emergency services came to get me off the floor, they strongly suggested I go to the hospital. I argued, being hard-headed and sure everything would be okay if I stopped taking the meds. When I argued about going to the hospital, my son stepped in and said very firmly that I was going to the hospital. He’s as hard headed as me, and now he’s bigger than me. The next thing I knew I was being loaded into an ambulance.

Things went a bit blurry after that. The next thing I remember was being in an emergency room. Then more blurriness and I was in the Intensive Care Unit. My sodium levels had dropped to 110, and if it had dropped any lower I could have gone into a coma or died. So, thank goodness for hard headed sons.

When your salt gets that low, they can’t just flood your body with salt or it could cause you to go into shock. So they slowly brought my salt up in the ICU, then sent me to the “step down” unit, which is a step lower than ICU, but still required a blood test every 4 hours.

When your sodium gets so low it affects your neurological system, muscular system, and brain activity. I could not transfer or even stand up without assistance. I had to be strapped to a physical therapist to move from the bed to a chair.

*Bored one afternoon, I cleaned out my purse, and found my Gwenn Seemel mask, which matched my mood for the day*

After my salt was close enough to normal, I was transferred to a rehab facility for two weeks where the real physical therapy began. As my salt stabilized, and therapists worked with me for 3 hours a day, I could make safe transfers, use my manual wheelchair, stand up with a grab bar, and most importantly, transfer myself to the toilet.

pxl_20260713_1949063987267118405869877556 — *My first watercolor attempt at hospital*

*Got in and got out — but didn’t get to drive away and escape*

I got home last Monday, July 6, have had a PT assessment, and will have a therapist coming to work with me twice a week for 2 months.

I’ve always been the envy of my over 60 for my ability to still eat as much salt as I like. The reason is I have a tendency for hyponatremia (low salt) because I have SIADH (sigh-add). SIADH (Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuretic Hormone Secretion) is a condition where the body releases too much antidiuretic hormone (ADH). This causes the kidneys to retain excess water, which dilutes blood sodium levels.

It’s very rare for a medication to cause such an extreme loss of salt, and my doctor said he’d never heard of it happening before and is researching the drug and recorded reactions to it. Maybe his research will result in a big fat warning label for people with low salt.

Meanwhile, I’ve been very glad to be home, glad to be alive, and glad to start blogging again. When I became conscious of what happened to me, I was figured I was still on the planet to finish up paintings I’ve been planning and postponing for years. And write more, too.

pxl_20260628_2332124824408011672336362447 — *Second watercolor sketch while in rehab*

I had such good support from my friends who visited and brought flowers, food, and encouragement.

I was so out of it, I was unable to comprehend what doctors and nurses were saying to me. A dear friend stayed with me and took notes to send my family and close friends so they would know what was going on. She sent them to me too because my brain was just not retaining information.

I was worried about how much I was forgetting and miscomprehending and unable to communicate, so I told my nurse if it continued another month, I thought I should get a test for early onset dementia. But she said to wait. A month seems like a long time to me. But in healing time it’s quite short. Give myself at least three months. And it’s true, every day I’m feeling just a bit better, a bit more energetic, and a bit smarter.

So, again, I’m going to try to start blogging more often, and painting more and living as fully as possible. I’ll be salty, too.

Thanks to the doctors, the excellent nurses, and everyone who helped me through this strange medical event.

I’m so happy to be home.

