Maybe I’m Back

 This last week was the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) online Conference. It was good in just so many ways that I’d have a hard time explaining, except to say everybody needs to find their people and hang out with them for a week, even if it’s online. So very good for the soul.  One of the best things among many good things was the keynote talk by artist/author Austin Kleon, who talked about his artwork and its quilt connection and about making art and about writing—all in such an upbeat, inspiring way that I wanted more. So this morning I went searching for his website and his blog and I was not disappointed. He’s been blogging about as long as I have, but he didn’t peter out like I did. He says:

“One little blog post is nothing on its own, but publish a thousand blog posts over a decade, and it turns into your life’s work. This blog has been my sketchbook, my studio, my gallery, my storefront, and my salon. Absolutely everything good that has happened in my career can be traced back in some way to this blog. My books, my art shows, my speaking gigs, some of my best friendships—they all exist because I have my own little piece of turf on the Internet.”

And that paragraph brought back everything I loved about my blog. It brought me so many friends and opportunities. I can’t even count them, but they include TV shows, writing for magazines, the whole 12 by 12 project, including the book, the exhibits, the wonderful people! My writing improved. My thinking changed. I grew. I changed. I found my voice.  I’m not sure why I got away from it. Austin Kleon also said something like, “people think you write a blog because you have something to say, but, really, you start a blog and find something to say.”  So true. When I was blogging regularly I was aware of the world in a way I hadn’t been. I was observant, watching for what Ray called “blog fodder” but also what delighted me in big or small ways. I miss that. Maybe I can get it back. Maybe I can’t...

And now, because I can never bear to publish a blog post without a picture, here’s a little drawing I made of myself. 

I know, it doesn’t really look like me, but that’s not important. I quickly traced over a photo, without lifting the pencil—all one continuous line. (To be accurate, it is a digital drawing, so it was an Apple Pencil—). It’s a good exercise in finding the important parts and leaving out the rest. Make of that idea what you will. Try it.