Challenge Can Lead to New Inspiration

Another page in the flower book

Recently I mentioned that I was joining Problogger’s 31 Days to a Better Blog challenge. When he did this two years ago I read through all the posts, so why did I decide to do it again?

More importantly, why should you give yourself a challenge about blog writing?

1. None of us is perfect – everyone, even Problogger himself could stand to improve. It’s a bit like communication in marriage, one can always work on it :D.
2. Breathes new life – asking critical questions of your blog can lead to new ideas.
3. Refocuses purpose – do you remember why you started your blog? What is your aim? Are your latest posts in line with that purpose?
4. Encourages – in some of the areas we’ll be looking at you’ll find that you are doing really well – and it’s always nice to be reminded that are doing well.

And, is it working so far? (This is day two.)

1. Improving? Yes, I have been thinking about some improvements lately and this whole process is confirming to me that I need to make the improvements. (Watch this space – there are a few changes ahead, they will be better for you and better for me, I promise. :D)
2. New Life? Yes, I’ve had a few post ideas lately that I didn’t think were all that great – today, I read the challenge and this post has written itself! (Today’s challenge was to write a list post.)
3. Purpose? I have never defined my exact purposes for this blog, it felt really good to do so. A friend of mine who is doing the challenge found this part very helpful!
4. Encourages? Yes, it feels really good to understand that how important this blog is to me and why it is so important to my business.

So, if you haven’t  done some critical thinking about your blog lately, I’d suggest you do. You can join the challenge, or not. You can get special emails about it, or just read the posts. Personally, I hope to only take about 10 minutes a day to work on it (at least sitting in front of the computer for only 10 minutes), thinking may occur at other times. :D

Don’t wait for the day when you are willing to devote 3 hours to your blog instead of your art – not going to happen! Ten minutes spent improving your blog is better than zero minutes!

Five Useful Links on Color and Design

Another page in the flower book.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my thoughts about switching blogging platforms. I am still thinking through things. I will let you know what decisions I make in the end.

In the meantime, I have been doing lots of reading about designs and logos. Thought I’d share a few links I’ve found helpful:

1. colorschemedesigner.com – you pick a color, they’ll give you back a complementary scheme or a triad scheme or a monochromatic scheme…you get the idea. Very useful!
2. colourlovers.com – this is a fun site where people upload and rate color palettes. It gave me some ideas about color in design – and what people find appealing.
3. Seth Godin Squidoo page on web design – about a gazillion resources listed, books first then some sites. It certainly was an encouragement to me that I could educate myself at least a little bit!
4. Grantasticdesigns.com – lots of basic information on several topics of web design
5. About.com: Graphic Design – plenty to read on different topics!

Survey of Ideas on Leaving Blogger

Above, another sketch in the flower book, a bloom from one of my Indian Hawthorne bushes.

Below, my first bearded iris! My good friend, the Herb n’ Cowgirl gave me several little ones to plant trimmed from hers last year. They appear to really like this climate because they are all doing well – even the ones that I forgot to tell our house sitter about, which he mowed over and I thought were gone forever. Lo and behold, they are popping up!

This week I have been thinking about moving my blog from blogger. There are pros and cons to both moving it and keeping it at blogger. For me, the big draw is I’d like to have everything in one spot – it would be easier to maintain and easier to tell people about it. I haven’t reached any conclusions, but I thought I’d share some of my reading.

Of course, like anything on the computer or in DIY, it’s more complicated than it seems at first glance. There are complications and difficulties no matter what you do to “move”. Essentially, there are two routes: importing or starting again. Importing means you run the risk of duplicate entries on the search engines (spam). Starting fresh means you lose your archives, any page ranking (PR) you had before and potentially anyone who doesn’t follow you over.

Case Study by SmallBizTrends.com – an excellent recap of the issues (I identified with alot of it.)

Import or Start Fresh? – an argument for “abandoning” the old blog, but bringing everyone with you.

An Import Story – all the details and hiccups of importing your blogger blog to Wordpress and a custom domain.

