This week’s EBSQ Blogger of the Week is an inspiration. It makes so difference what medium she chooses to work in, her art speaks to the heart.

Who and where are you?

I’m Ruth J Jamieson and thank you for featuring me as blogger of the week.   I’m a visual artist and potter, though I have been on hiatus from clay for a number of years.  I live and work in a little house my family and I built on the beautiful north shore of Lake Nipissing, in northern Ontario, Canada.  My dining room is my studio and I watch the sun travel the sky and watch glorious sunsets many evenings while I work.  I would say my current artistic focus is on photography and fractal art.  I also create many digital art images by combining various elements including my photographs and fractals.

How did you get started art blogging?

I never really thought about blogging until 2009.  I had begun reading various topical blogs on a semi-regular basis, but felt it was more of a commitment than I was able to make at the time.  Finally though I set up a blog on Blogger and began featuring my artist friends periodically.  My posting frequency dwindled off and my blog languished while I dealt with other issues until late 2010 when I decided that if I was going to blog, I was going to blog regularly.  So now I have my original blog, remixed as “Isn’t This a Fine Kettle of Fish”, in which I now intend to chronicle what is happening in my studio and shops.  I have added two new blogs, THE ZAZZLE REVIEW, and THE ETSY TIMES which feature a Zazzler or an Etsian weekly.  As well I now do an artist feature weekly on my website blog.  So Monday, Wednesday and Friday are now blog posting days at my house.

Any tips for other EBSQ art bloggers?

Blog regularly, at least once per week, preferably more often.  Posts don’t have to be long or complicated but they should be genuine and share a little of you with your readers.  Think about the kinds of things you like to read about in other artist’s blogs, what kind of posts keep you coming back to your regularly visited blogs.

It is VERY important to have pictures in every blog post.  Readers like to see what they’re reading about.  Keep your text in short, easy to read paragraphs with white space between them.  Save the fancy flourishy text for titles or effect, the main text should be in a clear, simple, easy to read font, in a color that contrasts with the background.  Be sure to activate links for anything that has a web presence.  CHECK THE LINKS, make sure they work properly.

CONNECT, CONNECT, CONNECT!  Your blog should link to the rest of your online presence and the rest of your online presence should link to your blog.  This gives you an organized, competent, professional web profile.  Be sure to have easy access for people to join, follow or subscribe to your blog, have a search feature on your blog and make it easy for visitors to share your blog via email, twitter, facebook and other sites if possible.

Be sure to reply to every comment made on your blog.  Check out your followers and their blogs, if they have one (or more).  Network with those blogs and others to build your visibility and draw traffic to your blog and your business.

What’s your musical inspiration of choice when you’re working in your studio?

I rarely listen to music while working.  I work in my dining room which adjoins the kitchen and living room, so I get to listen to The Weather Network or whatever the family has on television and the sounds of activity in the kitchen.  When everyone is out or elsewhere in the house, I prefer quiet.  The only time I really feel like having music while I work is when I am working on Christmas themed art.  Then I like to have Christmas music playing quietly.

What’s coming next from your easel?

What a question!  I have so much to do this year it boggles my mind.  Currently I am working on a 72 image series, which I want to complete before Pesach begins on April 18.  The series is of the 72 Names of God.  This is a Kabbalistic series.  The images are digital collages of vector graphics, fractal images, photographs and Hebrew and English text.

I have set hefty goals for building my Zazzle shops this year.  In particular I will be tackling more ‘occasion’ oriented images and designs for my newest shop.  This is in addition to building a more robust inventory in my two original Zazzle shops.

I am also trying to keep up with the new EBSQ Fractal Challenge.  I’m liking the challenge as it has prodded me to create some new fractal images.  I have a very large library of existing fractals that I created and work with, but it is good to add more for future use.  Photographically, I continue to follow the seasons as I do each year and add to my inventory of images to draw from when I am creating digital works.  I think I need an assistant just to manage my image inventory.

This is turning into a busy, busy, busy year!

http://ruthjjamieson.blogspot.com/

Thank you Ruth for being an EBSQ Blogger of the Week!

If you are an EBSQ Artist and would like to be considered for Blogger of the Week just add us to your blogroll. I’m searching EBSQ profiles weekly for links to artist’s blogs. If you aren’t an EBSQ Artist, what are you waiting for?