The World Wide Web

While I’m far from being any kind of a guru when it comes to the World Wide Web, I was intrigued almost from the beginning. I jumped on board in the mid-1990s shortly after getting my first Mac and that first CD in the mail from America Online.

America Online, aka AOL, offered one of the first ways for folks who didn’t work for institutions, universities, the government or think tanks to communicate on the computer with others through the internet. If you don’t already know the story, that’s how David and I met back in 1995. He was in Kona, Hawaii, I was in Seguin, Texas. We met in a chat room one August evening and he came to Texas visit in late November. This photo was taken during that visit shortly before he left to conclude his business on the Big Island and return to Texas the following February. We were married on Easter Sunday 1996 and, as they say, the rest is history.

By the late ‘90s I left AOL behind, created a Yahoo mail account (which I still use) and installed Netscape on my computer (both the old Mac and Netscape are long gone). While I could e-mail and browse the web, I was itching to have my own website. Although I tried, I never did master HTML but I did find something called GeoCities that provided a way for everyday people to create a presence on the Web. GeoCities was bought by Yahoo and then eventually shut down. In January 2004, I registered my first domain name, casadelinda.com, and soon had my very own website live on the Internet! I used that domain for both my teaching and art businesses for a few years until I decided I needed to separate the two. Within a few years, I registered lindacalvertjacobson.com for my fine art website. I still maintain casadelinda.com for information about classes at the studio.

Meanwhile, I started hearing more about these things called blogs and decided I had to have one too! Thanks to Google’s Blogspot, I was able to set it up at no charge and used it as a way to share all sorts of news and musings with anyone who cared to read it. I actually had four different blogs at one point. I posted there from 2005 until late 2015, when I switched over to this “embedded” blog that you are now reading from my website. That decade of blog posts still exists and for me it’s like looking through an old diary, photo album or scrapbook. I know that someday Google will pull the plug but for now it’s nice to know it’s still there.  

And then along came this thing called “social media.” By 2009 I was on Facebook and it’s now a part of daily life. In addition to a personal page, I have pages for my art (facebook.com/lindaswildflowers), the studio (facebook.com/casadelindaartstudio) and I’m an “admin” for the Wildflower Art Gallery page (facebook.com/wildflowerartgallery) that David takes care of. If you are on Facebook and if you haven't already done so, I invite you to "like" any or all of those pages and please do comment and share now and then!

I’ve resisted Instagram and Pinterest but I do have a Twitter account (@LindaCJacobson) that ties in with my posts to FB. And I’m on LinkedIn, the social media site for professionals (if you are also a member you can connect with me by searching Linda Calvert Jacobson from LinkedIn.com). Both the Casa de Linda Art Studio and Wildflower Art Gallery are listed on Yelp!

Mind boggling, isn’t it, how the internet has changed our daily lives in so many ways?

Aside from the personal benefits, from meeting the love of my life on AOL 21 years ago to now keeping up with friends near and far on FB, the internet has become indispensable to my business and lively hood just as it is for many entrepreneurs and business owners.

In addition to my websites and Facebook pages, you’ll find me on other sites as well. Ranging from just being mentioned to full features, every listing plays an important part in helping to share my story and my art with others. If you can’t or don’t “find” me online, you just aren’t looking!

Below are links from recent online listings and articles.

Texas Hill Country
I was recently honored to have been interviewed by Shirley Bland for an Artist of the Week profile on Texas Hill Country online. You can read the full article at http://texashillcountry.com/wild-wildflowers/. It’s a really nice bio and she asked some questions that I don’t normally get asked. I hope you will check it out!

Tour Wimberley TX
Our gallery is featured on this local travel site with a nice write up and several photos of my art. You can check it out at http://tourwimberleytx.com/theater-and-art/wildflower-art-gallery/. If you are in or planning to visit the Wimberley area, you can find lots of other good information on this site.

Texas Highways
As you may know, a limited edition of my small original paintings are now being sold online in the Texas Highways Gift Shop. When you click on http://shop.texashighways.com/6x6-wildflower-paintings, you’ll see a short write up and photos of the paintings for sale.

University of the Incarnate Word
The editor of The Word, UIW’s alumni magazine, contacted me last Spring for a profile in the March issue. I earned my BA from what was then Incarnate Word College in 1990. You can still read the feature online at http://thewordonline.org/2016/03/among-the-wildflowers/.

Kerbey Lane Cafe Blog
The nice folks at Kerbey Lane Cafe, the Austin restaurants where I often exhibit my art, profiled me for a blog post last May. You can read it at http://kerbeylanecafe.com/blog/featured-artist-linda-calvert-jacobson.

Homeclick
The online shopping and advice site, Homeclick, interviewed me last year for a profile on their website. Nice Q&A format with a national and international audience. The link is http://www.homeclick.com/dreaming-in-color-interview-with-artist-linda-calvert-jacobson/ar-2927.aspx

This is an ever-changing evironment and we never know what new-and-improved services are just around the corner. It does make life interesting and just the fact that you are reading this proves that like me you have, at least to some extent, embraced this thing we call the World Wide Web.

Thank you for reading. I hope you've enjoyed taking this trip down memory lane with me today.

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