Lorna A Roberts

I’m tackling yet another challenge in January. The #21daysinmyartworld26 instagram challenge invites participants to show themselves and their art and inspiration etc to their audience. I’d like a wider audience beyond friends. I’m currently sitting at 203 followers as of the 4th January. I’d like to hit 500 by the end of the year. That may be a reach…

So the first post (of 21) is my favourite painting. I’ll leave it for a few days to reveal on instagram. I wondered about doing my favourite picture of all time which might be a Van Gogh. But there’s a later post about my inspirations and I suppose it’s meant to be about self-promotion so i’ll go with my own, thus far.

Anyhow, I got hold of an obscenely cheap phone camera tripod as my mother would not be a willing participant. I’m pleased with how it’s working out. Now you’ll see more of my ugly mug at work.

Maybe I should move some pot plants onto the radiator for the insta-ready aesthetic? I have to say I occupy a weird area of the internet. I’m a hobbyist but there don’t seem to be many hobbyists on instagram if the volume of professionals is to be believed. Or they’re all doing digital art these days. But I love the idea that I might be more than a hobbyist. Even part-time, one day, would be amazing. A following isn’t a must but it helps get your work out there. Of course, maybe I’m putting the cart before the horse or the instagram following before the ability to paint.

At the moment, I feel like I do when I’m swimming when it comes to the algorithm. A hell of a lot of kicking with very little movement. However, I have to admit that I’m not doing anything more than posting my art in a very staid, front on manner. I need to do more on the story and process of my painting if I want to hook people. And it’s all about that hook.

So we’ll see how things go. It starts in 2 days, Tuesday. It’ll be a gentle beginning. But will quickly get more complicated. I have it all planned out, each day’s shots and info cards. Saying that, I need to get to canva to do those cards. So bye for now, and see you in a couple of days!