I've been reflecting on what I started in my last post. I started my blog (when it was over on typepad) to document my creative journey at a hugely transformational time for me. I had just discovered art journalling and my horizons expanded exponentially. Blogging went hand in hand with that for me - part gallery, part journal, part compass - I was writing for me and an audience was impossible to imagine, never mind write toward.
With time, I discovered a tribe of people online who were in a similar place in their own evolution. I found a medium that I loved in artist books. In just a few years, I went from keeping my creative dabblings all but secret, shared with only my very nearest and dearest, to sharing freely online, studying art and design, attending art retreats and selling my work. That's the short version anyway.
Then I joined another course, chosen to push my professional practice further. I was thrilled to be accepted, as selection was by interview and portfolio. I was working part-time and looking at how I could grow my fledgling art business.
Then. The bend in the river. The big change in the Mr's work life. The unforeseen opportunity in my 'other' career. The painful realisation that this course was squashing me, not nourishing me.
Leaving my course and going back to full-time work meant that I had to change my ideas about the practicalities of growing as an artist. The disappointment and emotional exhaustion from my abandoned course left me bereft of inspiration or creative energy.
And I've learned that when I am not growing I am not blogging. Ah well. After a good prune and a dormant period, growth begins again.