Wordpress Archives - Dora Sislian Themelis Art

Hello, Anybody Out There? Hello?

When I started writing this post today I had some things I wanted to write about, but blogging got in my way and now I feel the need to rant. This is probably a waste of a good photo too, but I don’t care. I’ll talk about it another day.

Here goes: Blogging used to be fun. Today it’s something else.

When I started on this journey there were less bells and whistles to worry about. Sitting down to throw around my thoughts about art and life was enjoyable. People were reading my stuff and commenting. Even if they weren’t dropping in with a comment or a suggestion, I knew there were some people looking around, browsing my yapping. Interacting with someone on the other side of the globe is kind of exciting.

Way back when, I was working on a free platform. It was pretty easy to navigate. Now where am I? On this highly touted thing called WordPress.

You know what I think about it? I think it’s a pain in the neck. And, it’s work.

Everyone said you need to get on WordPress. It’s more streamlined. It’s professional. It’s great for artists. It looks better than XYZ free platform.

Guess what? Running this monkey show they think is so amazing is letting me allow Mr. Resistance to creep around here. Who can work in the studio and paint if there’s “important work” to do on this dopey website thing?

It’s almost easier to just let the whole thing lay down and play dead.

Take today, for example. WordPress had to be updated, which means before anything happens it has to be backed up. Okay. I had to open a Dropbox account for the back up to have some where to live. Did that too. Then I tried to write this post and everything is different.

Now what? Why did my photo go to two different places as I try to do my thing here? Why? Why? Why?

Preview says my photo is here, and there, and over there too, and here it’s smaller, and there it’s larger, and then where’s my caption, where can I type the body of my post, blah blah blah.

The thing is this, is anyone going to even see any of it?

Am I just shouting into the Universe. And if I am, is there anyone out there listening? Am I making any noise out there in blog land?

Doubt it, but here it is anyway.

Moved the Blog Here in One Piece, Hurray!

Having agonized over moving the old blog to this new platform for such a long time, I finally did it today. It’s Saturday, I had the time, since I don’t sleep well any more and I’m awake at 5:00AM. A wise person online said that if you want to learn how to do something go on Google and/or YouTube. How amazingly right they were! That’s what I did, except I talked to people on Twitter and Facebook, too. All great information and direction from helpful individuals.

Every post, comment, and image moved over here with ease. It was so simple I’m ashamed at how awkward and apprehensive I was about actually doing the move. Computers are scary pieces of equipment. It’s not enough there’s so much to learn, it has to give me a heart attack while it does it’s thing.

With that said, I want to welcome my old Blogger pals to WordPress and hope the adventure here will be enjoyable for all of us. As I said back at the old blog, the scenic route is usually the prettiest. And yes, the coffee is still hot here, too.

Resistance Makes me Knit

KnitBabyHat — Knit Baby Hat ©Dora Sislian Themelis

Well, here we are at WordPress, trying my best to get myself together and move the blog along. Mr. Resistance is doing his very best to make me crazy. If Mr. Resistance doesn’t make me crazy, WordPress definitely will do the job.

It’s a steep learning curve and it’s embarrassing how hard it really is to be up and running. Everyone says Use WordPress, it’s professional looking, it is so easy to use, you’ll feel like a rock star. To be perfectly honest, I feel like an idiot. This is stuff that kids probably can do blindfolded. Me? Meh.

First you need to find a host. Then you need to decide on a “theme.” After that, which in itself could give you anxiety, you need to configure the whole shebang. I don’t know who those people are that think this is easy. They must be making money telling people anyone can do this.

Who are those people?

Little old artist me is doing her best to keep it together, yes I am.

Who could paint? This is ridiculous. But I can knit! Yeah, knitting is happening here. This adorable little baby boy’s hat was knit in one sitting while watching some dopey thing on TV. Lovely blue wool yarn will keep a baby nice and warm. Sized to fit a newborn to maybe a year old. My granddaughter pulled it on her own head the other day and she’s two and a half now.

I won’t be comfortable with this new platform until I’m done customizing it, and learning how to even add content. Typing my thoughts, wrapping them around my photos, adding captions, and whatever else, is taking up much of my energy.

This is Harder Than I Thought

What can I say about this new WordPress thing, website, blogging platform except, Man is it difficult!

Who can paint when there’s so much to learn? When will I be able to get back to the drawing board, or the easel, or whatever I was doing when I decided I needed to switch it up here. Blah.

By the time I rearrange, think, renew a theme, learn new language I am utterly exhausted. It’s fun, and it’s not so much fun. Add a blizzard to the mix, and nothing creative is happening anywhere near here.

I had a lovely looking theme that I just had to switch up because, well, it made me dizzy to try to make it do what I wanted it to do. This one is meh..it will do for now. The other was prettier, but more difficult to navigate. Look, I had to invest a couple of bucks in an online class to learn my way around.

Let’s see what happens next. I need more than a little luck.