So, I am doing The 100-Day Project Challenge again; my second attempt at this creativity "habit building" exercise. You can read more at the above link; or just choose "a creative thing" to pursue for 100 consecutive days... and then use #the100dayproject as one of your first three tags so others on Hive and other social media can find you!
Today is Day 12, but this post combines days 11 & 12.
You Don't Always Get What You Expect
I seldom have to get very far into any kind of ”daily challenge” to be reminded of why I generally don't do daily challenges: My brain just doesn't work in a straight line, aside from which life has a way of interfering with even the best laid plans!
I realize there's all sorts of wisdom out there stating that you "make time" for things you need to do and you have to "prioritize" in order to make a schedule come to fruition, but some of these things are situational in a way that's very difficult to get around.
For example, when I sat down to start painting yesterday — which was after dinner and it was dark — there was a faint "pop" when I turned my lamp on and then I sat in darkness. Of course I hadn't had a chance to restock on the particular kind of weird 12 Volt light bulb my lamp uses, so that meant there was going to be no painting.
Yes, of course I could move all my stuff to some other part of the house where there is more light and paint something there. But I'm not going to spend an extra 20 minutes getting set up to do something temporarily in a different location.
Today's Creative Endeavor:
So, combining 2 days of creativity into one here.
As noted, yesterday was a big fat zero due to technical difficulties in the form of a busted light bulb.
Today I felt more in a sort of deep forest alien planet sort of mood and the first stone I ended up with was about this medium sized rock I had previously rejected because it had a couple of tiny cracks in it, but I decided to paint it up.
I used all shades of purple and green, along with gold and I think it turned out pretty well.
You can BARELY tell this stone has a couple of small cracks.
For my second act today I went back to the black and white stone I did the other day and used it as inspiration for another black and white stone.
I was also pretty happy with the way that one turned out. Normally i don't much like painting on flat stones because it's difficult to wrap the design around the shape of the stone, but this one did turn out quite well.
I like this monoschromatic look, for a change
Minding the Store(s):
Very little happened — both yesterday and today — as far as making progress on updating the stores.
Quite honestly, I was busy packing up orders from one of my other eBay stores, and asking customer questions, and I decided that I could only handle so much of that kind of work in a day.
Social Media Musings:
Perhaps the most interesting thing relating to social media, is that the Etsy shop at 163% more traffic in January 2025 than in January 2024!
Looking at the visitor breakdown as provided by Etsy, it was quite clear that all that increase in traffic came from external sources, not as a result of people being on Etsy and looking around.
Unfortunately, they don't offer further breakdown of where people come from so I can't really tell other than by the top level number.
Regardless, that's a good start to the year even if it didn't result in any sales.
Aside from that, I did the rounds of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, and even LinkedIn just to see what's happening.
Final Thoughts for Today:
I have been feeling a little ”off center” as of late, which has caused my creative output and inspiration to pretty much go in the toilet. I find it extremely difficult to create anything significant when I'm feeling less than 100%. I realize that's no real excuse, but I suppose it is a legitimate reason.
If you consider yourself a serious artist, I suppose you should be able to create something under any condition. But since I still consider myself largely a part timer, I'm going to cut myself a bit of slack on this.
One of the nice things about being able to keep a "running commentary" on this experiment for 100 days is that I will be able to precisely do such a thing as track the ebb and flow of my creativity. Whether it'll be helpful or offer much insight I don't know, but at least it's nice to have the option!
I appreciate you coming to visit and please do leave a comment if you feel so inclined!
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.
Thank you, in advance, for your consideration and support!
My Alchemy Stones Patreon appeal
Alchemy Stones web site and blog
Regardless, your upvotes and comments are always appreciated!
Thank you for supporting independent art & creativity!
2025.01.31 AS-TXT-316/286