I knew it had been awhile since my last post, but when I was asked the other day why I hadn’t been posting, I realized that it’s now been over a month since the last post. I haven’t posted due to a personal dilemma — I got myself kind of backed into a corner by a couple of things. One was my idea to post all of the paintings I did last semester. This became a bit of an issue for me because the final project we did was an assignment to get “out of the comfort zone.” After a couple of false starts, I ended up doing a political series because for me, that was about as far out of my comfort zone as I could get.
Now the problem: when I started this blog, I had a resolve that there were a couple of themes that I was not going to talk about, no how, no way. These were politics, religion, pets, and recipes. So therein lies the dilemma. I have some very passionate feelings about politics, but I’m not the kind of person who deals well with conflict. So unless I’m talking to someone I know for sure feels the same way I do about a particular issue, I pretty much keep these thoughts to myself in the interest of peace and harmony. I still can’t decide about posting this particular part of myself, but I will say that recent events have pretty much rendered my series irrelevant — so it’s probably pointless.
My other issue has to do with some soul searching about the whole idea of blogging in general. I used to read a lot of blogs fairly regularly, but the number of things I’m interested in causes me to go off on tangents of web meanderings that lead off in so many different directions that I find myself becoming disoriented. Maybe I get really excited because I think I’ve found some fabulous nuggets of insight or inspiration that give me totally new ideas I can use in my work, but if I don’t stop right that minute, I keep going until I lose sight of why I sat down at the computer in the first place, getting tangled in the forest of windows I’ve opened up, until I’ve wasted so much time that I feel depressed and demoralized. Rather than being inspirational, it becomes completely counter-productive because I get nothing done.
Back to the idea of blogging. I have to ask myself why I’m doing it. I think I started it because several people I knew were telling me I should do it. You can get your name out there, and it can be a great marketing tool. Also, I had started doing some private journaling at the time, and it occurred to me that maybe I should just do it as a blog. But my rather private nature means that the two things wouldn’t ever have the possibility of serving the same function. Maybe part of the appeal of blogging is the challenge of forcing myself to write, which, as with any kind of practice, makes one better at that particular thing. Maybe my motivation to blog is because everybody else is doing it, and I sure as heck don’t want to be left out. (But that’s precisely the wrong reason, isn’t it?)
I read a statistic a couple of weeks ago about how many new blogs are started every day (but of course didn’t keep track of where that came from), and it’s a mind-boggling number. What are all these people writing about? Are we all just creating a huge pile of useless bits that takes more and more storage space and electricity and creates CO² emissions and eventually destroys the planet? Am I doing anything of value to anyone, or am I just joining in with more self-absorbed navel-gazing? And now it’s not enough to just blog (when did that become a verb?) but I must also “tweet,” and I am just nobody at all if I’m not on Facebook and LinkedIn and have lots and lots of “friends.”
Well, enough of that. Sorry to be so negative. I promise to be happier next time!
Hi! Deidre,
I don’t think i have ever commented here but here goes, thought this a thoughtful entry and related to your line of thought, thanks for sharing how you feel. Soul searching is never a bad thing helps to get our ideas where we want them to go.
Why blog? Because everybody does? Or stop blogging because everybody does?
As it is a multilateral thing, it requires keeping in touch with other bloggers if it really has to become a bridge, a tool, something that promotes your art. It is not entirely passive unless you are well-known already, but if you are not (like me), it is some work. Okay, I love visiting blogs. And the links take me further. I comment or I don’t, I wonder if some who know me will miss my comment and draw conclusions (if I post something that will not be commented, I think they did not like it). And I notice how much my readers get stirred up if I post something controversial.
Although this is the salt in the soup, I find a special cautiousness in English and American blogs about controversies. Everyone try hard to be polite, that’s great. I have seen battles being fought on the net, that’s awful. But the other extreme is being very superficial and being inflative with praises. As artists work on new grounds most of the time, they may find it helpful to get some critics, as long as it is serious and comes from a positive attitude. As I said elsewhere: Criticizing the work of another artist may mean that you have confidence in the strength of his/her personality as long as the rules of positive communication remain being kept.
