A sailboat watercolor and oil pastel sketch; new podcast dropped this morning; DMSO

I began a sketch yesterday, but didn’t finish it until today (Tuesday’s are our busy day around here, picking up groceries and running errands). I’m fairly pleased with it, but always feel I could do better. I think for me, right now, it’s getting the sizing correct. For instance, I think I got the line between the water and the sky right, and the size of the sailboat. But the white watercolor paint doesn’t do anything on the page, so typically, for anything white I leave it alone and let the paper shine through. This time though, I tried to make the circle of the sun bright yellow. I wish I had left paint off that circle so the white would have shown through. Oh well, at least I’m learning to let go of the need to “get it right.”

Richard Murrey sailboat painting (left); my sailboat watercolor sketch (right). –Sheila Murrey
My sailboat watercolor sketch. –Sheila Murrey

This artwork is one of my husband’s 100+ framed paintings collection–and it’s always been a favorite of mine.

At this point, I’m down to my last 100 old blog posts to update with a new URL link, so that project is going well.

But wait, there’s more! Haha! Early this morning I did a Live YouTube podcast with Julia AnchorHaven that went really well! I am still in pain too, and almost felt I should cancel, but I am so glad I persevered because right from the start Julia did a sound healing on me that I think helped me a LOT! I told her later, this was a priceless conversation! I also got to try reframing a couple of stories too, and so I feel better talking about some otherwise powerful subject matter.

Here’s the link to watch: https://www.youtube.com/live/NkqKRieZUpA?si=Ri5UZWbQ_VKERMRs

That conversation was to promote Gina Virginia Casella’s new Fall conference. And yes, I’ll write about post all about that (probably tomorrow). I think it’s really going to be an amazing conference and I’m looking forward to it! All men this time (as speakers), and I am offering two new songs.

I’m continuing to sleep better each night, though still dealing with the shoulder/arm/back pain. The nerve tonic from Florida is on its way (and the DMSO gel, plus I ordered yet another kind of patch–why not?) and so, all of that feels exciting too! Plus, I ordered a new massage pillow kind of thing too. And this is what happens when I am in pain, I reach for everything and anything to find relief. Ugh.

FYI: Debra asked what DMSO is, so I wanted to answer her and offer the doctor’s information whom I took a few classes with a while back. DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) is a clear, sulfur-containing liquid chemical made as a byproduct of making paper. It is a strong solvent that mixes well with water and can pass quickly through human skin. It is used in biology labs to freeze and protect cells, tissues, and stem cells from ice damage and in hospitals to treat a painful bladder condition called interstitial cystitis. It is FDA approved as a prescription bladder wash (RIMSO-50). DMSO has been explored and used off-label or in alternative medicine as a topical treatment for muscle and joint pain, though safety and effectiveness for unapproved uses vary, and education and care must be taken when using topically, as DMSO can carry other chemicals or toxins through the skin along with it, and may cause skin irritation, garlic-like breath, or a bad taste in the mouth.

Here’s the link to Dr. Amandha Dawn Vollmer: https://mailchi.mp/yummydoctor/health-sovereignty-is-built-one-principle-at-a-time?e=cd18d25178

Breathing in the miracles today…

I’m breathing and repeating my new mantra: “Art communicates more than words, builds new brain neural pathways, and connects us all!”

Yours in consciousness-expansion as we evolve and revolve during our mystical awakening. Doing-my-egoless-best, to take you on a limitless, spiraling integrating ride to better health, doing with more ease and less effort-ing, to help us find and sustain the JOY in our lives! (Sprinkling Gratitude all around while we’re at it.)

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.

About us

My husband and I are creators of life-enhancing spiritual and soulful information, music, and digital designs for wholly vibrant living.

We’re songwriters open to placing any of our 1,500+ original songs in TV, film, games, etc. We’re also seeking bands to play our songs. Video content creators, filmmakers, podcasters, production companies, deejays, Vloggers, YouTubers, and more can use our original music and songs in movies, TV shows, video intros, and such.

