ICAD 2024 - Week 2 and Hello ... Is There Anybody in There? ...

 ... Just nod if you can hear me ... Is there anyone home? Any Pink Floyd fans out there? I'm not a huge fan, but Comfortably Numb seems to stick with me and seems apt for the moment. As I shared earlier this year, I've really wanted to try to get back to blogging regularly in 2025, and while I think I've probably written more posts in the first half of 2025 than I did in all of 2024 at this point, I still wouldn't call it the "regular" posting I was hoping to do. Funny how things that were once strong habits can so easily fall to the wayside in this crazy over-saturated, internet-driven world. I do miss the more in-depth writing part of the old blogging world that's been taken over by the immediacy and in-your-face video streams of Tik Tok and, more and more now, Instagram. I've been checking out Substack lately, not posting anything myself, but enjoying the more long-format writing you can find there, and one of my old blog friends who I really enjoyed following, Christine Mason Miller, is now on Substack. I'm so glad I found her there. She recently shared a post there about this very thing - what happened to blogging? - and it really resonated with me. Maybe it will with you as well. 

I'm not doing ICAD (index card a day) this year, but I'm still sharing my ICAD 2024 work with you ... you know, since I shared hardly anything here in 2024! This was week two for me, above, and a close up of my favorite for the week below. I do miss doing ICAD but my world is still just in a bit of a mess right now like I shared here, and we're still working through all sorts of things that continue to come our way, so my art making time has been slim to none. I'm in the process of moving mostly back home to Jacksonville, as I've been given the go-ahead to work more fully remote for this next academic year. My daughters finished up undergrad this summer and are moving into my Tallahassee house for grad school, so while I'm not having to pack up and move the whole house, I am packing up and moving all my art supplies back home to Jacksonville. And I'm not ashamed to admit I, like most of us who have a variety of creative interests, have far more art supplies than I truly need! So it's still a rather large process. I've been trying to load up the back of my SUV with whatever will fit every time I go home, but I fear a small U-Haul may be in my future.

So ... Hello! IS there anybody out there? If you've come across this post, I'd love for you to leave me a comment so I know you were here. Just say hello and let me know where you are! And if you are following someone on Substack you'd like to recommend, please do! 

      

ICAD 2024 - Week 1

Since I've neglected this ole' blog a bit, I'm going to start sharing some things from past art journaling and #the100daysproject challenges that I've not shared here yet. We'll start with ICAD 2024! 

ICAD stands for index card a day, and Tammy over at Daisy Yellow has been leading this challenge for many years! I've been participating in it for several years as well, though the past few years, I've used a vintage rolodex instead of index cards. I love flipping through it! The thing about these challenges - for me, anyways - is that in order for them to be enjoyable, I've long ago accepted that I won't finish them "on time." Creating every day is just not feasible for me with my work and family responsibilities, and frankly, some days I just plain don't have the energy. And that's okay!!! I've always felt that if I start to feel too pressured to post every single day on Instagram (where most of the challenges that place), then that takes the fun out of it. Sure, my posts might not be seen as part of the challenge once I've fallen behind enough that the challenge is over but I'm still working, but I'm okay with that!  The benefit for me is eventually working through all the prompts, regardless of when they are done. They are meant to be fun, so I refuse to be too hard on myself. I hope you'll be easy on yourself as well.