Another Import Story – definitely techie, but gives you an idea of the issues involved with your decisions.

If you have any thoughts or experiences, please share in the comments!

How are your goals for 2009?

Here’s an iris from the bunch I treated myself to last week. It’s so nice to have fresh flowers in the house!

The flower book is nearing completion….I need 11 more drawings for it to be done. I hope to do 3 more this week, so that would put me at under 10 to go.

Do you realize what next week is? Next week is the end of the first quarter of 2009. It is amazing how time flies…weren’t we just reading about inauguration day?  Back then a bunch of us were making plans and goals for the year. So the question becomes: are you one quarter of the way through your goals for the year?

I have stopped my practice of posting my monthly goals and reviewing them, but I am still making that monthly list (it’s posted above the laptop on the corkboard). I’ve even added weekly goals to the mix (which is a huge help for me!) So, to answer my own question, yes, I am a quarter of the way through my goals. I am even coming close to achieving one of my dreams for the year.

If you are looking for some spark in meeting your goals, here are a few resources:

1. Blogging – are you looking to “improve” your blog? Darren Rowse is holding another of his 31 days to a better blog programs. This year he is having a signup. I have signed up, I’m sure that not all of it will be relevant to me, but I’d like the chance to be prodded about a few things.
2. Motivation – Teresa Mallen has a great series going at the moment, Motivation Mondays. She has some really good ideas.
3. Unplug – Is the online world crowding out your creativity? I recently tried an “unplug” and it really did help. I wasn’t entirely offline, but I cut way back and didn’t expect myself to do anything, it restored some peace and sanity.
4. Remember -  Remember why you set the goals you did. What was it really that you were trying to achieve – some feeling, some status, some completion? Remember why and it might help with the doing.
5. Dream – Dream some big dreams out on paper. Maybe you have something you want to do but it just seems too far to reach? Write that dream out. What would be the step before that? And the step before that? Back to today. (Or, in the reverse if it’s easier, what are you achieving today that gets you a step in the dream direction? What’s the next step beyond that?)

Another Good Book

Another sketch in my flower book. This time from my Indian Hawthorne bushes out front. One of the lovely things about spring…my yard bursts into life…beautiful purple blooms on the phlox along the ground, beautiful white blooms on the Indian Hawthorne bushes above them.

Picked up a another good book this weekend, Watercolor Painting Step by Step by Arthur Guptill. I don’t even paint with watercolors…but I do with acrylic inks which are similar. I really bought the book because I know how thorough he is. I learned so much about pen and ink from him, I just know he is going to teach me how to truly wield a brush successfully.

Of course, I have blown my little rule of not purchasing a new book until I had read the stack I already have (one of my goals for the year). I’ve finished 3 of those books – not bad for being in the 3rd month of the year, except that I have the new Guptill book, another new book on brushwork, and two more (one painting, one drawing) that I am hoping to get for my impending birthday. I need to get reading!

On the Backside of Spring Break

Well, we are heading to the end of Spring break…looking ahead to the chaos of normal schedules around here…that to say, just a quickie tonight…off to do the VSD for this month.

Copper Canyon Daisy and a Business Plan

Another in the flower book. This week I’ve been drawing up a business plan. I started at the Small Business Admin site. Of course, I don’t need something as elaborate as they describe, but I definitely think having such a document will help me to make some good plans for the future.

I began with some headings that are common to all business plans, added a few more that I wanted, and just began filling in information. It has been very helpful. I now have a good idea of what I need to research for the future, areas of the market I need to investigate, a better idea of my current needs, and also a firmer grasp on what it’s going to take to do some of things I’m thinking about tackling.

Have you ever done a business plan for yourself? Please share in the comments.

Waiting for Spring

This sketch, in the flower book, was from one of my yellow roses in the garden last year. As I look out there now, I have high hopes of another wonderful spring and summer of beautiful blooms.

It looks like a lovely day here…best get to it!