My husband of 21 years, Richard Murrey, is an award-winning illustrator, plus he’s a seasoned guitarist, bass player, and songwriter (having penned over 1,500 original songs). You can view his artwork and hear original songs at: https://www.youtube.com/user/richardmurrey

Here’s our Unsolicited Radio music show channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Unsolicited_Radio

And here’s a link to join our public-facing, original music group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CF7Q2gbkA/

Find me over on my YouTube channel for JIGGLE WIGGLE, mobility movement videos, video book reviews, plants, art, and more at: https://youtube.com/@spiralsister

And here I am talking about my new 5th book on YouTube –>> https://youtube.com/shorts/RKmIIucsMs4?feature=share Here’s how to get a paperback copy of, We Are All Connected: The How and The Why. https://amzn.to/4s7n3Jg or eBook version: https://amzn.to/3PAvfUK

You can support us by picking up merch at: https://sheilamurrey.net/store/

Richard and I (in 2020) performing one of our cowritten songs: https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share

Connect with us socially at:

A watercolor and oil pastel fractal design

I played around with the watercolors yesterday, after working up a fractal type of design from a page out of an old calendar. I couldn’t replicate the fractals, but I loved how the watercolors flowed over the oil pastels on the page! I may make more of this kind of art!

Calendar fractal design (top); My “fractals in blue” oil pastel/watercolor art. –Sheila Murrey

In the coming days, I’ll be sketching more images out of my husband’s 100+ framed paintings collection–so stayed tuned. I’ve picked out several of those paintings to begin sketching after I get a new sketch pad (it’s ordered). In the meantime, hubby had some huge art paper upstairs and he’s given me some of those sheets (I cut them down to make the paper more manageable).

Meanwhile, I’ve been updating over 300 old blog posts because one of the URLs (website links) was defunct. I knew it, but had been procrastinating correcting it. Ugh. BORING and tedious! But I found a way to make it fun by adding in a new sentence to each article. Did you know our old articles still get views? And I mean, some of mine have gotten anywhere from 3 to 55 new views in the last 30 days?!? I was shocked!

As of last night, I’m now sleeping better (the shoulder/arm/back pain I have been experiencing is letting up more and more–though it’s still there). I ordered a new DMSO gel that’s supposed to relieve nerve pain because as of yet, I’ve not found a good inexpensive comfrey cream. It should arrive tomorrow or the next day. I’m also still waiting on my nerve tonic from Florida.

DMSO Cream for Nerve Pain Relief & Sleep | Inner Warrior –Herbal Mana

Breathing in the miracles today…

I’m breathing and repeating my new mantra: “Art communicates more than words, builds new brain neural pathways, and connects us all!”

Yours in consciousness-expansion as we evolve and revolve during our mystical awakening. Doing-my-egoless-best, to take you on a limitless, spiraling integrating ride to better health, doing with more ease and less effort-ing, to help us find and sustain the JOY in our lives! (Sprinkling Gratitude all around while we’re at it.)

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.

About us

My husband and I are creators of life-enhancing spiritual and soulful information, music, and digital designs for wholly vibrant living.

We’re songwriters open to placing any of our 1,500+ original songs in TV, film, games, etc. We’re also seeking bands to play our songs. Video content creators, filmmakers, podcasters, production companies, deejays, Vloggers, YouTubers, and more can use our original music and songs in movies, TV shows, video intros, and such.

My husband of 21 years, Richard Murrey, is an award-winning illustrator, plus he’s a seasoned guitarist, bass player, and songwriter (having penned over 1,500 original songs). You can view his artwork and hear original songs at: https://www.youtube.com/user/richardmurrey

Here’s our Unsolicited Radio music show channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Unsolicited_Radio

And here’s a link to join our public-facing, original music group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CF7Q2gbkA/

Find me over on my YouTube channel for JIGGLE WIGGLE, mobility movement videos, video book reviews, plants, art, and more at: https://youtube.com/@spiralsister

And here I am talking about my new 5th book on YouTube –>> https://youtube.com/shorts/RKmIIucsMs4?feature=share Here’s how to get a paperback copy of, We Are All Connected: The How and The Why. https://amzn.to/4s7n3Jg or eBook version: https://amzn.to/3PAvfUK

You can support us by picking up merch at: https://sheilamurrey.net/store/

Richard and I (in 2020) performing one of our cowritten songs: https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share

Connect with us socially at:

About that duplex going up across the street

I know I haven’t written about it in many moons, but that duplex that was supposed to be built across the street from us, is finally going up or in.

