I am an introverted extrovert, perhaps even an ambivert, but I hold more introvert qualities. I love quite nights with a good book or painting. I can go days without human contact and be perfectly at peace. Parties with unfamiliar faces make me quite reserved, and therefore I am not so good at talking to perfect strangers to promote myself as an artist.
This is where social media comes in. I can chat away, post and be much more active in general about promoting my work. If I want my post to gain more attention I simply click a button and away it goes for all to see and I don't have to say a word! IS social media an introvert's best friend? Could this possibly be the way for us to share what we love with the world without personal consequence? Could it also be my enemy? Keeping me so attached that I never learn how to break out of my shell. I want to become better at being able to talk to perfect strangers, I can't do that through a computer.
I have a love/hate with social media. It is like a necessary evil. Yes I am not much for socialization but I don't want to completely shut it out. Human interaction is so important to ignite our key senses that, well, make us human. You don't become a better painter entirely by reading about how to paint or thinking about how to be better; you must experience the thing!
2015 will be a year of less technology for me and more social interaction in-person. I want to dive into the depths and enjoy it so I can step out of my comfort zone and continue to grow as a person. The overwhelming joy I feel when I have spent a day painting with friends, sitting down to dinner discussing the learning experienced that day out in the field fills me like nothing else.
Pillars in the Sky | oil on linen
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