Sometimes, you just have to forge ahead regardless of whether you feel like it or not.
So, today I made myself go to work on finishing another batch of stones that had been painted sometime during the late spring, and just had been sitting in my creative space waiting for me to find the inspiration to put the finish coat on them.
I sometimes wonder at this characteristic I have noticed exists with many creative spirits... namely that there are parts of what we do that we do with great enthusiasm, and then there are parts of what we do that we are extremely resistant to.
I have long struggled tremendously with little finish work tasks, and with such stuff as photography and social media management.
While I recognize that these are an essential part of being a "production artist," I still struggle with getting myself to sit down and seriously dedicate an entire day to doing these things that I find so boring and trivial.
I've discovered that sometimes you have to actually "gamify" your own trivial work or it won't get done. So that was part of what I was doing today.
I'm not proud of the fact that there are more than a few things I told myself I "should have done" by the end of May but they still sit unfinished because I just have not made the time to do them.
With the things that are now drying in the garage — and need to cure for a couple of days — I will now have two entire bins of finished stones that I need to price, photograph, and add to my Etsy shop. While I dread the process, I also know that it is essential and it must be done before the 1st of our fall and holiday events comes along in September.
September may sound like it's a long way away, but it's amazing how fast time moves and how a deadline sneaks up on you because you're busy doing other things. I need to stop "being busy doing assorted other things" and do the things that actually a part of the backbone of having an art business.
Meanwhile, I recently finished parts of our tax return from last year (that have to do with Alchemy Stones) and I was somewhat sad to see that the 2025 results were yet again down from the year before. I can but hope that 2026 will pick up in the 4th quarter and make this whole gig at least feel like it is marginally worthwhile, from a financial angle.
Of course, a painted rock isn't exactly what people are likely to be spending their money on while the world is bumbling its way through what seems like quite an economic crisis... no matter what they're saying about the stock market reaching new highs virtually every day. "The economy" being good has a very little to do with my personal economy being good.
But... we can only take things one day at a time and hopefully a few of those days between now and the end of the year will be really good days!
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!
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2026.07.22 AS-TXT-399/369