While we were at the lake on vacation those few days, when we got home, they had the foundation in, and had been making excellent progress.

Pouring cement into forms for the duplex foundation. –Sheila Murrey
Foundation on June 25th, 2026. –Sheila Murrey
By July 16th, 2026 the duplex was starting to get framed up. –Sheila Murrey
You can kind of see how large the lot is in this photo. –Sheila Murrey

You probably don’t remember what the empty lot looked like, but I shared a picture of it in my September 28th article: https://sheilamurrey.net/2024/09/28/september-28th-forgettable/

My husband is usually the ‘Gladys Kravitz’ (if you remember the reference from Bewitched), because from his music studio upstairs in our place, he has the bird’s eye view of the construction. And though it’s none of our business (of course), he lets me know (“Abner, Abner!”) when the work makes progress or stops.

And a couple weeks ago, we had all kinds of drama when the big truck came to deliver one of the modular pieces and as they began to line it up on the foundation, to their surprise, it didn’t fit! Ha! Turns out they’d put the foundation in backwards! So, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, it was determined they could bring their non-English speaking crew back and do some actual sawing (think cut-n-paste) out of the concrete and pour new where needed to make it right. Whew! I wondered who got fired over that debacle… no idea.

1/4 of the four-part modular duplex going in across the street from us. Too bad the foundation was backwards so they had to send this back to an empty parking lot to wait until the foundation could be corrected. –Sheila Murrey
All four modular pieces are in and on the foundation. –Sheila Murrey

We don’t know if the owners who are putting in the duplex have a building contractor or not, but if they didn’t before, I bet they do now! My daughter has spoken to the owners a few times, and happened to be home the day of all the drama, but she didn’t ask that question. Hopefully, after all is said and done, we’ll get to meet the homeowners and hear more about it. Since my dad was a builder, and we built the home (mom and dad’s dream house) the last five years that I was a teenager, home-building is fascinating to me.

Here’s the current stage of construction:

The roof is now on the duplex. –Sheila Murrey

Yours in consciousness-expansion as we evolve and revolve during our mystical awakening. Doing-my-egoless-best, to take you on a limitless, spiraling integrating ride to better health, doing with more ease and less effort-ing, to help us find and sustain the JOY in our lives! (Sprinkling Gratitude all around while we’re at it.)

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.

About us

My husband and I are creators of life-enhancing spiritual and soulful information, music, and digital designs for wholly vibrant living.

Here’s our Unsolicited Radio music show channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Unsolicited_Radio

And here’s a link to join our public-facing, original music group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CF7Q2gbkA/

Find me over on my YouTube channel for JIGGLE WIGGLE, mobility movement videos, video book reviews, plants, art, and more at: https://youtube.com/@spiralsister

And here I am talking about my new 5th book on YouTube –>> https://youtube.com/shorts/RKmIIucsMs4?feature=share Here’s how to get a paperback copy of, We Are All Connected: The How and The Why. https://amzn.to/4s7n3Jg or eBook version: https://amzn.to/3PAvfUK

My husband is an award-winning illustrator, plus he’s a seasoned guitarist, bass player, and songwriter (with over 1,400 original songs). You can view some of his artwork and listen to many of his songs at: https://www.youtube.com/user/richardmurrey

You can support us by picking up merch at: https://sheilamurrey.net/store/

Richard and I (in 2020) performing one of our cowritten songs: https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share

Connect with us socially at:

Two new sketches using pencil, marker and oil pastels

I did two new sketches from out of my husband’s 100+ framed paintings collection and thought you’d enjoy them.

