These are dry times. Summer slips away faster than you can catch it – a dime down the drain. The sky hangs damp and icy today. Across the globe, powerful little men toy with the world’s future like it’s a game of chicken. Hurricanes have ravaged large parts of our earth. Families will suffer the effects for years to come. Terrorists won’t let London sleep.
This planet can get so ugly. So broken. So disordered. So many of our mirrors are shattered.
There is order in beauty. A divine order, I believe, but whatever your theology you can feel it. The affirmation of disparate parts falling into place.
Jennifer Berkenbosch’s Cultivar matters because the world needs beauty today. We need to be reminded that there is goodness. There is a solid bed beneath this wild river.
I've been blessed with some very good people in my life. Some I can even call friends. Karla Adolphe and Ben Pasley are two such people, and they've been working on a new project for the past several months as Enter The Worship Circle.
Blog for Bleeding Heart!
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Karla Adolphe is a firecracker. To witness her ancient, booming voice rising from a young and unassuming woman feels like a miracle. One bellow and Karla Adolphe commands a room–especially an intimate room like Red Deer’s The Space. Karla thrives when connections can be made with her listeners. Her heart beats for creative people and when she performs that heart nearly bursts. With all of this electricity, it’s hard to believe Karla Adolphe has never released a live recording. Until now
Blog for Bleeding Heart!
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Last week, we made sure your website was all connected with your payment processor. That means you can accept money from people online, without worrying about taking credit card numbers yourself. That’s good.
Today, we’ll start setting up shop. We’re going to work with Karla Adolphe’s new website as our real-life example.
Blog for Bleeding Heart!
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
oday we are going to start building the frame of your new art website. We are going to create your basic pages. By the time you are done this post, you will have made the 5, 6 or 7 most important pages on your website. Or at least, you’ll have framed out those pages. You’ll also have your site’s menu built. Really!
Blog for Bleeding Heart!
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
When I decided to start a podcast this year I didn’t know much. I’d never recorded interviews with people. That’s the part that scared me. Still does. Having the right questions. Knowing how to steer a conversation and when to take my hands off the wheel.
I had no idea how much I was about to learn, sitting across the table from other creatives.
I’m just 4 artists in, but here, in no particular order, are some of the best lessons so far.
Blog for Bleeding Heart!
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
You may want people to sign up for a weekly newsletter where you email out sketches. Art sales may be your goal, and so your homepage will feature the latest painting for sale with a big ‘buy now’ button.
But that’s just the home page. Your website doesn’t have to have more than one page, but it likely will. There will likely be more than one thing you’ll want to offer. Contact information. Your CV. A gallery. All things that may be important to your visitors, but not so important that they fill up that sacred front page.
Today we’ll map out the rest of your site.
Blog for Bleeding Heart!
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Whatever your MOST IMPORTANT THING is, make sure your tool of choice, be it Squarespace, Wordpress or something else, can deliver on it. This one main thing is what you are going to gauge your happiness or frustration by. It’s what people are going to remark on about your site–in the positive or the negative–depending how right you get this.
Blog for Bleeding Heart!
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
"I’d like to see more of your work. What’s your website?"
What goes through your head when you hear those words? Pride and excitement? Fear and shame?
I want you to have a website you are proud of. One you like and you can maintain. Starting today, this series will help you get there.
In the weeks to come, we’ll be rebuilding KarlaAdolphe.ca. I invite you to come along for the ride. Read these posts, but follow along, too. Take this opportunity to give your own website an overhaul. We’ll be working with specific tools, but also with general principles that will apply regardless of the tools you choose.
Blog for Bleeding Heart!
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
It’s time again for #ArtScene13, a curated collection of resources on art, faith, hope, with a focus on Edmonton’s explosive local creativity.
The brand new episode of the Storm The Perfict podcast is out today. I don’t know about you, but there is something so encouraging about hearing how other artists struggle with the same things I struggle with. Little things, like trying to please everybody, all of the time. Singer/songwriter Karla Adolphe shares her struggles, and a song, this week on Storm the Perfict. You can subscribe on iTunes here or listen on our website here.
Sometimes bringing your project into being is such hard work that you just need to laugh. When you do, it’s hard to beat Bad Lip Reading’s new take on the NFL.
Local artist and good friend of the Bleeding Heart, Jared Robinson, has made the top 10 on Sonic’s album design contest. I know I’m biased, but I think Jared’s design is pretty awesome (it involves a sloth). Vote for your favourite design here by midnight tonight.
"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view."
Who says festival season slows in winter? The Exposure photography festival is coming our in February via the inFocusYEG photography show. The Harcourt House show is curated by Alexis Marie Chute, a long time Bleeding Heart friend and award-winning artist in her own right. More details at infocusyeg.com
Edmonton musicians rejoice! You’ll soon be able to submit your music to Capital City Records, a project of the Edmonton Public Library to make local music available to Edmontonians. Free downloads for members. Free streaming for non-members. All this, and the musicians get paid a flat fee of $100-200 for listing their work. Our library is so, SO awesome. Read all about it from the Edmonton Journal here.
If you are up for some experimental theatre, check out Canoe Festival 2015 at Workshop West in the ArtsBarns - there are still shome shows left.
If all this makes you feel a bit tired, why not fall asleep to the sound of Jeff Bridges lulling baritone?
And a bunch of crazy ambient soundscapes?
Squarespace (those who host this here website) has teamed up with Jeff Bridges for Sleeping Tapes - a collection of sonic wonder to dream by. "100% of the retail price from each album sold goes directly to No Kid Hungry, excluding shipping and service fees. So you’ll get a good night’s rest knowing that when you download the album, or pick up the LP or cassette, you're helping end childhood hunger in America.”