#iwritedaily- March1 /"Portal to Infinity"

February has been a month of ups and downs.

I am still trying to find a comfortable place to paint in my house. The working on the dining room table didn’t really flow the way I envisioned, so I am creating a new space in another part of the house with the hopes that this will be the set up that works.

There was a revelation that happened to me during the time I spent at this workaround creative space. I now have confirmation that I need alone time and space to delve deep into my creative process. When you share space with someone who doesn’t need that same space, misunderstandings can and do arise.

Now I know, a door is a very valuable commodity indeed. Onward, upward.

As many of you know, I did the #iartdaily challenge in January. I loved working with images during the month. I wasn’t able to do as much analog painting and illustration, but I was pleased that I could keep up with the challenge by creating digital art edits every day. Not all images were masterpieces, but a couple of gems did emerge. These pieces usually don’t show themselves until the 30-day (or month) challenge is complete. The “wow” factor tickles me when I look at -and critique- the body of work for the month. It is pretty amazing what we humans can do when we commit and buckle down with our intentions.

So, February is a short month, and I have been trying to get my ducks in a row for the #icreatedaily writing challenge.

I have been working on a tarot deck for the past few years. The Major Arcana is complete and I have finished, I use the term loosely, the ace cards, also the four 2 cards are mocked up. The project fuels my 2 greatest passions- fashion illustration and the Tarot. Will the project be award-winning, who knows? It is a labor of love for me and it helps me learn many new things in this ongoing game of life, both from the art position and the Tarot point of view.

The cards are just one piece to a complete tarot deck. The various decks all have some sort of explanation booklet. I will need to create one for this deck as well. No time like the present to start honing my writing skills.

I will never claim to be a “writer” I get by, but I don’t weave the words and construct the sentence the way a true writer works their magic. Or, maybe that’s my self-doubt seeping through. “ Give it a try” I hear my Muse whisper. So, why not now?

When I read about the #icreatedaily writing challenge, I thought this might be the opportunity that I am looking for to boost my writing skills. I have downloaded the Grammarly app and using it for the first time now.

Off I go on a new adventure. Check in with me from time to time and see what new ideas are percolating in my world.

The time has come for me to sharpen my pencils, charge up my iPad, prepare for the unknown and learn more about my limits and the boundaries of a new skill set.

Later you all.-sheree

… and February is almost out the door.

It has been a month of ups and downs.

I am still trying to find a comfortable place to paint. The working on the dining room table didn’t really flow the way I envisioned, so I am creating a new space in another part of the house with the hopes that this will be the set up that works.

There was a revelation that happened for me during this work around creative space. I now have confirmation that I need alone time and space to delve deep into my creative space. When you share space with someone who doesn’t need that same space, misunderstandings can and do arise.

Now I know, a door is a very valuable commodity indeed. Onward, upward.

As many of you know, I did the #iartdaily challenge in January. I loved working with images during the month. I wasn’t able to do as much analog painting and illustration, but I was pleased that I could keep up with the challenge by creating digital art edits every day. Not all images were masterpieces, but a couple of gems did emerge. These pieces usually don’t show themselves until the 30-day (or month) challenge is complete. The “wow” factor tickles me when I look at-and critique- the body of work for the month. It is pretty amazing what we humans can do when we commit and buckle down with our intentions.

So, February is a short month, and I have been trying to get my ducks in a row for the #icreatedaily writing challenge.

I have been working on a tarot deck for the past few years. The Major Arcana is complete and I have finished, I use the term loosely, the ace cards and 2 cards for each of the suits. Some of the cards may need tweaking when the entire deck is done.  Yes, it is a puzzle that tends to work backwards or forwards any given day.

The project also fuels my 2 greatest passions- fashion illustration and the Tarot.

Will the project be award winning, who knows? It is a labor of love for me and it helps me learn many new things in this ongoing game of life.

The cards are just one piece to a complete tarot deck. The various decks all come with an explanation booklet, which I will need to create one for this deck as well.

I will never claim to be a “writer” I get by, but I don’t weave the words as masterfully as a true writer. I also am a horrible editor and sentence constructionist. Or, maybe that’s my self-doubt seeping through. I don’t know… What I do know is I do not want to partner with anyone on my Tarot project. I’ve tried that before, and it did not go so good- for either of us. 

When I read about the #icreatedaily writing challenge I thought this might be the opportunity that I am looking for to boost those writing skills. I will let you know if the venture was a success, on the flip side of the 30 days.

Check in with me from time to time and see what the unknown is bringing to my world.

The time has come for me to sharpen my pencils, charge up my ipad, prepare for the unknown, and learn more about my limits and the boundaries of a new skill.