This is my butterfly sketch in progress, because I had no idea that I would finish it yesterday due to all the white dots (so much black to color in), and it did take some time:

Butterfly artwork of Richard’s on the left; my version of the butterfly sketch on paper on the right (in progress). Though I did make a little mistake on the top of the rose, and even laid awake last night thinking of actually cutting some paper and gluing it over the mistake, I’ll leave it alone. –Sheila Murrey
Finished butterfly sketch. I am having fun trying to decide where and when to use the watercolor paints. –Sheila Murrey
Indian chief artwork of Richard’s on the left; my version of the chief sketch on paper on the right. I started this one with the watercolor as I guessed where his face would be–and yes, I had to make some adjustments when I drew over the pencil with the brown marker, so not all of the watercolor got included on his face, though I think it worked. I might go back and add a bit of pink watercolor to the feather, not sure yet.I also now see where I could add more black to the lower left of the sketch. Hmm –Sheila Murrey
Native American Indian Chief sketch. Hubby said I did a good job. And that made my day! –Sheila Murrey

Thankfully, I’m now sleeping a bit better (the shoulder/arm/back pain I have been experiencing is letting up more and more). I am continuing to seek out a good inexpensive comfrey cream. Let me know if you know of a good one.

Breathing in the miracles today…

I’m breathing and repeating my new mantra: “Art communicates more than words, builds new brain neural pathways, and connects us all!”

Yours in consciousness-expansion as we evolve and revolve during our mystical awakening. Doing-my-egoless-best, to take you on a limitless, spiraling integrating ride to better health, doing with more ease and less effort-ing, to help us find and sustain the JOY in our lives! (Sprinkling Gratitude all around while we’re at it.)

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.

About us

My husband and I are creators of life-enhancing spiritual and soulful information, music, and digital designs for wholly vibrant living.

We’re songwriters open to placing any of our 1,500+ original songs in TV, film, games, etc. We’re also seeking bands to play our songs. Video content creators, filmmakers, podcasters, production companies, deejays, Vloggers, YouTubers, and more can use our original music and songs in movies, TV shows, video intros, and such.

My husband of 21 years, Richard Murrey, is an award-winning illustrator, plus he’s a seasoned guitarist, bass player, and songwriter (having penned over 1,500 original songs). You can view his artwork and hear original songs at: https://www.youtube.com/user/richardmurrey

Here’s our Unsolicited Radio music show channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Unsolicited_Radio

And here’s a link to join our public-facing, original music group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CF7Q2gbkA/

Find me over on my YouTube channel for JIGGLE WIGGLE, mobility movement videos, video book reviews, plants, art, and more at: https://youtube.com/@spiralsister

And here I am talking about my new 5th book on YouTube –>> https://youtube.com/shorts/RKmIIucsMs4?feature=share Here’s how to get a paperback copy of, We Are All Connected: The How and The Why. https://amzn.to/4s7n3Jg or eBook version: https://amzn.to/3PAvfUK

You can support us by picking up merch at: https://sheilamurrey.net/store/

Richard and I (in 2020) performing one of our cowritten songs: https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share

Connect with us socially at:

Tiger sketch using pencil, marker and oil pastels

I looked through some of my husband’s 100+ framed paintings to see if I thought I might attempt a sketch of a few more, recall the lions:

This is a face on tiger. I love Richard’s artwork. He always creates a mat for his art as well, so we just print and frame. Easy! He used to sell these for $100 each, but has taken his artwork down due to low sales and too many scam-like emails coming in to him.

