A New Decade and Blogging: My first six months

So here we are in 2010!  Those numbers look a bit weird, kind of futuristic, much nicer than 2009 though, I think.  2009 was ok for me, the year I launched my blog onto the unsuspecting public!  Don't know how it will all pan out this year - the blogging that is - but I'm keen to carry on, do lots more drawing, enjoy the ride and just see how it goes.

I've been reflecting on my experiences of blogging, having completed the first six months of this art journal, as well as my arty hopes for this year.  There are several things I've learned from blogging.

1.     It has kept me drawing regularly, more so than I'm sure I would have done without it.

2.     It has made me think carefully about what I draw, how I draw and why I draw.  There is something about putting your work out there in front of an audience that really focuses the mind!

3.     It has given me new connections with other art bloggers and arty people, whose occasional comments I have greatly appreciated.  I've also enjoyed, and gained much from seeing, other people's blogs.

4.     It has given me insights into bits of me I never knew before.  For example, I really like writing - almost as much as drawing!  Writing flows out of me like water from a tap full on, drawing is more like a slow trickle - drip...drip......drip!  Maybe that's telling me something?!

5.     It is giving me an ongoing record of my work as it happens -something I can look back on and feel proud of - or cringe at -depending on what I drew or wrote about!

6.     There is sometimes a voice from within which says "You MUST post something scintillating AT LEAST every 2 or 3 days or you are not a true blogger/people will forget you/you are not a bona fide artist".  I'm learning to ignore that voice.  I'm a great believer in the adage that if you have nothing to say, don't say anything at all.  That goes for drawing too.

There it is then, my first six months.  So what about this new year?  Well, I don't have any rigid plans but I would like to do some drawings I can be proud of - good enough to enter into, and be accepted by, exhibitions....good enough to sell maybe.  I had some modest success in 2009 but I want to go further, get better at what I do, try new things with coloured pencils and most of all......(drumroll)....I want to Please Myself!  Because....if you don't please yourself, she said wisely, how the heck are you gonna please anybody else?

(Pause while I watch a documentary on TV about Elvis.  One I haven't seen before.....I adore Elvis).

Back now.....twas a very interesting programme, interviews with the Presley family, doesn't his daughter look like him? Uncanny.

Anyway, I'll sign off now.......I have a new drawing bubbling and ready to show very soon.  Happy New Decade everyone!