I'm going to need that today.
My oldest son, Ben, is moving away tomorrow. Its difficult to think of anything else. He just graduated from RIT and has found a job in Denver. Colorado is a far cry from Maine. Its a strange feeling to be on one hand so proud of his accomplishments and on the other hand heavy hearted. I know he will do well and we, as a family, will be fine. Still the feeling within me today is quite unlike any feeling I've felt before.
It will be a day of packing and hugging, tears and laughter.
On the bright side, Colorado will be a future destination. I've never visited there before. It will be a wonderful photographic opportunity that will culminate with future Susan Roux paintings of the landscape. Knowing that experience awaits makes me smile.
I think back of when I first moved away from home. How excited I was to go off on my own! I couldn't wait to decorate my first apartment. I couldn't wait to go start my life, make my own decisions and do exactly what I wanted to do.
How different this feels from the parents point of view.
So class, come tonight. Bring with you that wonderful energy. I'll be needing it...
Hi Susan,
ReplyDeleteYour email posed some interesting questions about networking. Your blog doesn't appear to have a stat counter on it (unless like mine, it's invisible). Such a gadget is very useful when wanting to know how many and from where, visitors to your blog come. I'd recommend http://www.statcounter.com/ It's free, easy to install, and you won't believe what it reveals about your visitors.
The attraction in a blog (or MySpace, etc.,) is that a certain amount of traffic passes through. However, I have found in recent times that this has dwindled dramatically. I have musician friends who do really well out of MySpace, and are often offered gigs. But there seems no such equivalent site for painters on the internet. Many places are keen to have you join because they benefit from the advertising. But interest in one's work is often a totally different matter.
In very recent times I hid my own comment box because because 1, it tended to get in the way of my thought patterns, and 2, the people who commented regularly were people I meet up with anyway.
But here are a couple of things which bring me new readers:
1. When you post a picture, be sure to link it to a bigger version on somewhere like Photobucket. If you do a Google image search for Malt Cross Nottingham, Jam Cafe, Skegness Cinema, Colston Bassett Church, etc, (all places I've painted in recent times), my pictures come up within a page or two. That's because they are linked, and the title of the painting is retained in the link. (Photobucket retains the name in the link. Many other photo hosts do not).
2. I got quite a few readers from around the globe simply by reviewing David Hockney's recent exhibition in Nottingham. Also, when local Open Exhibitions are imminent, I tend to mention them, and get a lot of artists searching Google, wishing to find out entry details, etc.
I hope that's been of some help. Best wishes on your future creative pursuits.
ian G
J'attends vivement les futures peintures du Colorado de la grande SUSAN ROUX.
ReplyDeleteEn France je lisais petite : "Martine à la mer, Martine à la campagne, martine en vacance... Martine à la ferme (aujourd'hui il y a aussi Martine à la grange!!! lol)...
Je pourrai bientôt dire Susan au Colorado!
And I'm looking forward for great pictures from Colorado)
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to read about Ben graduated from RIT. My own graduating trial will take place in couple of weeks and I don't feel quite prepared.