Some people think that contradiction concerns them as a whole person. I experience this in my family. My father in law feels personally attacked by the slightest critical word or if I prove him wrong. On the other hand, my father and I had ardent debates on politics or philosophy; and when my mother interefered: “Please stop fighting!”, we turned to her and said in a perfect chorus: “But be aren’t fighting, we’re having a debate!” — and stayed best friends.
Maybe such debates need a base of confidence. They are difficult to do with strangers. Creating this base takes a lot of time. You have to make friends, as far as this is possible in the virtual world. On the other hand, this may enable us to find new and fertile connections with people who like our work, with those who might buy it or arrange an exihibition. Or encourage us in phases of barren phantasy or low level of spirits.
These are the reasons why I find that blogging is a very rewarding thing.
deidre…you and i can discuss politics anyday! i grew up in a household where no opinions were allowed and married a man who had frequent and lively discussions with his father on a variety of issues! talk about opposites attracting.
only in the last few years have i gotten so worked up about political issues that i have found my voice to speak it, or even blog about it. but i still cower if anyone dare disagree with me!
Notice what you wrote: ” I still can’t decide about posting this particular part of myself, but I will say that recent events have pretty much rendered my series irrelevant — so it’s probably pointless.”
This to me spells out precisely why I don’t engage in political art (or, if I do take photographs of politicians, it’s always in a documentary vein): Events will render said art obsolete.
I do not blame you for being wary of political art. To me, that’s because 99 times out of 100, the politics are a lot stronger than the art. The left is very talented at being untalented, and using art to “confront” our various stereotypes, blah, blah, blah. I think this is because most of these artists fear confronting the fact that they have to say something political, because they haven’t the ability to say anything aesthetically.
Same goes for the right. They whine incessantly about how the left-wingers shut them out of this forum, that gallery, and these Hollywood movie casting calls. So, they give up before they even try. Or, they use art as a safe haven against the world (witness Thomas Kinkade).
I mean, I am outspokenly conservative/libertarian, I don’t hide it, and my greatest artistic successes have come by having my work accepted (or collaborated with) by a whole slew of socialists in Germany with whom I don’t agree one iota on politics. No one has censored me yet. I believe if people are up-front about who they are (as opposed to being pushy), most people really don’t care about one’s politics one way or another.
Politics are such a small portion of who we are as people, anyhow. As a conservative Republican, I couldn’t stand living in New York — until I moved to Texas. In the 2000 presidential race, it was beyond my ability to comprehend why the Republican party was so adamantly for this George W. Bush guy. I felt he was basically forced on the party. Same with Hillary and the Democrats, and in particular, Obama. Whereever there’s a personality cult, I run screaming as from a plague. The two candidates for whom I was most proud to vote, Bob Dole and John McCain, would never in a million years be the objects of personality cults.
What Eva said about her and her father debating politics and philosophy, that reminds me of my godfather, who was a Teamsters local veep. I learned much more from him about politics than my own conservative father. But no one ever called Nick a “liberal.” He hated that word. “I’m a working man, goddamnit”! he would bellow.
I find that people who surround themselves with nothing but their own kind politically to be narrow-minded dullards. Dallas Republicans and Berkeley leftists are really just the same assholes with different wardrobes, music tastes and drugs of choice.
And, when I recall the greatest work of political art ever made?
Leni Riefenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will.”
The best reason ever to keep politics and art separate.
Hi Deidre –
I share so much of your ambivalence about blogging (and Facebook) — I’m always on the razor’s edge about it, yet I keep doing it. I worry that my blog has totally lost focus and takes way too much time, for just the reasons you mention about wandering all over the internet, and think about retiring it regularly . . . yet I haven’t.
But I love your posts, whenever and however often you write them — they’re always worth reading.