img_20260706_1239205205017494955001578 — *Thanks to my friend for watering my plants*

~~~

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

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.

Plans Pinched

June 1, 2026June 2, 2026Posted in UncategorizedTagged art, beauty, Collage, creativity, disability, healing, health, humor, life, self care, trancendence9 Comments

After my last post on how I was going to post more consistently, I finished a painting/collage, and was ready to write a post, then got a pinched nerve in my cervical spine (neck). It’s happened last year, too, and is part of the way my spine is weakening due to my HSP, a degenerative condition that causes thinning of the spinal cord. The pinched nerve sends shooting pain down my arm, as well as a sharp pins and needles feeling. Writing on my computer, or by hand for that matter, became excruciating. It’s better now, the pain manageable. I’ve done a lot of physical therapy – otherwise, I just have to wait it out. It usually resolves itself within a month.

So it goes that I’ve reached a point where I can’t make promises on schedules – not that I’ve ever been that good at it anyway.

Art and writing are strange endeavors in these times. It’s like the whole world has a degenerative condition, and things are falling apart in extraordinary and surreal ways. A lot of people are getting hurt and are unable to talk about it; censored somehow, despite the presence of an unprecedented number of media outlets. We’re all drowning in information about problems, and denied access to solutions. So, I took some time away from all that and painted an homage to my chin.

I’ve always been self-conscious about my double chin (and round face). Now a lot of friends are aging, and their faces are changing as their skin gets a bit wrinkled. I’ve always loved wrinkles, the way we age and change. I find the kind of restrictions we put on ourselves as to what we see as beautiful absurd. Every wrinkle, sag, scar, anomaly, or unique characteristic is fascinating to me. I love the signs of aging and survival.

But I find that I don’t extend that grace to myself. So I took a few pictures of myself at “bad” angles. I painted each one on paper, using watercolor, acrylic paint, paintmarkers, and pens then collaged them onto a canvas, along with some ads for ways to get rid of double chins.

Surprisingly, I was uplifted by the project. I enjoy my chin much more because the overall mood of the painting is happiness. And in spite of the state of the world, I am happy. I’m willing to bet I’m happier than any of the rich and powerful people chipping away at our beloved country and world. I’d rather have a degenerative disorder of my body, than degenerated compassion and lack of regard for the needs and safety of others.

*Forgive Us Our Chins by Joy Murray, 2026, 20×24″*

So what do you think? Should I make it available in my Redbubble shop? Or is it more of a one off, personal self portrait? (It’s now on Redbubble as prints, cards, stickers, etc https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/181208173?asc=u)

Keep your chins up, my friends. As soon as the pain of being pinched by the world passes, make something beautiful or funny or powerful. You make the world a better place.

~~~

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

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.

Me with a Sunflower fabric sculpture I made maybe 20 years ago. Her necks gone a bit weak, too.

Time Flies

April 13, 2026Posted in UncategorizedTagged art, creative block, creativity, life, writing6 Comments

I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything on my blog since Thanksgiving. Winter sped by, and it dragged by at the same time. I started paintings but didn’t finish them. I stopped writing in my journal. I did work in my sketchbook, but am only just now figuring out how I want to proceed with my art and creativity in the future.

Like most people, I get a bit of the winter blues, but these warmer, longer days are stirring up ideas, and that creative warrior spirit. I have been doodling. Gotten more familiar with my watercolors again. I remembered how much I love just drawing and visual journaling.

Over the winter I got a new computer because my old one was no longer going to be supported by Windows. I’ve had a hard time getting used to the new one, getting files transferred, and getting my scans to look clear. I’m also frustrated by way WordPress blog host keeps “improving” their format. We may be getting a divorce soon. I know a lot of people are working on Substack now. I want one that’s easy to format and add pictures to. In the process of doing research for a good fit, I’m using up a lot of my creative energy. But I will get it sorted. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

I’ve taken a break from facebook and instagram for April. I find I spend too much time on them and want to redirect that obsession to this blog, and to committed readers like you who have subscribed to and support my blog.

My goal is to start doing a post at least twice a month, then start posting weekly, even if it’s only my photography or works in progress, things I’d normally just post on facebook. I want to write more stories and turn all the bright shining ideas in my head into not so perfect reality. We’ll see what happens.

I think one thing I’ve learned (actually I’ve learned it many times in my life), is that I work best if I have a daily schedule. I got an artistic block and needed a break. I felt like the well was empty. So much is going on in the world, so much discord and hostility. And the very nature of reality, or what we perceive as reality, is changing because of AI. I felt I needed to pull back from everything, to make sure I participated in the natural world, communicated face to face with real people (who after all are often quite lovely.) Social media cuts down a lot on the isolation that being disabled brings, but so much of it now is trashy and tricky, I think isolation would be preferable at this point.

So this is the month to plunge back in, not so much refreshed, as desperate for my creativity to be released. To not let the bastards grind me down.

So I hope you’re having a delightful spring.

I look forward to seeing what blossoms here.

And here’s a little bit from my visual journal:

Ahhh, Spring!

~~~

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

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.

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