Tiger artwork of Richard’s on top; my version of the tiger sketch on paper. I got a little likeness but feel I could have done a better job at mapping out where the white needed to be. I used the watercolors only on the nose and add some “hairy” strokes. –Sheila Murrey

The shoulder/arm/back pain I have been experiencing is starting to ease, though today (and it was our busy grocery day), my arm has had a dull ache all day. Ugh! I found an arnica roll on at Walmart and giving it a try. I am continuing to seek out a good inexpensive comfrey cream. Let me know if you know of a good one. Thanks Julie (over at: https://emotionalpeace.wordpress.com) for the prayers! I chatted with Christina at Herbal-Cottage this morning and she’s ending me a bottle of nerve relief tonic (she was only out of stock on her website)! Yay!

Breathing in the miracles today…

I’m breathing and repeating my new mantra: “Art communicates more than words, builds new brain neural pathways, and connects us all!”

Yours in consciousness-expansion as we evolve and revolve during our mystical awakening. Doing-my-egoless-best, to take you on a limitless, spiraling integrating ride to better health, doing with more ease and less effort-ing, to help us find and sustain the JOY in our lives! (Sprinkling Gratitude all around while we’re at it.)

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.

About us

My husband and I are creators of life-enhancing spiritual and soulful information, music, and digital designs for wholly vibrant living.

Here’s our Unsolicited Radio music show channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Unsolicited_Radio

And here’s a link to join our public-facing, original music group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CF7Q2gbkA/

Find me over on my YouTube channel for JIGGLE WIGGLE, mobility movement videos, video book reviews, plants, art, and more at: https://youtube.com/@spiralsister

And here I am talking about my new 5th book on YouTube –>> https://youtube.com/shorts/RKmIIucsMs4?feature=share Here’s how to get a paperback copy of, We Are All Connected: The How and The Why. https://amzn.to/4s7n3Jg or eBook version: https://amzn.to/3PAvfUK

My husband is an award-winning illustrator, plus he’s a seasoned guitarist, bass player, and songwriter (with over 1,400 original songs). You can view some of his artwork and listen to many of his songs at: https://www.youtube.com/user/richardmurrey

You can support us by picking up merch at: https://sheilamurrey.net/store/

Richard and I (in 2020) performing one of our cowritten songs: https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share

Connect with us socially at:

Lady sketch using pencil, marker and oil pastels

As another “thank you” to my artist, blogger and “soul sister” pal, Linda Lewis… here’s a lady she sketched back on April 28th, 2026: https://creativeartworksblog.com/2026/04/28/tuesday-4-28-2026/

And as Linda has suggested to me, when “you get to the point where the process becomes more like an escape from something on your to-do list, rather than an item on it. THAT’S when you’ll really smile.” And I am smiling, Linda. This was FUN!

Lady sketch, Linda’s original on laptop screen; my replica sketch on paper –Sheila Murrey
Lady sketch with pencil, marker, and oil pastels –Sheila Murrey

The shoulder/arm/back pain is slowly reducing. I laid on the TENS machine yesterday (and though it was 91 degrees upstairs, I still fell asleep), and it relieves the pain totally only for as long as I’m on it. So, there’s that. I’m still using the PowerPlate handheld massager when the nerve acts up (about once every 30 minutes). The herbal tincture from Herbal-Cottage and arrived yesterday is helping too. I took another (very old) Ibuprofen last night. It occurred to me that whatever relief it’s offering is no doubt slight, as that bottle is at least 10 years old.

I updated my blog site menu on the home page and rewrote the merch/store page at: https://sheilamurrey.net/store/ (its under the Murrey Creations tab on the home page, and it will be at the bottom of each future article too).

And in keeping with our Murrey Creations “Original songs for improving brain health” Facebook public group, I’ve been working on two new original songs for Gina Virginia Casella and her upcoming Fall conference, so I’ll be writing more about that in a week or two.

Richard’s AI graphic for our new Facebook public group. –Richard Murrey

Remember our new mantra: “Art communicates more than words, builds new neural pathways (in the brain), and connects us all!”

Yours in consciousness-expansion as we evolve and revolve during our mystical awakening. Doing-my-egoless-best, to take you on a limitless, spiraling integrating ride to better health, doing with more ease and less effort-ing, to help us find and sustain the JOY in our lives! (Sprinkling Gratitude all around while we’re at it.)