Thanks to everyone for your comments. I enjoyed the thoughtful responses and differing viewpoints. As I thought about this more, I realized my reluctance to “get into it” stems from my childhood in a household where everyone shouted at each other all the time, and it was NOT in the spirit of friendly debate, let me assure you. It was an extremely damaging environment for children.
As a result I grew up with a resolve and stubbornness that often works to my own disadvantage, and I have made quick decisions from a defensive posture that I later regretted. I have been working for years to overcome this self-destructive behavior.
I find that most of the time when I get into a political discussion with anyone I don’t agree with, I am forced to suppress my own views or end up with animosity on both sides. I don’t know if this is due to the very strong feelings from the other side, or my own lack of skills in communicating my views. (Although I’ve noticed that suppressing one’s views in such a situation can be very instructive in understanding the logical fallacies that people use frequently.) This is why I do not wish to have politics be a part of my blog, and reading the comments is reinforcing that notion.
Also, if I may add something, everyone (myself included) was so wrapped up in the discussion on politics that no one talked about that amazing photograph you posted. I don’t know how much PhotoShop’ing you did, but it looks like it was taken in the rural badlands or some other world. The silvery halo around everything makes it stick in your memory. There’s nothing on the billboard, but there’s everything on the billboard. Put a message or graphics up there, and it destroys the whole picture.
Yay, thank you for noticing, Robert. I’ve always loved the idea of the empty billboard. I have several in my collection. This started out as a pretty crappy image, taken with my very first digital camera, a Minolta DiMage 7, back in July 2003, on highway 550 southeast of Farmington, New Mexico. It was taken right before the sun dipped below the sky, so the light was hazy and dim and I don’t think the camera focussed completely. I couldn’t really improve on the image too much, so I decided to exploit its faults. Adobe Lightroom now has a setting called “Clarity.” The purpose of it is to enhance an image by making it appear sharper and clearer. However, if you slide it the opposite direction, you can give it this fuzzy halo effect. I also desaturated the image completely but added blue highlights in the Split Toning setting. To top it all off, I gave it a nice vignette, which a purist would hate, but which I find suits my vision very nicely.
Purists, schmurists, it works!
I think that blogs should have a coherent, or that people who come to visit your blog that will be clear to see. If you decide to talk about art and politics, as they wait for that. And if they feel other things are confused. So the blog will not be effective.
Recently I have a blog, I post content I think is interesting and carefully worked his text spelling, writing, etc.. Today, looking at Google Analytics statistics, I realize that visitors spend only a few seconds on my blog, which leaves them no time to read. So the question is worth so much work to write, or do better with visual input short paragraph, one or two lines?
The other day leia blog content that is not good but effective way to engage people. Keywords, phrases that incite to, to come into debate.
Recently on Twitter I am and it’s fun. LinkedIn is interesting to form business relationships, I am there too and I think that will be beneficial for me.
Do not worry, discouragement, sadness, are part of the natural feelings of the people, is not obliged to be always cheerful.
Sorry I’m using a translator
You’ve made some really interesting observations. One of the things I’ve found about blogging is that the longer the gap, the more difficult it is to get back into, as I feel the next post has to something momentous! I think we all go through peaks and troughs and what drives me on is using a blog almost as a sketchbook to record what I’m doing. I really apprecate the feedback I get through comments when I’m not sure of something – I don’t necessarily agree with the views expressed but it helps to crystallize my own thoughts. I do believe the more you put in to the process, the more you get out.
I’d really like to see your current work – why not just put up the images with no explanatory text – let the works speak for themselves.
A few years ago, when I was in Poland running a training course , I was astonished when visiting a Polish family for afternoon tea by their frankly stated views on politics and religion. When I said that as I’d only just met them, I was surprised at them discussing these subjects so openly ( it’s almost taboo in the UK unless you know people very well )they sid “but this is all we discuss!”
Dear Magsramsay,
Yes, that’s brilliant; wish I’d have thought of that. What a great solution.
