Starting a new blog reminds me of opening a new notebook. The blank pages stare at you waiting. There’s the thrill of starting something fresh, but also the hesitation and pressure to write something worthwhile. (Anyone else have a collection of new unused notebooks? Stationery lovers unite)! Of course, the difference being, a blog is about as public as it gets. Over the past year, I’ve read far too many “how to start a blog” and “how to choose a niche” articles. I’ve picked apart and analyzed my favourite blogs. In the end, all this research overwhelmed me and it detracted from why I wanted to start this blog in the first place.
I needed a creative outlet, outside of my photography business. A place for me to wander without constraints. There came a point along the way where I realized I had lost the desire to create for myself, for my own enjoyment. So here you will find me blogging about my creative ventures, favourite recipes to bake and navigating life as a twenty-something.
I also yearned for a place to share my thoughts in the faith and culture realms. Thoughts as I process them, as if on loose leaf paper — perhaps incomplete and with questions, but embracing that.
I’m the type of person who doesn’t really know what I think until I’m forced to sit down and write about it. I find my thoughts are fragmented and fleeting — I need an avenue to develop, organize or refine them. I hope this opens up conversations and that you join me through the process. Perhaps you will be encouraged to do the same.
Why the name “Looseleaf Artist?” It’s a combination of the above. It’s a title that reminds me I am an artist and I don’t have it all figured out. I am wandering and figuring out who I am along with my purpose on a daily basis.
N.T. Wright says the vocational challenge for the believing artist is “to tell the story of the new world so that people can taste it, and want it, even while acknowledging the reality of the desert in which we presently live.” Further, he says, we must seek “to re-imagine and re-express the beauty of God, to life our sights and change our vision of reality” (Source). This is an intimidating challenge to undertake in my life, but I am encouraged to try.
I invite you to follow along with me.