Blog Posting Rules For An Artist?

by Cooper on 8/10/2010 10:07:25 AM1 Comment

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio Jefferson, Iowa. I have rain water for sale today, if you are in the market. Jefferson was blessed with a massive 5 inches over the weekend. Wow. That's today's small talk. Today's subject is blog post writing.

Blog post writing, specifically, from an artist's point of view.

If you scan back through other FASO blog posts, telling people how to write a blog post is old-stuff. Everyone has advice to offer, and it's as varied as the offer-ees.

As I mulled over what I wanted to write about this morning, many of these offer-ees offerings came to mind, but the main one was:

Nobody in blog-reader-land wants to know about your daily happenings!

What you ate for breakfast does NOT matter. Your dog's name does not matter. The color of flowers you grow in your garden does not matter. Are you sure, oh-great-giver-of-advice?

What if I tell you that over the weekend I exhibited my paintings at ArtInThePark at ArnoldsPark/Okoboji, way up northwest in Iowa
AND THEN we drove down to Iowa City, way down southeast in Iowa, to move daughter and son-in-law to Missouri? Canton, Missouri, to be exact, home of Culver-Stockton College where daughter Abbie will be teaching piano this year while she finishes up the doctorate at UniversityOfIowa.
AND DID I MENTION the new apartment in Canton has 27 stairs and that the piano successfully made it all the way up, thanks much to two buff RA's from Culver-Stockton? As my husband and I drove home yesterday, we, of course, took the scenic route, the Illinois "GreatRiverRoad" a visual treat to be sure. And I ask you, how can events like these not impact the art I create this week?

Let's categorize emphatically:

1. Saturday art show---a predawn 2.5 hour drive, long hours, wonderful lakeside venue, meeting old friends and patrons, getting to know new patrons, sending paintings off to new homes, beginning to worry about having enough paintings for the next scheduled exhibit, packing up, a long drive back home AND

2. Up early, another long drive, loading up an entire household into a moving fan, 92 degrees/70% humidity, quick lunch, long drive to Missouri, concern for daughter and son-in-law embarking on a major new adventure, staying overnight in the new apartment amidst all the unpacked boxes THEN

3. Needing to start the drive back home, treating ourselves to the "scenic route", lots of miles, so many enjoyable vistas through our windshield, unpacking, collapsing on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn, back-safe-home-again.

Now, while therapists everywhere council to "leave your work at the office, and your life at home" I would like to suggest that that would be the quickest way ever to achieve totally worthless art, sterile and emotionless. Isn't a painting supposed to be an artist's interpretation of the world and events around them? Does the painting really care if it's a "worldwide view" or a "micro-home-life view"? To the former, we all know the answer is yes, and to the latter, I vote no. And so if my job is to share, through my painting, then day-to-day events really ARE part of it.

Enough of that. It's time to figure out how to upload images from the new camera. I have new paintings to show you! And will, asap. Thanks for stopping by.

Later, Cooper

Blog Posting Rules For An Artist?

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