Last Christmas, I went to a dinner and sat next to a man from Poland. It was the same thing — he talked incessantly about political things, mostly about how different America was from Poland. Although I got tired of listening to him after awhile (I could only intermittently get a word in edgewise), I did find his perspective on things quite refreshing — definitely not the endless rehash of the same old stuff. Sometimes I find that even those I agree with most of the time have blinders on in certain areas. Our country is so polarized now that there seems to be a taboo on having a difference of opinion that falls into the gray area between the two polar opposites.
I just spent the past few minutes reading your comments and the comments of your followers on to blog or not to blog. Thought provoking….not really. I’ll just continue having fun with my blog. Oh yes, the reason I comment (lost my train of thought there for a monent)… I was reading a blog and saw your name, linked on and found your website. Loved it! Thanks for blogging, I found you, perhaps someone else will to!!
Hi Deidre, Tonight I attended a local group meeting of fiber and textile artists and 2 people came up to me afterwards and mentioned your name in reponse to the quilts I shared during the meeting. I had painted over a quilt in response to it totally not turning out the way I wanted…it was an impulsive decision but turned into a piece that thrilled me beyond measure, so I painted 2 more. So here I am. I love the work I saw on your website and I just wanted to introduce myself. Will be following your blog and from a long time blogger I said blog for yourself first and foremost and the audience secondary…it keeps it fun and the added connections I make just adds to the sense of play. And I use a timer sometimes when I sit down to read blogs. Or I limit myelf to reading x amount each day and leaving x amount of comments. It is its own addiciton I think.
Peace,
Deidre:
I’ve been having similar “why am I doing this” thoughts. Blogging seems to take us further away from some people we might wish to stay more personally connected with and closer to others we would never be able to personally connect with. It’s a catch 22.
There is no way that I can or want to be involved in Twitter, Linked In, Facebook and all thse other “inventions”. I want to actually live my life not spend it in front of an electronic screen. These are possibly good marketing tools but who really knows. For sure, they are less expensive marketing tools. As always, many things need to align to move forward.
What I know about blogging for me is that it is a fabulous way to improve my writing. I post five times a week and it’s excellent practice. In the 300 or so postings I’ve made, my writing has improved tremendously. It makes me more aware on a daily basis. Each day I am thinking of things to write about tomorrow. And, it is a way to support and encourage others in their creativity. That said, it has to above all else work for me and if it doesn’t, it would be time to move on.
FWIW – Myrna
I don’t find your post to be negative; it’s just thoughtful. Too often, at least for me, we get told we’re being negative when we’re just observing facts as we see them.
I, too, have had similar thoughts about blogging and web surfing in general. Mostly because other people chastise me for spending too much time on the computer and for thinking of the people I “meet” online are friends. I suppose I do need to spend more time in sunshine and fresh air and with people in the flesh. Not to mention the amount of time that gets stolen from creative pursuits. But I really enjoy blogland. And I know what you mean about wandering down a maze of links and connections. I often stay up until all hours of the morning because I am hooked on something like that. Then the next day I may not even remember what I was searching for. One thing I’ve done lately is this: if I find something interesting and yet I want to keep moving on, I e-mail the link to myself. Then, the next day, there it is and I get to go see it and – Aha! So that’s what I was surfing about last night. And it usually is something pretty good. Sometimes not. And, of course, it clogs up the e-mail box.
It’s true that blogging gets your name/identity/art out there in the public forum. Doesn’t necessarily translate into sales, if that’s your goal. I use the get’s my name out there logic when trying to justify the blogging to someone who might ever so gently suggest that I should spend less time on it. LOL. (Oh, Gawd, I even write things like LOL). In truth, I think I (and perhaps you too) should blog for altruistic reasons. Because I enjoy it is good enough.
I hope you do continue with it. I have enjoyed visiting your blog for a very long time, as you know. I’m sure many people have discovered you through this medium. And you never know who might discover you tomorrow. But I hope you do it in whatever way pleases you, not some imaginary audience. To paraphrase a nugget of wisdom, blog what you love and the readers will follow!
xox,
Morna – This is undoubtedly the longest comment I’ve ever written! Longer than most of my posts. 🙂