July!

You know, after a while doing other things, I somehow forget how to think in blog-speak. I’ve been contemplating the difference between sharing your projects often vs. not sharing at all until a whole big thing is done. For the former you need to come up with finished items to show, tailored for the blog, which can be a rushed affair with focus on the telling, not the making, forever trying to create variation – it has suited me well enough since I do thrive best with more than one type of activity, but if you become too ambitious you can lose your breath all of a sudden. This typically happens to me with daily challenges for instance, especially when “the world” pounces on you mid project and sucks your batteries dry.

But since much of what I really want to do often takes months, how do you fit that in with maintaining an online presence? I’ve pondered the concept of tidbits and progress photos, just short blurps as in the Small Stones concept or Instagram style, but so far if I haven’t got anything much to say in words I simply haven’t bothered. I just fell out of the habit without really planning to. Blogging to “be a blogger” is a full time job, really, with plans, schedules, the making of decorative illustrations etc. An artwork in itself just as immersing yourself into painting for an exhibition is – but doing both at the same time? Not doable for me at least. In fact I’ve been rather low on ooomph for a month or so, perhaps it’s a summer of 15° C and grey and wind, perhaps it’s just one of those things with me that keeps coming round.

There is a certain expectation that you ship and deliver on a regular basis, don’t you think? So what if I tell you, “oh, the other day I gathered a bunch of Lady’s Mantle leaves and stuck them in a quick makeshift paperpress for a future painting project” – and then proceed to not update you on them for ages. Not because I forget or suffer from ADHD, but because they’re still in the paper press for a good while and after that they may go into storage for another good while until my other current projects are out of the way. Or, possibly, because pressing them failed horribly and by then it’s too late in the season to have another go.

Things in the hayloft don’t stay clean and that’s how it is.

I’ve been playing with paint a lot without actually having much to show for it, I sometimes weave a piece of my 12 meter warp for the “Monk project” (working title), there were plans to continue my secret writing/landscape project, but my head has been too fuzzy to form coherent sentences for a while or even write down a structure to go from. I’ve taken absolutely no photos this season, none whatsoever, apart from documenting some procedures for my own benefit. Waiting to make paper, no place to dry it indoors.

None of it has felt ready to share even in the form of a WIP; I’m finding that I don’t really want any “noise” about my doings until I reach a point of letting go. I could probably benefit from constructive criticism, but the process feels more important even if what it produces is ultimately junk. Does that make any sense? As if “the magic will vanish” and I’ll lose interest or direction.

I do want to try keeping a decent work day in the studio (when I’m not just sitting around longing for naps) without focusing on what I’m going to say about it every day on the interwebs. At least I’ll have to find another way of doing it than I’ve been used to, unless that’s what my brain shifts to at some point. I rarely decide to change project types, one day I just discover that what I planned to do isn’t what I’m thinking about or feeling drawn to, and it’s no use going against that.

Well, a good half ton of words for you all the same, so perhaps the front of my brain is finally back from vacation and the blogging issue will resolve itself. But I’m shamelessly borrowing photos from another blog to avoid having to make new ones for today. 😉 Now I go wrap up dinner, so, “Click!”

21 thoughts on “July!

  1. Så masse du har fått gjort! Jeg synes det er krevende å blogge ved siden av alt annet. Krevende å ta gode foto, krevende å skrive en grei tekst og å oversette den til engelsk. Instagram synes jeg er mye enklere og gøyere, da kan jeg bare poste foto og slipper å skrive og tenke så mye. Fortsatt god sommer!

    1. Det er da lidt godt at høre det ikke kun er mig som synes det er et stort stykke arbejde, hvis man skal blogge “seriøst”. Men det er for mig også lidt arbejde med IG fordi min telefon tager vældigt dårlige billeder. Jeg skal bruge mit spejlrefleks, uploade til PC, behandle i Photoshop og lægge ned på tablet/telefon inden jeg kan publicere.

      Og tak, i lige måde! 🙂

  2. i know the feeling, and have become that blogger type also. When projects take months and there’s little visible to the other eye progress, it seems kind of pointless… i remember when i’d post 4 or 5 times a day–i just don’t get that much done anymore, daily OR weekly, and haven’t the energy for it either anymore.
    but i still wait for your posts, and for other bloggers who now work the same way 🙂

    1. Yes, I try to do my rounds as well along the usual beat of blogging friends, although when using Bloglovin I may not always be as visible. But when my brain refuses to release words in proper order, it simply doesn’t make sense to comment either.

    1. All we can do is our best, even if it doesn’t look like something from a lifestyle magazine. 🙂 And that ought to be good enough.

      I’m blessed to be able to do these things at my own pace and not have to get up at 5 to scrub floors somewhere.

  3. Always happy to hear some thoughts and a glimpse into what you’re up to! I think making art, creating a life of intention, along with all the day to day, can make it very difficult to ‘show progress’. The blog stops being a platform to enjoy if I over think it…my life is too hectic, projects get tabled for months( years), and I cringe at the stress any expectation may bring ( with regards to creativity). Thank you for sharing, Pia….I always enjoy reading your posts!

    1. “I cringe at the stress any expectation may bring ( with regards to creativity)”

      This exactly.

      Thanks for being my online buddy! I do love the armchair travelling when batteries run low.

  4. I totally understand what you’re saying–I’m struggling, too, to get a new balance of what to write about, when, and how to keep it from from stressing me out. I’ll look forward to reading whatever it is you decide to write!

    1. Well, one devious plan is to simply keep quiet for a good while and make A LOT of stuff. Then post one by one, carefully measured out, making it look like I’ve totally got it together while what everyone gets to see is actually old and long finished, leaving me to putter about with new stuff undisturbed! LOL

  5. I understand! I usually blog a bit about what I am doing and what I am working on, and right now, what I am working on is big long projects, so the photos are not very exciting as they look like the last photos I shared.

    But I love seeing what you are doing, or hearing about it, whether you are finished or not, or changing your mind or whatever. I love reading about what is happening in your world (though I am sorry to hear 15 degrees and gray!) so thank you for writing when you can. 🙂

    1. 🙂

      So now I’m left wondering if you meant to say something more or if that’s a mistyped period! LOL

  6. I often blog mid-project and about the steps I take in a project. I think it helps others and is a way of chronicling my process for myself.

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