A Quiet Place for Creativity

 

Hello friends, 

For several months now, I've been screaming about my distaste for the current state of the internet on several of my social media platforms. Probably to the surprise of no one, it's really not changed anything. These platforms still function exactly the same. So, I thought to myself....why not just focus my energies elsewhere and into something that actually feels fruitful. Now, before I begin my pitch here, understand that I will still be using those hellscapes from time to time to advertise certain things, but my engagement with them will drastically shift as I begin to build onto this thing here. With that being said...

THE BLOG.

Unfortunately, I am a millennial. Born in 1988, I have been cursed with the ever-present need to overshare. Maybe it's because I wasn't paid much attention to when I was a child or some other trauma response. Any way. 

I need a centralized location for my ramblings, a place to house artwork for sale (that doesn't pay some rich twat a portion of my sale), and a landing page for all my nonsense that is beyond the majority of the noise. In a sense, this blog is a rebellious act against all that is occurring on social media.

A safe, quiet place for creativity to reside. To bloom. 

Away from the noise, the ads, the AI, the constant feeling that I'm just on a hamster wheel feeding a monster named 'Algorithm'. 

I think I started seriously blogging somewhere around 2009. Back before Facebook got too big and Myspace was still hanging on by a thread. The period of time where you resided hesitantly on both platforms and still found comfort on the deep internet inside some other weird girl's craft blog. Back before the term 'influencer' was even a whisper. We were just a bunch of art girls sharing in the love of writing and art. Then Tumblr came around and a place for the fashion girlies was made. 

All of that to say, it was an era of genuine sharing for the sake of sharing, writing because we loved it- not just to keep up. Not for the hope that we'd go viral and get a sponsorship deal. 

People loved art. And we all just wanted to share our creativity with the world. 

Social media wants to be that. I can see that it does. There are so many amazingly creative people on all of these platforms, but it feels like we're all screaming over each other. The blog feels like a rest stop on the highway. You have to sit here with me and read all this bullshit I've written, just to get a sense of anything I'm offering. It's slower. 

Lately, it feels like a lot of us are craving 'slower'. 

I want to invite you to just sit with me every now and then and take a break. Slow down. 

Get off the never-ending hamster wheel of the scroll. 

You can't tell me it feels good to consume content in that way, for hours. Seriously, even think about that phrase 'consume content'?! Like it's something we're putting in our bodies - like junk food. 

But, art? 

We experience art. We are emersed in art. We are moved by art. 

It is a two-way street that leaves you changed, usually in some palpable way. 

What about creativity?

We share in creativity. We expand in creativity. We learn through creativity. 

It's almost a communal experience in that it gifts something new to humanity, whether that be a piece of art or a problem that needed solved with a creative new perspective. 

In all my years' experience, for the past 35 years of study and love of the arts and creativity, I've found that both are suffocated in chaos when made to dance like monkeys for money. I want to share my offerings with you, but I need it to be a quiet place. A place that respects the slowness of my work and the still nature of the meditation. That isn't just about making a sale but making a connection.

And so, I return here, to my quiet corner of the internet that I started after I turned 30...once I realized my life was shifting into something new. Funny, isn't it?!  I get pulled back here every few years for a reason. 

It is my little, safe, quiet place to let my art bloom. 

Going forward you will see more of the large-scale acrylic pieces I've been working on. Listen to me ramble about the fractured time within my art practice as I balance motherhood with creation. And be informed of new projects, festival appearances and any merch/art drops. 

At the top of the blog, you'll notice the 'art for sale' tab, that's where any of my work will be for sale online going forward. I'm working on making this process more streamlined with your ease of use in mind. Art shouldn't be difficult to purchase. 

If you'd like to stay even more in the loop, consider joining the Cult Fam email newsletter!

You can sign up here:  Cult Fam sign-up's

There's also a tab up there for commissions, if you're interested. If not? Well, I'm just glad you're here! 

There's something divinely human in the need to share art with each other, to express one's inner world through creativity and image. It is our universal language, the language of the human race before we split from each other. It taps into the deepest parts of our souls and says 'me too'. Art moves us. Creativity connects us. And together is brings us closer. 

And I think that's all we're really searching for. 

with all my love, 

Holly Erinn