Art and Creativity Journal: Illness, Inspiration and Focus

Unfortunately, I picked up some kind of flu or cold or virus at the last event we attended.

Like many people I'm no good at being sick, but even though it means that I'm supposed to lay low and not work too hard and not go out, having a cold leaves me with a cotton-woolery feeling in my head so I find myself having time on hand to do something light — like paint on rocks — but my head is far too cotton-woolery to actually be able to focus and do so.

Which, needless to say, I find massively frustrating!

I'm supposed to be in full-fledged "preparing for December shows" mode, and instead I'm sitting around blowing my nose and trying to shake this sinus headache which doesn't want to let go of me.

But enough belly aching for now!

There are a lot of things I need to get done, and next week is going to be a short week on account of it being Thanksgiving. Thus, I'm already feeling the time crunch although I (technically speaking) have another two weeks to work on things.

I'm also growing increasingly aware that I'm running behind in my efforts to get my online stores 100% ready to rock'n'roll for the holidays. In fact, I should already be out there promoting on social media, rather than drinking chicken soup!

"But you're writing a blog post...?"

Thanks largely to the magic of voice-to-text, I can at least do that. Even though the editing and polishing it up is taking me about 4x longer than normal.

Of course not everything is bad. I was checking through my records and noticed that as of right now — November 23rd — I'm already 50% ahead of where I was at the end of 2023, in terms of creative production! So that's definitely a positive! And also a sign that we have done better at this year's events than last year's.

The only thing that irks me a little bit right now, is that my tenuous financial situation is preventing me from ordering any more of the polished crystal blanks that were quite well received (once painted) at the last event we attended during the second weekend of November. I just don't have an extra $70.00 to spend. Having Internet is more important than having crystal blanks to paint...

Much as I would like to think otherwise, I just don't see it happening… and after allowing for shipping time, I wouldn't even have time to appropriately paint them and get them ready for showtime.

Sometimes this whole "being strapped for cash" routine becomes really tedious! For some time it had been my hope that I would be able to post here somewhat regularly and it would be sufficient to allow me to build up a little bit of a HBD savings balance that I could subsequently pull out when it was needed for "extreme" show preparation.

Oh well, so it goes! Sometimes you just have to make the most of the situation with the things you have on hand.

Thankfully my head has been clearing up a little, and maybe tomorrow I can get back to work. I don't want to overdo it, of course, but I still have a long way to go!

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

Alchemy Stones on eBay

Alchemy Stones on Etsy

Alchemy Stones on Facebook

Regardless, your upvotes and comments are always appreciated!

Thank you for supporting independent art & creativity!

2024.11.23 AS-TXT-294/264