So Thankful for You All

Friday night I sketched this in the flower book from a reference I had taken in CA this summer. I sent out a post asking if anyone knew the name…by the time I woke up Saturday morning I had several comments (all agreeing) on the blog and a few comments on Facebook. I am so thankful for all of you, you truly make my life great.

This is a black-eyed susan or Rudbeckia Hirta, common to North America.

Thanks everyone for your support, not just in this case, but in so many ways over the years!

The End from the Beginning

Another sketch in the flower book

If we knew the end of things from the beginning, we often tell ourselves that we would do things differently. That’s why they say hindsight is 20/20. It’s also why motivational gurus often ask you to imagine yourself in 1/5/10 years, then make a list of what you need to do to get there.

It’s also why emerging artists struggle endlessly with developing their style and established artists tell them to be patient…because the established artists can see their style now, even back in their early works. The end was there, right from the beginning, but one doesn’t always have eyes to see it.

Or does one? I’m going to tell you one of my little studio secrets, in hopes that you can tell me that other artists experience the same sort of thing.

When I begin working on a piece, I start out making decisions, thinking about rules, tricks, solid concrete things I know about drawing and painting. Then, as I near the end, all of sudden, my mind starts giving me all sorts of commands, “put a big dark mark there, pull up paint there, more dark blue in that corner…etc”. It’s fast and furious and I can’t stop to look at the work while I am doing it. I just have a “sense” about where things go, my eyes don’t even focus on the work. Then the commands stop, I can once again focus on the work and I know it’s done.

Does that happen to you?

How I got $140 shoes for $4 out of pocket

another page in the flower book

Times are tough all over.

So we have to celebrate when we get a deal, don't we? Background: I have some health issues that require special shoes. So, when I need a pair of shoes I am used to paying close to $100. When I saw that the shoes I wear were now at $140, my heart just sank. I decided to dig a bit more...

Endless.com had them on clearance for $75 or $54...ok, the ugly ones were $54, but I decided we could do ugly for 21 bucks. Then, I realized that amazon and endless are connected...so I could use the amazon gift certificates I had gotten recently to pay for the shoes...BOOM...down to $4. Lovely! It does mean that I will have to wait for a book I have been hoping to get, but I'm sure I can find something else to read in the meantime...

Moral of the story...be a thorough shopper.

Wish I Had Something Clever to Say

...but I don't so...this is more in the flower book...

Sketching

Here's another from my sketching session the other night. It was one of those great times where things just flowed and I had done three small sketches in less than an hour. It made me think I ought to try for more of those in my life. My evenings are not always conducive to pulling out the paints...but who can complain about pulling out a pen and opening a sketchbook?

Reflections on Edges

Here's another page in the flower book.

This is a little different style than yesterday. (Here I outlined everything first, then shaded to emphasize form.) I actually did this one first. I like this drawing, but it did make me want to try doing one without outlining all the edges first.

I was a little nervous how I would handle drawing without edges everywhere...I tried to tell myself to build slowly, move around, and wait for my eye to see it first, then put the pen down where my eye saw it. By the end, my pen was flying without my mind pausing first...

I suppose it is a little confusing to be talking about a drawing that isn't in this post...forgive me gang. I'm just in a thinking/reflecting phase...my hope is that a little indulgence here will lead me to a leap forward in my artwork! :D One can always hope...

More in the Flower Book

Here's a sketch I made tonight in the pocket moley flower book.

I was still thinking about edges (lost, found, hard, soft) here...because I am more familiar with pen and ink work it was easier for me to think about the edges than with painting. That means you'll be seeing more pen and ink in the near future...

More Sketches for the Flower Book

Two more sketches done in the flower sketchbook. It's so fun to just let yourself go and sketch!

Lily and New Project

The above sketch is the first in my new black pocket cahier moleskine. I was rather inspired by Jeanette and Jeanne's participation in The Sketchbook Project. I thought hard about joining in, but decided that I didn't have time - which turned out to be true, I never would have finished it.

But, I still like the idea. I am thinking of filling this with flower sketches...