Later you all. -sheree

Happy Belated birthday to Me

January kept me busy with an exceptional creative challenge. It was the #iartdaily challenge. Brought to us by icreatedaily.com, more on them in a bit.

The jist of the challenge was to get your creativity bone jumpstarted for the new year. Whether you are a writer, photographer or fine artist and all other makers and visionaries in-between, we were all invited to take the daily prompt and run with the spark of our individual creativeness.

I have done several challenges over the past few years. What I love about any challenge is using a small amount of time to create something special. Not every piece is memorable, but it is a great way to take a few tools and experiment in new ways over the course of 30/31 days. I try to mix digital and painted pieces in my challenges, but that wasn’t really a possibility during the #iartdaily challenge. Although, I did have the opportunity to pull some of my older paintings and photography from my archives.. These pieces seem to resonate with some of the prompts so I used them. Looking back, I ended up honing my digital art and illustration skills.

This is what I love about a challenge, seeing what develops over the course of 30 days. I definitely do not know where the journey is taking me but I enjoy the inspiration along the way.

Some of the prompts brought great blog posts to mind as I created the images. Unfortunately there just wasn’t enough time for me to create and blog all on the same day. Truth be told, I don’t really fancy myself a writer, so it takes me hours to get my thoughts down and edit and post. And of course I find a glaring typo after I post. Ah well- a work in progress.

So, the challenge was complete and I decided to stay away from any challenges in February . Time to catch up with “life” and getting things in line for March. I am planning on a writing challenge with icreatedaily.com. As I said I’m not much of a writer, but I am feeling the call to tell a few stories and I need some place to start this journey- and so it goes.

During the challenge I was getting ads on social media for book creation websites that could take your instagram uploads and turn them into a book. I used chatbooks.com, but mixbooks.com was theater site that kept popping up. Blurb and Lulu are 2 other self publishing sites that offer similar self publishing options. Warning- these books tend to be pricey, but are worth it if you are looking for an all in one keepsake.

The book shown was a belated Birthday gift to myself. I haven’t done any portfolio update in a long time, so this was an opportunity to have a “hands-on” project to show and tell.

One final note the #iartdaily challenge is from the ladies at www.icreatedaily.com, LeAura and Devani Alderson. The challenge was hosted on Facebook and the prompts appeared daily. All of the prompts appear on the icreatedaily.com site. These ladies did an amazing job, curating and wrangling the community at large. A huge thank you and pat on the back. During the challenge I didn’t have much time to poke around the website, but it is on my to-do list for the month of February.

See You all soon- sheree

Happy New Year and Hello 2019

The Holidays seem to go by fast in my neighborhood. I didn’t travel anywhere this Christmas season. Instead I stayed home and attended to some chores on my to-do list.

So, with the old year leaving and the new year coming, I thought about some New Year goals. What did I want to do more of and how would I decide to cut a few things loose to make those goals happen?

2018 numerically represented endings and things coming to the light, especially in learning the truth about a number of things. On the collective scale this was certainly true. Governments across the globe have been hiding truths from much of their populations and these truths came to light in many countries including our own before the end of 2018.

I try to stay informed on such matters, but by no means am I politically minded. The Bigger Collective tends to help me when I am doing tarot or palm readings for folks within some of the seekers questions. Although I do very little predictive work, we all need to be mindful we co-inhabit this planet with each other.

2019 is said to be the year of creativity, molding and shaping your vision for the year and for the future-the next chapter in our personal stories.

Personally, I want to create more art this year and set up an e-commerce store. I gave up my commercial studio space last August and I have been challenged to finding space at home to feel the painting flow. So most of the work you are seeing on my sites are of the digital variety. I don’t need the table space for all my paints, pencils and inks. That being said, I love feeling the tools of live painting in my hands. Goal #1- finding that space to create.

In the meantime i will continue doing my digidoodles.

I have had some really amazing comments on my instagram page working on a Christmas Challenge.

I love working on challenges, they get me motivated in short order to keep moving with an image. Most of the challenges I have worked on over the years go on for a month. If the prompts for the day inspire me I usually will make it through the month. If the prompts are more hand painting then I usually unravel relatively early.

The Christmas challenge was pretty light and relatively easy for me to find and be inspired by the prompts.

These 3 images had the most views during the challenges. I think the reindeer prompt was one of my favorites to create.

Most people are amazed to learn that I create most of the images on my iPhone or iPad with several apps. I move those images onto my desktop and run them through Photoshop to add type and sometimes backgrounds.

Here’s a pic of what my station looks like most days. New tools for a new day. But I still miss my paint and brushes.

Time to create, Happy January 2019

Mystical Medusa a.k.a Sheree Greek

P.S. yeah this turned into a total ramble…

A week before Christmas and all through the house

not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.

It’s been a a steady pace over here in my neighborhood the last several weeks. Still not in the Christmas Spirit, or any spirit for that matter. That being said, I try each day to create a quick digidoodle in hopes of finding that Holiday Good Cheer. The image below shows a few of the month challenge that some days I struggle to keep up with. They are all posted on my Instagram account (one of those buttons up in the corner or down below) if you are interested seeing each day.

A Christmas Challenge 2018

As we move to the end of 2018 I am pondering what new beginnings I want to take on in 2019. 2018 was definitely the end of a few chapters in my story. Having learned some valuable lessons its time to move on to the next level of learning. Hopefully the lessons have been learned and I will not have to repeat some of the harder points that I passed through during this year.

So, as I ponder a few more fine points as to where I need to be, or show up at in 2019, I will be putting a kettle on and enjoying a few cups of tea and coffee deciding what 2019 will look like in my imagination.

As always stay tuned,

XOXO

Mystical Medusa a.k.a. Sheree Greek

Drifting

Yes, I know, I have been MIA on blog posts the last few months. A move I thought was imminent has been tabled for a later date. Finances aren’t allowing me to wrap up some much needed payments before I take on a few new beginnings. With nothing falling into place I am feeling the drift.

Tying up loose strings with a couple of endings… and the Universe shining the light on a few more completions that are yet to be determined- “ all in good time” is buzzing in my ear. I am learning patience if nothing else, in this season of retrograde planets.

There were heartfelt loses that occurred this early Fall. Lovely ladies that were gone way before their time. I didn’t know either of them personally, but I felt the ache in my heart for the families left behind. Endings usually bring new beginnings, and ways of looking to the future. It has been said before but I will remind you all again “Cancer Sucks”! Prayers sent for all those suffering with this vicious disease and the loss of loved ones taken much before their time.

And time rolls on…

I had the opportunity to enroll in an online Tea Leaf reading course. It runs until the end of October, moments I can steal away to engage in the material has lifted my soul. Will I be a top tea leaf reader, time will tell? It will add another dimension to my tarot and palm selections and it will be fun. Don’t forget the fun you all. It keeps life sweet.

And with that I am off and running. The Sun is shining and it does feel good to breath in deeply and reflect on all that I love.

In the meantime I will be seeking some anchors for that drift-

Later Gators-

Mystical Medusa a.k.a Sheree Greek

Ides of August

Well, this summer is passing by all too fast. I barely get a start on things and the ground shifts in another direction.

The astrologers are chalking it up to eclipse season, and all answers will be clear by the middle of September. I am hoping so, because there are too many questions that are unanswered in my realm this season.

Like -Should I stay or should I go?

Jobs in my neighborhood have been relatively short supply this Summer. I have been picking up some odds and ends but nothing that steadily cover the bills. Timing was not on my side in these matters at all.

So, the next decision I had you make was to give up my art studio on Cannery Row. This studio has been the calm in my storms over the last 3 years. My sales never paid the rent and this Summer everything seemed to dry up in said sales department. So, I have decided to cut this cord loose.

I have loved being down on Cannery Row, all the old history and fisherman tales, it's quite intriguing. As the rents increased and the availability of no water for clean up became more annoying, I realized last month that this was no longer the right space for me.

The other piece of the story was- should I move back east to be closer to my Family? I thought that the answer was yes back at the end of July. The Universe has clearly had another plan for me, and that story is unfolding. Truth be told I am waiting patiently for the enlightenment.

So, I am in the middle of a major clearing of a 7 x10 foot storage unit and packing up Medusa's Emporium. Yikes what have I gotten myself into. As of September 30th this will no longer be my home away from home. A bit melancholy yes, but excitement for a new adventure is stirring,

Well, so many things to do -here, there and everywhere... Time to get cracking.

Yes, my Tarot Majors series was suppose to start today. That just went to the back burner. I think my next post will be about the backstory for that project... stay tuned.

Until next time-

Cheers Dears from Mystical Medusa a. k. a. sheree greek

Time Flies when you are having fun...

and it flies even when you are not having fun. It flies my friends- morning.noon.night

So I hid this blog for a couple of years not feeling the need to speak my mind about all things My World, but that changed today when I received an invitation to join an art/bloggers group.

Thank you Gesso Primed for the invite, I'm excited to inspire and be inspired.

So tonite I get more acquainted with the group and make a plan to do the work. Its time to start showing up again and I intend to do just that.

There are changes in the works on a couple of fronts and I am hoping that they will happen quickly, although everything does truly arrive when it's suppose to. 

So let's get this party started...