Will the Circle be Unbroken

This month is the 1st anniversary of the "mike rooney studios-a painting ALMOST everyday" blog. applause noise inserted here,,,,,
"first i'd like to thank,,,," LOL

no seriously, just as i get all sentimental and reflective on january first of every year, this blogging anniversary made me want to reflect, in words, on what it has meant, as it relates to my life as an artist. heres what i came up with.....

Todays post is going to be about blogging. the upside, the downside, the sideways stuff that i have found after doing it one whole year.

as you know, other than the last couple of months, because of events beyond my control, i have posted ALMOST every day for nearly a year. thats alot of paintings, alot of words, and inane thoughts to float around in cyberspace (they say) forever and ever. heres what ive found listed by category, from worst to greatest....

Downright sucks about blogging-
when youre tired from painting all day and it was 100 degrees and all you want to do is eat because its 9 pm, you have to shoot that days painting, making sure there's no glare on it, its not blurry, photoshop the image to make the colors truer, contrast better, hurry i'm about to faint from hunger. remember?
post the photo to blogger, think of a title, write something interesting that people wont fall asleep reading. did i mention that i'm tired and sleepy, as well as hungry LOL
then hit 'publish post', go back and see if it all looks right and you didnt mispell anything. whewwwww! glad that parts done. oh yeah gotta check email while i pop a pop tart in the microwave for supper. done for the day. wow,,,,, 10 o'clock already?

people who dont blog have no idea the time it takes to do online lessons like susan greaves, or write up a post that could go into an instructional manual on painting like frank gardner, or post every (i mean every) day like stephen magsig.
we do it because we love to do it but its grueling! and if you take a week off you feel like youre letting everybody down. your readers, your fellow artists, and mostly yourself because youre a daily painter. thats alot of pressure.

The cool thing about blogging-

Doing small daily paintings is immediate gratification. you paint the little sucker, you take a pic of it, upload it and BOOM your little baby is on the worldwide web for anybody with a computer and internet access from Eastern NC to Mars to see. some want to buy it, some artists want to copy it, some galleries want to hang it, some want to email you and tell you what it reminds them of in their childhood.
another thing i noticed was the comraderie of the blogging community of artists ive met since doing this. theyre from all over. texas, virgin islands, two hours from me in durham, nc, all over. and when i had my small absence they all wrote and encouraged me and told me things that only us artists know, because we are artists. they know the joys, the insecurities, the dedication needed to succeed, and its pitfalls. as only a fellow brother or sister of the brush could know.
thanks you guys!

i also know that blogging is good for the art business and a painters career. that blogging doesnt stop gallery sales, but enhances it. how do i know this?
well take today for example. i sold some small daily paintings to a gallery owner. i have sold tons to gallery owners and their employees.
i was asked once did i think that selling the small dailies would hurt my gallery business. i responded a resounding "no". these little gems are (what some bloggers have dubbed) appetizers and not the main course, when it comes to works of art. they sell cheap, most are small studies for larger works that will be in galleries at a substantially higher cost. so NO they wont hurt gallery sales.
then later today i sold a bunch of large gallery paintings to one of my daily painting collectors, thus closing the circle and completing the circuit. some want to start off small and very affordably and build up to buying one of my more expensive and more substantial pieces. so today was cool in the fact that i sold a gallery owner some small ones, and someone who had small ones bought several of my bigger ones from a gallery.
this is what blogging has meant to me this year. and thanks for sticking with this long post as the cardinal rule is keep a post short or they wont read it. hopefully if you stayed this long you enjoyed my take on this crazy world of blogging.
i'd like to thank those of you who have bought my paintings over the last year, and those of you who tell me you stop by several days a week to see where i'm painting or what i've painted. thanks to my blogging artist buddies who have encouraged me, and inspired me with your beautiful view of the world around you. it has enriched me tremendously.

i'm hungry and tired now and must sign off till tomorrow, bye LOL