I've kept this blog since October of 2014. In that time I've seen the readership go from about ten a day to almost a thousand a day now. I guess that means something although I am not really sure what.
Its funny, over the years I'd attempted to keep a blog probably a dozen or so times. Before that I'd tried the old diary game on countless occasions. I'd keep up with it a week and then hang it up again.
Then I began my life as an artist. And I found much to my surprise that I had quite a lot to talk about. I resisted the temptation to start blogging yet again for many years after. But bits and pieces would be written and saved and ideas and thoughts kept coming.
I've been online forever it seems. From almost the very start of the worlds virtual life I was already dabbling. Like many I was already well versed in BBS systems and in the archaic precursors to modern day social networks in the form of Compuserve and the old American Online (no not that thing that exists today). And you inevitably become skilled at communicating your thoughts in the form of words, not language.
So last October came and I decided one day to try it again and start a new blog. But with one difference. I'd always tried to blog in the form of a diary. Those inane daily meanderings that some are so good at. I decided instead that I'd only write when I had a specific clear vision for something that I felt I wanted to say. It didn't matter if I was doing so daily, weekly or monthly. I wasn't really doing it for anyone in particular anyway. I was doing it to share the mind of an experimental artist with anyone who really gave a damn.
So here I am eight months later, realizing more and more that keeping this blog is almost as important as the art I create. I suppose in a way its just another form of art. One more art experiment that seems to work for me and that others enjoy.
I've become a big proponent of advising other artists to keep a blog. But to do so not out of a need to be heard by others. But out of a need to hear ourselves. For me, blogging functions as a way to keep my thought processes going. To remind me of ideas I've had and techniques I've developed. And to act as a sounding board for art I'd like to create.
Recently an argument with a marketer who told me my posts were too wordy and that they could "clean them up for me", resulted in me making it very clear that I am not really concerned about not being wordy. What I am concerned about is writing from the heart and the soul of the artist in however many words that might take.
All the blogging experts say that the most successful blogs are the ones that speak from the heart. Readers don't want to read stupid shit. They want honesty and they want to know the mind of the author in the same way that people who collect art want to know the mind of the artist. Same rule applies. I would not send my art out to a marketer to "clean it up" so why would I do so with my words?
So with this in mind, this particular blog article is taking my blog to another level. I'm breaking my own rule about only blogging about precise issues and never the inane. I am going to try (as time permits) to start a nightly blog post that talks about the daily goings on in this studio. The challenges faced. The problems that occur, the guts of how an artist works day to day.
There will probably be a fair share of inanity, but who cares! Its good to look back and realize that things do change and we do progress in our skills and abilities.
I hope you will share that journey with me as I add this to my regular blog ramblings.
Creatively,
~Grey~
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