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An Introduction to the Blog

October 20, 2021

Hi, I'm Desiree. At the time of writing this, I am 29 years old and I live in Iowa, the one and only state I have ever lived in. I am an artist who up until this point has primarily made my living off of graphic design and illustration. In general, I like to make stuff. Sometimes that stuff takes the form of printmaking, or fiber arts, or book arts, or digital media.

I've had several iterations of my website over the years, but I've never successfully maintained a blog. With social media falling deeper and deeper into a consumerist hellscape, I figured now was a good time to channel my desire to connect with people online into a medium that I have more control over. This platform will be a mixture of images and words, similar to a social media feed. It seems a lot more difficult to build a blog audience these days when time and attention is so scarce, but if nothing else, I hope this will be a space to document my creative journey and growth as an artist. I don't want to limit myself to sharing about art, though. I know it's good for a person's "brand" to keep their online presence one-dimensional, but I'm a real human. I have a lot of interests and they don't all fit neatly into a marketable box.

Here's a very loose plan of what this blog will be about:

  • maintaining a creative practice
  • being a playful adult
  • using design for social good
  • creative community and what that means
  • exploring the acronyms of my identity (HSP, ADHD, INFJ, APS) and how they do and don't shape my life and work

I know I haven't done much to "sell" you on the idea that reading this blog is a worthwhile use of your time. I'm not going to teach you "11 ways to transform your art business overnight" or how to show your work at the MoMA. I haven't done those things. I'm not an influencer or a growth marketer or an entrepreneur. I'm just a person who is deeply committed to carving out a creative life for myself, and bringing others with me along the way. My posts will be personal, authentic, and will share my real processes, techniques, and failures. If you'd like to stick around, you can sign up for my newsletter or drop this link into your RSS feed reader of choice: http://www.desireedahl.net/post/rss.xml. I promise I won't spam your inbox; I work very slowly so you'll probably hear from me once or twice a month, tops.

I'd love to hear from you as I embark on this journey! Seriously, starting a new blog is scary and knowing I'm not shouting into a void would be very encouraging.

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