Caution: Construction Ahead

While the blog has been quiet, it has not been forgotten. On the contrary, I've been thinking about it a lot. I'm currently in the beginning stages of an upgrade to the site.

Changing your website is like making changes in your life: you look at what isn't working, try not to make the same mistakes, and attempt to make new choices that will improve it. You also have to be realistic in what is attainable (based on your ability, talents and resources).

The site isn't going to look much different. I don't have the resources to hire a web designer who does theme work. And that's ok. The focus is on organization and usability. And refocusing the main goal.

My goals for and the purpose of this site has changed slightly since it was first built. It was about decorating for Halloween, and resources attributed to that. But it was done at a time when it was harder to find good resources, and fellow haunters who were doing more than cutting out a couple of paper bats for their "display". Sure, the site is still about resources and haunters, but the scope has changed. It's also about approaching/embracing these works as art. And highlighting my art, and the art of other fellow Halloweenists.

I think that is the fundamental difference, though it may seem slight. We're not just celebrating Halloween, we are all artists. Many of us don't just create a basic papermache item anymore; we use more than one medium WITH papermache. We're experimenting with clays, paint techniques and tools, armatures, and so on. And with that evolution, my content on the site started to change.

If it hadn't changed, you'd be seeing basic instructions on building pneumatic props and how to best program animatronics for beginners. That's the road I was headed down at the start of all this, and I probably would have been pretty good at it by now. If that was still the focus. But somewhere I turned onto a new road. And it was more about detail for me. More about what spoke to me, and my own journey as an artist.

Some of you are ahead of me on this artistic path. Some of you are beside me. Some of you are a few steps behind. But I've watched many of you grow in regard to your creations. And push yourself. And create. And experiment. And be glorious artists, even if you don't see yourself as one right now or think you don't deserve to use the word.

Thank you so much, by the way, for sharing your journey with me. It has been an honour and a pleasure.

And so, the site needs to be tweaked to accommodate this shift.

Who needs New Year's Resolutions? A simple upgrade of the website has caused me to be just as reflective of the past and proactive of the future.