Yesterday in blogging 101, we were asked to comment on a neighbour and today we have been asked to write about what the blog we responded to inspired. I chose to comment on the blog at http://fromvictoryroad.com/about/ .

You know as an artist I link my art to my name and am starting to realise this is one of my unique qualities. I did find a name on a linked site but it is not mine to share and it is an assumption that I have the correct name. I am my business name but it is different for everyone I guess. This is one in a series of anonymous blogs that acts as a reminder that we are in the public domain. Would Vincent or Leonardo be as strong if we knew them as sudanymes like ‘Yellow Expressions’ or ‘Engineering Art”? These are simple musings but then the question that comes next is one about wether this is simply a good business decision. By branding yourself in this way, as an artist, are you taking a leap into the creative business world in a way that the idea of the artist can limit as it helps to shift the idea of art into a sellable product rather than something exclusive.

Despite the lack of a given name, she has shared beautiful work that has a lovely, positive, creative spirit. As Shakespeare reminds us, ‘a rose by any other name…’ It is funny what strikes me as unusual yet until I was asked to reflect on one of the blogs I had commented on, I had not realised that there was no name given. I felt a sense of warmth imagining her at the farmhouse creating or holding her new grandchildren. I felt I had been invited into her world and I could relate to the parts of her that she shared. I will visit fromvictoryroad.com many times, I am sure, as her work has inspired me, made me smile and invited me into share a small part of a much larger life…so this is a musing and a thank you for the gift of revealing so much of yourself.

I think in writing this, I am reminded how much we give of ourselves as we create our blog posts and send them off into the wide world and perhaps a response comes back, perhaps not…but every post has a gift…has something to share, whatever you choose to name it and however much you choose to give.

It is this sense of privacy and sharing that becomes blurred so often when we step into this virtual life and share our journey with people we have never met. Perhaps it is just one of my quirks and a name is not important after all.