August 28, 2015

Blogging


These are the images that illustrated my first blog post on August 1, 2009. They were accompanied by a brief paragraph:
Bees are gathering pollen in squash blossoms. The raspberry canes are loaded with berries, so it's a good day for making jam. I use the long cooking method, with 3/4 cup sugar for every cup of crushed berries. By using 1/4 to 1/2 unripe berries, the jam is sure to thicken. 

That was it, though on the same day I also published two posts with images of recent textiles. At the time, either there weren't the do-it-yourself websites widely available, or I didn't know of them, so in order to have an online presence after losing my NYC gallery I decided to start a blog. I knew that I wanted to combine my work with the natural world around me, and at the beginning I did that, in very short blog posts, published 5 or 6 times a week, sometimes more, with more than one post a day. As time went on, I wrote longer posts, and tried to balance the subjects between my work; the artwork of others, both contemporary and historical, with a bit of writing on other fields such as literature and film; and the natural world, including my garden, the woods, and as a tangent, recipes.

I wanted to explain to my longtime and new readers, during this anniversary month, how my thoughts about keeping up with this blog have changed over the years. At the beginning, I would just toss off a thought or two; I would often show work in progress, step by step. Now I show only finished work because I'm not interested in showing my progress; now I only write a post if I feel I have something substantial to show and write about. Since I've now written so much, many subjects have been covered; take a look at the "Some Favorite Posts" on the right sidebar of the blog to see some of them. The result of this is that I may write posts 2 or 3 times a week, or sometimes less. I still love doing this: I love sharing my work and my ideas about it; I love the process of writing, as it helps me to understand my thinking; I love taking photographs.....I will just do it less often.


10 comments:

  1. Dear Altoon, As a relative newcomer to your work and blogs, I wanted you to know how much I appreciate them. I have shared them with friends. Thank you!!! kathy

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  2. It's an amazing body of work Altoon. My heartiest thank you for all that you have shared.

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  3. Thank you for sharing all this goodness.

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  4. Thanks so much for the kind comments.

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  5. Everyone is happy when a new one appears.
    We know you have a life in between.
    Thank you.

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  6. I tell people to go read your blog if they want to see what it can be -- and so they can read what you have to say on many subjects. I'm impressed with how you've kept this up, too. I'm glad you still like doing it!

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  7. Altoon, I've always enjoyed your work, and for awhile now -your blog. You are very good here. I've been blogging for 9 years, much like yourself, very eagerly at first. Eventually one must slow down because it can take a good amount of time, with photos and words -these are needy things. As is art. I hope you keep on, as it is quite good, and you do what I had hoped to do so well.

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  8. Thanks again. Hearing from you is encouraging, and though I won't post so often, I will keep going.

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  9. I'm a lurker on your blog. Although I am a scientist, I enjoy reading art blogs. I enjoy reading blogs about the process of making in general. Thank-you for your generosity over the years in showing your processes. It is time consuming, and I understand why you will slow down your blogging.

    I'll continue to read.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading, bmgm. I'm pleased that someone in another discipline enjoys reading these posts.

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