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July 15, 2004

Priorities

First off, thanks to the folks who commented and e-mailed regarding my little crisis of confidence; your support is much appreciated. I was feeling burned out for a variety of reasons, and I felt that I needed to step back from this weblog for a while, look at why I'm doing it, and decide whether or not it can continue in its present form.

I've come to the conclusion that this is something I enjoy doing, but I need to do it on my own terms and in my own style; that may seem self-explanatory, but it isn't. I felt a subtle pressure to post more often than I probably should, and consequently I created entries that I consider substandard, or not totally true to my own interests...that had to change.

In the meantime, due to some unforseen schedule changes at work, it looks like I'm going to be on a semi-hiatus by default. I was tapped to teach a two-week class in Boulder later this month, so my course-development schedule has now become compressed accordingly. Planning for my family trip to Spain in August has to go onto the front-burner also, and our failed attempt to sell our house is going to require some mop-up as well.

So here's the skinny: if I come across something that's unique, wonderful, true to my interests, and if time permits, I will post it here. Otherwise, I'm going to concentrate on family, work, and the outside world.

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a yearling buck, who still has velvet on his horns, standing outside my window. I'm going to go have a closer look.

July 11, 2004

Sunday Pre-thunderstorm Lowbrow

As imminent heavy rainstorms appear ready to put the kibosh on my outdoor activities for most the day, I suppose I may as well post something here.

Quite frankly, I'm getting to the point where blogging is beginning to seem more like a chore than a pleasure. Despite the effort I put into it, and the growth in reciprocal blogroll links from some very respectable weblogs, my basic readership hasn't increased at all in the last 6 months. It makes me question whether I've reached the point of diminishing returns and burnout. Maybe I need to go on hiatus for a while.

That's enough whining, I suppose. I think the low barometric pressure is getting to me.

I picked up the most-recent issue of Juxtapoz yesterday, and as usual, found a whole lot of great lowbrow art websites whilst perusing its glossy pages, and discovered a few tangents of my own. Here's the ones that I took a likin' to:

Ron English
Albert Carranza
Clayton Brothers
Joanne Stephens
Shaunna Peterson

That was inspiring. I think I'm gonna go down in the basement now and work on the collage I've been trying to finish for the last year.