I began, and then abandoned, this site, several years ago. I decided to revive it after I  got further with my writing projects of 2018-19, getting several books of memoirs and short stories ready for publication. I thought soon enough I would be painting in earnest again and when I did, I would do something about this painting site. My other sites are pretty well-developed and self-subsistent, even if old-fashioned. This one is the most hesitant and uncertain, in conception and execution.

I had almost forgotten I had this site. My first WordPress theme for the site, Qua, was a bad choice in the first place. The difficulties in making it work meant I no longer enjoyed even trying to develop it.  The problems were a function of the design of the theme as much as of my inability to understand it technically. I am still not sure this one is a good theme for me either. WordPress has several new Portfolio themes which might work better. Part of the problem is to decide whether or not I plan to sell from the site. I think, probably not. I am looking into online gallery alternatives such as Blue Thumb.

This theme looks elegant and minimalist but offers familiar forms of editing and layout.  I also keep a hand-written journal – more than one in fact – with sketches and small photos and ideas, and that will probably play a major part in the further development of my work. If it ever happened that I was satisfied enough to want to sell paintings/drawings, I would go back to Artwork Archive which for a modest but still significant annual fee allows you to keep track of everything happening with the work you produce.  I subscribed for a while but after being forced to leave my Leichhardt studio and deciding to throw out many of my early paintings there wasn’t much point in continuing with it. If it ever happens that my work becomes worth cataloguing or even selling, I will go back to it. Check it out here. This is an example of how their pages look. You can keep location and sales information, exhibitions and shows entered and even generate reports using a fairly simple and intuitive software platform. I like it so much I’m sorry I don’t have enough work to put on it!

In upcoming posts I will update where I am up to and put up some examples of recent work and work in progress, and musings and thoughts about other artists who have recently intrigued and fascinated me.