If you have been a visitor here in the last 10 days you might have noticed that things have changed considerably. Not only has Lisa’s Living a Life of Art and Design taken on a new design but the format of the entire site has been upgraded and reformatted from top to bottom. If you came here and found yourself in the mist of changing navigation and posts, I apologize for the shift which might have left you wondering “What the hell is going on here?” Believe me, I worked long and hard to try and make the transition as quick and painless as possible for my readers. So why the change?

This blog originally began with a lovely theme design by the talented Veerle Pieters. It was purchased in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month and the theme worked flawlessly until I finally decided to swap it out. But that design was a reflection of Veele’s work, not mine. Now I’m not saying that it was or has ever been my intention to design a WordPress theme myself … my mission for my blog is writing. I did however want a theme that would stand as a reflection of my design sensibilities and also to serve as something that could grow with my writing career. Additionally I wanted certain options that would incorporate the art, design and creative pursuits I am planning for the future. I believe this lovely WordPress theme created by Pexeto fits the bill. It provides me with the ability to have a home page to display posts from my blog, showcase features and includes a new section entitled “Creative Ideas.”  There is also a beautiful portfolio where you will find select samples of my design work and photography, and in the future it will showcase my collage and scrapbook efforts.

Settling on a WordPress theme is no easy task. There are literally thousands to choose from.  Some come with great support and are well documented (such as Veerle’s and Pexeto’s) and some provide no support at all.  Some are free and some are paid-for premium themes. I always believe you get what you pay for … so here we are. Building a blog is like building a house with many many considerations and like with a house, you may have an architect but it takes a good amount of effort on your part to make it a home.

It was also important to me that in addition to getting the options and requirements I needed that I be able to recommend a designer and a theme provider to you. I spent weeks pouring over themes and their options. I tried several out and found that either there were issues or that the designer didn’t respond to a request for support… such was the case with eDegree by Top Blog Formula. I simply wanted a theme that worked without having to jump through hoops to make it do so.  Theme Forest and Woo Themes are excellent examples of fine premium themes with solid support.

So, in closing, I hope you like the new design and format.  I’ll be providing posts on art and design on a pretty regular basis and hope to also include travel and culture in my line up.  Do you have a suggestion or comment, please let me know.

Signing off for now,
/L.