A New Challenge

This photo is of the entrance to our property. As it happens, it's right by the river we live on, which recently experienced the most enormous flood seen in decades! Which is the reason for the big patch of missing bitumen and the dead, flattened grass.

My blog feels a bit like our entrance...a bit tired, a bit worn, kind of neglected; all the necessary infrastructure in place, but in great need of some fixing up and some prettying up in order to make the experience a pleasant one (let me tell you - driving over that grid is far from pleasant!). SO, I've signed up for a "Blog Triage Class" with Alyson Stanfield and Cynthia Morris. 4 weeks of first aid for my blog (or maybe for me - 'cos I feel in need of some first aid- or at very least, a kick start!)

And on day one there's homework! Today, I'm to describe the people I want to visit and read my blog, and what I want to get out of it. Well, I'm kind of outrageously excited if anyone reads this blog! But, if pushed, I guess I would hope that people from all walks of life might enjoy a visit. One of my motivations in starting the blog was to reach out to people through my art; people who maybe have no connection to a rural community, and give a glimpse into how we live and work and what motivates us. Kind of building a bridge between city and country. As I've written posts and received your treasured comments, I have been excited to discover some international visitors as well! Obviously, I love that I have some artist visitors, and I have begun to cultivate some lovely connections with artists as a result of this blog. I have also enjoyed picking up with old acquaintances here. I guess, I would like to attract a reader who appreciates art, creativity, family, simple pleasures and who recognises gratitude as one of life's greatest attitudes. I'm not sure if I'm answering my first assignment at all well...I might fail day one!!

As for what I want to get from blogging - Well, I love to write! I probably don't always make a great deal of sense, but it's a creative outlet that I really enjoy, and the opportunity to share it with anyone who is inclined appeals to me. I am a prolific journaller, and I see the blog as a visual extension of that (except that you will never get to read here the bad language and dreadful temper tantrums I sometimes have in my personal journal - I like you way too much to do that to you!!). There's also the aspect of 'marketing' for want of a better word, I'd be lying if I said that at least some of my motivation isn't to get my work in front of a wider audience. Maybe a better way to put that is 'to share my work' - I don't think many artists create without the thought of sharing their work and growing from the experience of peoples responses to that work. Also - I live a long way from anywhere! There is a social contact aspect to this blogging business that is a pure delight for a woman whose constant companions are manure covered men, dogs who love rolling in dead things and cattle whose vocabulary is limited to "MOO".

I hope that the next four weeks are fun for us all, and that over the course of the class, you will see some changes here that are improvements! I'd love to hear what you think, and have to confess I have no real idea what we're in for! I'm open to anything at this point!

As for our entrance, I'm not sure the future is quite as promising! Much of what's needed there is the responsibility of our Shire Council - and on past performances, I'm not holding my breath that we'll see that road fixed any time soon! I'll keep you posted!