A new Acquaintance, (Or several)

Ah... it’s nice to be back at the Blog. I’ve missed babbling on to my imaginary audience. That much touted female skill of multi-tasking appears to have deserted me completely these days, and I find now that I can only concentrate on one of my many interests at a time, so as the opening date of my last exhibition loomed, I had to step back from the keyboard and give painting my undivided attention. Much as I love painting, and it was great to see the new work come together, I also love playing with words and I’ve been dying to put fingers to the keys again.

So, new series of paintings made, neglected household chores attended to, friends and family visited, letters, emails, phone calls and texts replied to, and a bit of fun had in amongst all of that, I thought I could just sit right down and write myself a new Blog, only to find instead that I was staring at the blank page with absolutely nothing to say. Even scraping the barrel fetched up nothing more than a few lines of feeble uninspired drivel.

Reflecting on this drought of ideas or commentary, I realised I needed to get out more. I have spent far far too much time at home lately, and for me, the best Blogs, Articles and Sketches, are those observations of life played out in the everyday; not just in the home, but in the workplace, on the street, on the stage, in the park and leisure centre, in gallery or concert hall, school and college, or even, as a fellow Blogger, @Andytoots found last week, at the checkout of his local supermarket.

As it happened though, my firm determination to redress my reclusion was hindered somewhat by a new distraction, which has over the last few weeks kept me tied to the house and almost glued to my laptop: the discovery of the wonderful world of Twitter. My lovely friend @GillyLiz encouraged me to sign up earlier this year, but up until a few weeks ago I had no idea how to engage with it. My first few Tweets were embarrassingly dull (I dare say some might argue all my subsequent ones have been too) and I gave it up as a bad job, not knowing who to follow, how to attract followers myself and what the point of it was anyway.

During one of my unsuccessful attempts at returning to the Blog after the exhibition finished, I wandered, fed up and frustrated into Twitter again, and found that Gill had introduced me to some of her Twitter friends. On my Home page I had Hellos from various strangers waiting for me. These kind and charming people extended the virtual hand of friendship and in turn introduced me to their followers so that in the space of a few weeks I was happily exchanging mini messages with a host of people up and down the country, across the Atlantic, in various capital cities, and from the far shores of South Africa and New Zealand. People from all walks of life, professions, political views and religious persuasions, and with an array of diverse interests.

As I struggled to find my writing Mojo again, this sharing of Tweets has enabled me at least to engage in a little self expression, and even more excitingly, is introducing me to myriad new things across the board of art and culture, from recommendations of books, music and films, to striking up a dialogue and exchanging information with fellow artists working in many different fields.

One of the most interesting of these introductions has been to @elephantbird and his inspirational campaign to help protect the Madagascan rainforest. An artist himself, he has embarked on his Collective Egg project inspired by the Largest Egg known to science, that of the Elephant Bird, now extinct. Tim Grosvenor, aka, Elephantbird, is proposing that artists from the Twitter world make their contributions to a Collective Giant Egg Event around the theme of protecting our natural world and especially the rain forests. Through his Twitter dialogue with artists, which I can now follow, I am enjoying a window onto a whole new world of artwork, posted up on his Giant Egg Event “Posterous” page, and from the artists’ Twitter pages, links to their individual websites. It’s a great way to view the work of the army of artists out there working away in their studios across the world: people, whom without this cyber interaction, I would never have heard of, or had the pleasure of seeing their amazing, inspiring art.

Creative matters aside, I have also laughed more in the last three weeks than I have for a long time. There is an abundance of clever wit and entertaining humour cascading down the timeline throughout the day, as well as partisan views on all number of things expressed in such colourful language and fearless abandon that they have had me laughing out loud and chuckling hours later as it comes back to me. No place for political overcorrectness here.

I have seen large sums of money raised for charity by people contributing online to their Followers’ causes, as with @diaryofaledger ’s Tweetathon for his local voluntary emergency service, BASICS. I have experienced first hand the amazing community spirit of Twitter in the form of help with an IT problem, where a Twitter friend @domcoke connected remotely to my computer and sorted it for me, and a writer, @FatmanSlimming offering to do a critique of my own attempts at blogging. People post all sorts of queries and cries for help that are answered generously by their followers.

I have been moved and humbled by the kindness of @sarahezekiel, an MND sufferer and campaigner, who reached out with support when a dear friend of mine was recently diagnosed with this cruel disease, and @twowitwowoo a breast cancer survivor who shines with a happy spirit and sense of fun, and campaigns relentlessly to raise awareness and offer support to others.

And not least, I have been reassured by the collective conscience of Twitter when it rises up and defends victims of bigotry, injustice and intolerance, as witnessed in the recent backlash against Jan Moir’s vile attack on Stephen Gately in the Daily Mail. As Dan Snow, the historian and TV presenter said on the Andrew Marr show last Sunday, it was an incredible demonstration of democracy in action.

It is indeed a remarkable facility and social medium; a fantastic way to connect people from the four corners of the world. Which is all very well and wonderful, but is also very addictive, and I have found myself Twittering whole days away instead of engaging with the real world and doing what I’m supposed to be doing. Although I believe I have joined something valuable, rewarding and enlightening, I realise that if I am going to have anything at all to contribute to the Twitter Community, I must remember to also engage with my real life, and more importantly, I MUST GET OUT MORE and make some small observations of my own.

Haha . . . as a little Postscript, I want to give a special mention to the lovely @keithy73 who keeps us endlessly amused with his antics in the kitchen and down the pub, and his running commentary on the cricket. He is also very generous with his pay packet on a Friday and sends me virtual glasses of champagne which always put sparkle into the start of my weekend.