I need more technological simplicity in my life.
To that end, I’m facing the unpleasant reality that it is time to migrate my website and blog from WordPress to a simpler platform. It’s not a project or process I’m looking forward to but, the fact is, it’s a switch I can’t hold off any longer.
I’m probably the last to arrive at the party, but I’ve been swept up in the romance of a Blackwing pencil lately. Buttery smooth as it glides across the page, it brings a new delight to drawing. The downside is that it smudges, transferring to other pages — as you can see on the spread above. Plus, it has that graphite shine. But I do love the texture of its marks and how good it feels to draw with – so I plan to pick up a few more.
What I’ve learned so far is that transferring the website content shouldn’t be anywhere near the challenge of moving my blog. Considering that I have been posting consistently since November of 2014 — weekly for the first five years and biweekly ever since — that adds up to a crazy 426 posts, including today’s.
I do love an asymmetrical composition. Started here with the Blackwing, followed by spots of color and a richer black.
Logistically, it would be way too overwhelming to carry all of them over from one platform to the other, so I am going to have to do some serious weeding. My plan is to set up an archive on my new site which will include a selection of previous posts and then just carry on from there. The full blog digest, as it is today, will be unavailable once the migration is complete.
How lovely it is to have the garden coming back to life – the perfect setting for quick captures.
The biggest challenge is deciding which posts to transfer. I will be going through my backlog to choose the ones that seem most relevant to readers in the future, but any input you may have would be a huge help and very much appreciated.
With that in mind, I’d like to take an informal poll:
- In general, are pasts posts of any value to you?
- Are there any which you particularly remember and would like to be able to refer to again in the future?
In the past and moving forward, what is most beneficial and of interest to you?
- Descriptions of process?
- Book recommendations?
- Sharing random content? (Articles, Artists, YouTube videos, Art Supplies)
- Exhibition reviews?
- Travel recaps?
- General musings?
- Other?
I’ll look forward to your thoughts in the comments, or please feel free to email me directly. Thanks!!
I’ll be plugging away in the background for the foreseeable future and will keep you updated.
✶
Meanwhile…
As I move along in my “season of practice“, this Substack post by James Gurney (about the value of working small and in sketchbooks) really resonated with me. How about you?