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.

About us

My husband and I are creators of life-enhancing spiritual and soulful information, music, and digital designs for wholly vibrant living.

Here’s our Unsolicited Radio music show channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Unsolicited_Radio

And here’s a link to join our public-facing, original music group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CF7Q2gbkA/

Find me over on my YouTube channel for JIGGLE WIGGLE, mobility movement videos, video book reviews, plants, art, and more at: https://youtube.com/@spiralsister

And here I am talking about my new 5th book on YouTube –>> https://youtube.com/shorts/RKmIIucsMs4?feature=share Here’s how to get a paperback copy of, We Are All Connected: The How and The Why. https://amzn.to/4s7n3Jg or eBook version: https://amzn.to/3PAvfUK

My husband is an award-winning illustrator, plus he’s a seasoned guitarist, bass player, and songwriter (with over 1,400 original songs). You can view some of his artwork and listen to many of his songs at: https://www.youtube.com/user/richardmurrey

You can support us by picking up merch at: https://sheilamurrey.net/store/

Richard and I (in 2020) performing one of our cowritten songs: https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share

Connect with us socially at:

Sketch of the lions using pencil, marker and oil pastels

I have completed a sketch of a male and female lion that my husband, retired graphics specialist, Richard Murrey drew and illustrated many years ago and a print of which, hangs in our living room. He used to display his art on a couple of websites, but now, has decided dealing with the random emails and follow through is too much for him. I’m simply thankful he continues to write a few songs and organize them for our radio shows!

I’m making this more of an art day because I am still dealing with shoulder/arm/back pain. I have a TENS machine and laid on it last night when I couldn’t sleep. I also have a QiCoil and PowerPlate handheld massager that helps, but I can only use these for so long as they must be recharged. I now see why people buy two of such things! The TENS is plugged directly into the wall outlet so I could use it all night, though that’s probably not recommended. I’d go back to my naturopath musculoskeletal doc, but I don’t want to have to go to him (at $160 an hour) every time this acts up. And since this is the second time in 8 months it’s been this bad, I think rest, herbal tincture (which thankfully, arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon), and massaging it will help it heal soon. It was so bad last night, it went from an aggravation to a barking pain! And I finally gave in and took ONE Ibuprofen. I do NOT know how people live in pain. I can’t.

I enjoyed sketching first with a pencil and then going over the lines to perfect them (though I still don’t believe there’s really any Perfection in art), and then adding the colors. As well, I enjoy blending the oil pastels around on the page, as well as kind of making brush strokes (or crayon strokes).

My mantra now is: Art communicates more than words, builds new neural pathways (in the brain), and connects us all!

Yours in consciousness-expansion as we evolve and revolve during our mystical awakening. All while doing-my-egoless-best, to take you on a limitless, spiraling thought ride to better health, through doing more with ease, to help us sustain the JOY in our lives! (With lots of Gratitude throughout.)

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.

About us

My husband and I are creators of life-enhancing spiritual and soulful information, music, and digital designs for wholly vibrant living.

Here’s our Unsolicited Radio music show channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Unsolicited_Radio

And here’s a link to join our public-facing, original music group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CF7Q2gbkA/

Find me over on my YouTube channel for JIGGLE WIGGLE, mobility movement videos, video book reviews, plants, art, and more at: https://youtube.com/@spiralsister

And here I am talking about my new 5th book on YouTube –>> https://youtube.com/shorts/RKmIIucsMs4?feature=share Here’s how to get a paperback copy of, We Are All Connected: The How and The Why. https://amzn.to/4s7n3Jg or eBook version: https://amzn.to/3PAvfUK

My husband is an award-winning illustrator, plus he’s a seasoned guitarist, bass player, and songwriter (with over 1,400 original songs). You can view some of his artwork and listen to many of his songs at: https://www.youtube.com/user/richardmurrey

You can support us by picking up merch at: https://sheilamurrey.net/store/

Richard and I (in 2020) performing one of our cowritten songs: https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share

Connect with us socially at: