Archive for the ‘Classes’ Category

15
Nov

Why Do You Read Blogs?

   Posted by: Barb Hartsook Tags: , , ,

Why would anyone come to read my blog Over Coffee? Or any blog for that matter?

The question was the first in my blogging class homework assignment, and it has kept me wondering for the past two weeks. Why indeed?

Why read my blog? For the same reasons I read those similar to mine, I suppose. I read them for:

  • Stories I can relate to.
  • The art work, occasional tips or tutorials.
  • Upbeat approach to life without being overbearing.
  • A comfy place to come and listen and look.
  • A sense of community and conversation.
  • A safe environment to think, maybe widen my perceptions, apply a new technique or principle to my life or to my own art(s).
  • An invitation to participate, to share a thought.

Over Coffee is a place to tell my stories in order to remind my readers of their own. Then invite them, encourage them, to share those stories in the comment section, or perhaps on their own blogs, as a post. I want my readers to leave feeling validated, so they’ll come back.

fabricsandtrims-signedToday I discovered and spent a bit of time in Jane Brocket’s Yarnstorm Blog. Reading it is like sitting with the writer over a cup of steaming tea (hers) and a mug of hot coffee (mine), listening to her tales and walking through her experiences as she shares her thoughts and photos. It’s memoir-like, and fascinating.

Her interests are varied — from books she’s reading and photos she’s taken, to yarns and fabrics she creates with, to foods as an art form, to paintings and the stories they evoke, to her home and family.

She appreciates many things, as might a precocious child full of wonder, and she writes well about all of them.

I created this painting from a blank canvas using Painter X, playing with various brushes in the program just to see what they would do. I called it Fabrics and Trims — but maybe there’s a yarn or too in the mix. :)

It’s a snowy, blustery day in northern Ohio. Thank you for coming by.

Please help yourself to coffee (there are chocolates in the Old World treasure box), and tell me, What do you look for (want to find) in a blog? Can you add to my list?

Barb

More paintings in my galleries


21
Jun

We Covet Old Crockery…

   Posted by: Barb Hartsook Tags: , , , , , ,

An old crockery pot lay against a crooked stone wall. Dusty and hot in the sun. Chipped just a tiny piece in the back. I nudged it with my toe, and while I knocked loose part of the stone behind it, nothing crawled out, so I considered it safe to pick up. I blew off some of the dust, wiped a bit of the grime away, and thought I might have found a treasure. How old? Who was to say, and what difference did it make? What I saw was beautiful… and I had a use for it. It was brand new to me. Read the rest of this entry »

This was one of those mornings when coffee and a good book would have been enough. The air was quiet, the sun just yawning, ready to rise with me, and my comfy morning chair beckoned… Read the rest of this entry »