I found myself with a little extra time on my hands this morning, so I headed for my creativity space with the intention of getting some work done... after almost a three-week long ”hands off” experience.
As I sat there and looked at my colors and thought about some designs that have been running through my mind, I found that my heart really wasn't in it.
I smiled to myself at the interesting synchronicity of The US "Consumer Sentiment Index" supposedly reaching its second lowest level in 50 years last week, and how my *personal "creativity sentiment index" also feels like it is reaching an all time low.
In a strange and slightly twisted kickback to some of the words of the adults to me during my youth — in which they told me that "there's no future in being an artist and I should never try to be a writer because that's just a hobby" — I found myself thinking that I really couldn't justify sitting here at a time when I should be using all my waking moments to do something income producing. Because finances are definitely a struggle!
Part of my reason for wanting to get some work done was that yesterday I got an e-mail from the organizing committee of one of our holiday shows (for much later this year), and I thought to myself that it would be nice to actually get ahead of that, rather than be frantically working to a deadline at the very end. The show is not until December.
Much to their credit, their sign up and approval system has changed completely (aka: "been modernized") since they went under new management in 2023, and a lot of it is now far more automated and a lot less random and chaotic. I went and made an "artist profile" as part of this new art show cooperative online where you can establish an informational mini-website profile and use it as part of applying too many different arts and crafts events all over the country.
That part definitely felt positive and like something was moving in the right direction!
However that enthusiasm was quickly tempered by the fact that one event we normally go to in early May appears to not be happening at all this year, and the general interest in artwork — both through social media traffic and the website — has been sincerely waning since the first of the year.
I have no interest in turning this into a political commentary, but I will say that general interest level and activity in art has plummeted since the beginning of the year. Of course that could be purely a coincidence and I'm just gonna leave it at that.
Suffice it to say, so far I have only had one single online sale since the beginning of the year, and that's not enough to even pay for a few paints!
So, since it's a nice sunny day, I am going to leave the creativity area alone and go out and do some yard work instead. Maybe that will serve as inspiration!
That said, I do appreciate you stopping by and having a look, and hopefully I'll be able to post something more creative and positive in the near future!
Thank You!
If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!
Because I am trying to make some semblance of income — a part time living, even — I now add this footer to all my posts, in the hope that someone, somewhere, might decide to take a further look at my work, and perhaps consider supporting independent art.
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2025.04.13 AS-TXT-328/298