Interlude: Thoughts on the Blog's Future

So I've been debating with myself for some time over certain aspects of the Blog (there's probably a dirty pun there if you look hard enough). Every post so far has some images, and those images are either exclusively by me, or reference for something done by me, and this was fully intentional.  This has its advantages; after all, this is an art blog, but also some disadvantages.  For one, it means that I can only post about subjects I have images for, rather than any old thing, and for another it means I can only post as often as I have work to show.  Sometimes though I want to talk about other things, sometimes art related, sometimes just random things that I want to vent about.  Sometimes I want to write something that may require images that I didn't take, or paint, or use as reference.

I think this post is only the third time I've written written a post with no image content, although this one at least has an icon, the others didn't.  Interested in what I have to say rather than show?  Carry on then dedicated follower (you mad crazy fool).

I've decided that since I have a perfectly good blog here I'll use it for more than posting my artwork and progression.  Not all the time, I won't be posting about what a delicious Sunday Dinner I had on Monday (although I did as it goes, the Yorkshire Pudding was amazing), but occasionally. Could be movie reviews, could be my thoughts on a book or TV show.  Probably won't be political or religious (why bother? I don't follow either to a great extent and it would likely upset people).  Irregular, as I said, whenever the mood strikes me.

More frequently (I'll be aiming for probably once a month) I'll post a something brief about another artist that impresses me, or inspires me.  Those may be of more interest to the regular readers of the blog, over some random artist's thoughts on the latest J.J. Abrams film (extremely fun, if rather vacuous, if you were curious).  There will also be the existent A-Musing posts as well, except now I won't feel duty bound to supply my own images if others are perfectly sufficient (they'll all be credited where possible though). I don't have titles to distinguish the new types of post from the regular ones as yet, but I'm thinking something along the lines of "Mad Ramblings" and "Artstanding".  They'll carry icons similar to the one heading this post as well, as a more visual indicator.

All that should mean that the blog gets updated a little more regularly (I'll be happy with three times a month), even if it's not always with my own personal progression.  Regarding that progression, to be honest I've had difficulty keeping my motivation up lately (you may have noticed a distinct decline in speepaints or more finished works).  I'm really not sure why this is, but I'm fighting to not simply stop altogether as last time I did that I didn't start again really for a decade, and this blog is the result.  I've recently finished another book cover, although you probably won't see that for several months, and I've started on the next (the most ambitious so far, and possibly the most ambitious of all of them).  I've also begun work on a painting I've been putting off doing for about 18 months.  I think getting it done will clear that aspect out of my head and allow me to move on.  Who knows, it might be the issue... But more likely it was looking back on old work for the retrospective and realizing I still wasn't terribly happy with many of the things I've produced.  Practice makes perfect and all that, which is another reason I refuse to give up n this long term growth project.

If you've made it this far then well done, you deserve a reward.  Do you want one?  Well, maybe if I get some comments regarding your thoughts on the above I'll have a competition or something.  Do a sketch for you to win, or a digital piece of your choosing or something of that ilk.  Since comments are rare I'm betting I won't have to follow up on that promise, but it sounds like fun if there's enough interest.

That's all for now folks, next up should be a speedpaint post, unless I decide to write one on Doctor Who or Orphan Black in the mean time. I can do that now, how liberating.