Or, why I started blogging. Ya know, whichever.
I love blogs in general. I love seeing a glimpse into people’s lives and knowing I’m not alone. I love reading how they react to the bad in life and celebrate the good. I tend to get in the grumpy, “I hate people,” mode, but blogs help bring me back to all the things I love about people. You don’t see their bad driving or poor customer service skills, you see their struggles with depression or the progress with their pregnancy. Yes. I really love mommy blogs. I am more attatched to complete stranger’s kids than I am to the idea of my own, theoretical, children.
Now, why did I start blogging or more to the point, an art blog? Why am I revamping it and lining up 104 posts for you?
My first art blog was on blogger. I started it right after I began art school. I had a personal blog and it was a natural progression. I wanted to document my progress. I wanted to show the whole world what I was doing. I’ll get embarassing and admit, I wanted people to care about seeing my progress as much as I wanted to make that progression. That’s why I have all of those old posts still available. There’s also a part of me that truly believes one day all these posts will be valuable insight for my biographers. You have your delusions about fitting into those old jeans again and I have mine. Ok. (Just kidding, you are totalling going to rock those again and they will probably even be too big. Also, you look great the way you are, so don’t even worry about the size of your jeans. You’re more than a number on a tag.)
The next blog I hosted myself when I graduated and felt like I was really coming into the world as an artist. I don’t have any of those posts, because long story short, GoDaddy let an unauthorized person change my account without contacting me and wanted $300 to restore my site. Oh well. No great loss to anyone but me and frankly, I don’t remember any of it enough to miss it.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately of what I want my legacy to be and this blog is definitely part of that. I want to document my life as an artist. I want people to see that even if I never make it Kardashian rich, I have a life worth living.
I still want to document my progress.
I want to show you work I’m doing now and give you the opportunity to buy my work when it connects to you. How cool is that? To be able to connect to people through my work and they can get to know me and see how it was created too? I want to get to know people who like my work, which means you, because that means we have something in common and we would probably like each other. I like connecting with people who like the same things I do. It’s fun. Even if that is the only thing we have in common. I’m really an introvert, but I’m also so guilty of talking people’s ear off once we have a connection. My art and subsequently my art blog, is a way to make that connection faster.
I want to entertain people and have my voice heard. I think that’s pretty basic. I want to motivate you and inspire you and help you see, if you haven’t already, life is to be lived and that comes in all shapes and sizes. We can actually achieve our dreams and this blog will one day be proof that I did just that. I created my life and lived it on my own terms. If you have figured that out, I want to be support for the days when it sucks and you feel like your not getting anywhere and you’ve taken two steps back. Living against the grain is legit hard. We need to stick together. I got you, boo.
Now, why the revamp?
I’ll be real honest. I think my blog is boring. In the past, I’ve felt I need to be professional. This is my image and people’s first impression of me and I want to impress these people. You. I want to impress you. I want you to see me as funny and talented and worth buying from. I want you to like me and have my art in your home. That’s a very vulnerable position to be in. I’m not good at vulnerability. Especially in public. I’m shy and quiet with new people and my feelings are mine. But I also love being who I am and authentic and real and flawed.
You see my dilemma. No one wants to be on a perpetual job interview or at a “meet the parents” dinner every day. I let my nerves get the better of me more often than not. A few times I’ve gotten comfortable and laid things out there, but mostly, I stay quiet or “professional.” Snore.
No one wants a “professional” artist. Yes, we need professional business practices, but no one wants an artist in a suit. Artists are who everyone else lives vicariously through. We are the people who dared to buck the system. Or maybe that’s just me. I’m passionate and I need my blog to reflect that. I get loud when I have an opinion and I get sassy.
You are forewarned. We have entered that part of the relationship where you won’t be able to get me to shut up and you long for the quiet girl you met long ago. What happened to her? I shoved her out of the RV and took off, that’s what happened.