Art Journal Play

September 30, 2019 | Sheree

When things get overwhelming, I take to colour. I think this is the reason I love Autumn so much. The myriad of colours; crimson, pumpkin, golden and umber. See what I did there? I elevated my vocabulary as sometimes I can be lazy and just use the obvious.

Anyhow. Back to the colour fields. Playing with colour fills my pot. Shifts my energy. And makes me happy. A simple task but well worth the effort.

Lately, I’ve started new journals. Square journals. Altered books. Notebooks. Any blank page I can fill with colour I will. I share some of the results here to inspire you to play. To let go and just lose yourself in the process. Forget the result. Forget perfection. And surrender to the joy of play.

Flaneuse roundup and other things

September 30, 2019 | Sheree

The month draws to an end. And so does my challenge of walking out every day, taking photographs and reflecting on the practice. I didn’t manage it every day as mid-way through sickness hit our household. But I do think I completed more walks than if I wasn’t trying to complete the challenge.

Today was a glorious window of light, that I’d be a fool to miss out on. So it was a quick dip in the bay and it was bitterly cold. And then a brisk walk along the shore to warm up. It was a great way to start my day and help with productivity for the rest of it.

As promised to my Patreon sponsors, I delivered my first essay from the forthcoming mixed genre memoir. I’ve made a commitment to share one essay and reading list that I used to complete the essay at the end of each month for the rest of the year. Yes only four months but still that’s four essays done than not.

The theme was climate justice this month and I enjoyed writing it once I got into it. This essay’s been brewing since I first came across the work of Wretched of the Earth. So the time and space and audience to finally complete the beginnings of an essay around this. This is just a draft but at least I now have something to work with moving forward. Making this commitment made me accountable. For which I am thankful.

You can jump on Patreon for as little as $1 to read it if you want. And as always, I appreciate feedback, comments and arguments.

Here comes October, my birthday month. Yay!

One Poem by Sheree Mack – NINE MUSES POETRY

September 21, 2019 | Sheree

Written in response to this month’s Special Challenge.

salt screams in our blood

you say hold

this mottled memory close and stretch your hand

a c r o s s

the dark a watery mass

of unspoken woes

grow between us I hold on tight shackled to your story your eyes touch me and I…

— Read on ninemusespoetry.com/2019/09/14/one-poem-by-sheree-mack-3/

Thank you Annest for publishing one of my poems again.

Flaneuse – 12/100

September 16, 2019September 23, 2019 | Sheree

I have arrived.
I am home.

— Thich Nhat Hahn

Flaneuse -10/30

September 14, 2019September 22, 2019 | Sheree

“Neo, sooner or later you’re going to realize, just as I did, that there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” ― Morpheus

Flaneuse – 8/30

September 12, 2019September 12, 2019 | Sheree

“The only way to understand a land is to walk it. The only way to drink in its real meaning is to keep it firmly beneath one’s feet … Only the walker can form the wider view.” – Sinclair McKay

Flaneuse – 7/30

September 11, 2019September 12, 2019 | Sheree

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Flaneuse – 6/30

September 10, 2019September 10, 2019 | Sheree

Today was a good day to walk. I’m making time in my day to walk. I’ve been sitting for far too long. I’ve read somewhere that sitting it like the new smoking – no good for our bodies.

But I’m of a more positive persuasion rather than being scared into taking action. I’d prefer run ( well in this case walk) towards the benefits of adopting new habits rather than the bad.

Reading an article in The Guardian about the benefits of walking and talking for our mental health, I learned nothing new but it did help as a reminder.

“You’re walking rhythmically together,” says Neuroscientist Shane O’Mara “and there are all sorts of rhythms happening in the brain as a result of engaging in that kind of activity, and they’re absent when you’re sitting. One of the great overlooked superpowers we have is that, when we get up and walk, our senses are sharpened. Rhythms that would previously be quiet suddenly come to life, and the way our brain interacts with our body changes.”