My last post was about my friend John and concluded with a call to action, learned from my relationship with him, to share more of yourself even when you (or whatever you’re trying to create) are not perfect.
Over the past year, as I was finishing work and feeling ready to emerge from my self-imposed cocoon and start connecting more with people again, I considered that lesson and gave some thought to what felt right in terms of pushing myself to be available in a broader way in the current landscape.
It probably sounds a bit backwards, but for me, that meant finally deleting my Twitter profile, which I hadn’t used in years anyway.
I am embarrassed to say I had really only kept it because Ai Weiwei and some other artists and galleries I respected had followed me. I felt dumb when I realized I would be happy with just taking screenshots of my followers and deleting it, so that’s exactly what I did.
I don’t actively use Facebook or Instagram, and I decided not to delete them, but also decided I still had no interest in using them (or having them use me).
After some cranky consideration of offering to send out handwritten notes, I decided to move my blog to Substack as a way to make myself available to a larger audience in a way that doesn’t give me the heebie-jeebies.
So, I will be launching my newsletter, Show & Tell, there next week.
The focus is going to be similar to this blog, but with less detail about my process and more of my “bringing in” things to share with you: words and images I’ve foraged in my ongoing learning about art and artists and the creative process. Like this quote I read yesterday in Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act, which I highly recommend, and which seemed wonderfully coincidentally relevant:
And then I’ll still share behind-the-scenes shots of things I’m creating, like this new painting I was working on last week:
Because it’s running through Substack, these emails will now be coming from my account there, so I wanted to be sure you aren’t surprised or suspicious when that happens.
Substack does also have an app where you can easily read it (and thankfully their app has no spam or ads) if you prefer that.
And I want to be clear that although lots of people use Substack to monetize their articles, this subscription will always be free.
I just checked and discovered I started this blog in January of 2013. Twelve years!
I have greatly enjoyed sharing with you the many things I learned in the studio along the way, and what they taught me about life in general. Thank you so much for your continued interest and support.