I love blogging. It’s never a chore, always a delight. It's good to share but also a way of keeping some of my favourite (and not so favourite!) pieces together. It’s fun to look back at and to review how my art has improved when I look at the start of my blog and compare with what I am doing now.
I have always blogged for myself, as a record of my journey, as a motivation for regular sketching because I think it’s very important to keep my skills sharp by practising art regularly. I was surprised when people started to follow my blog and delighted too.
A blog also helps to motivate you as you may want to paint or sketch something to put on the blog, although I have found that I tend to do it the other way round - I sketch/paint and then think hey I could put this on the blog. It’s fun to share and every now and then someone comments and it’s lovely to get that feedback too.
I have never felt pressured to make regular posts – I tend to just post as and when I feel like it. Looking at my blog stats many people are still viewing my old posts so nothing is lost, they’re still visiting my site – I think the search engines put you higher on their listings the more often you blog. You do not really have to worry about getting internet traffic as if you use Blogger it does it all for you – at least it seems to because I get traffic even though I do not actively do anything to attract it other than post. I think the labels you attach may help with this.
Blogger is very easy to use and I like the layout. I tried Wordpress but did not like it as much. I also have a website with Sitekreator for my real paintings and artwork for sale. I find I update the blog much more often than the website.
Blogging is like an artist's sketchbook – it gives an insight into who you are. I find reading other people’s blogs very interesting and I hope others find my own of interest.
