Day 23 of the 100-Day Project, and I'm still here! Instead of my main picture being of yet another painted stone, I thought I'd share the particularly nice sunset view from my work space, instead... this was just earlier this evening, as I did a bit of work!
Back to work...
As I looked at the tray of blank stones I put together yesterday for the "Retreat Commission," I realized that I needed to clear my workspace of the finished items from the first 22 days of this experiment.
I need a "fresh mind" to get started.
What that means... is that I needed to back mark and number painted stones. As it turned out, a couple of them seemed significant enough to be "Signature" stones, meaning they get an actual autograph, not just my symbol.
All marked and ready to go! Yes, I have my own little bureaucracy here!
So that takes my "serial numbers" for the year up to AS24-030, and now they get to set there for a few days while I hope for promised warmer weather this weekend, at which point I can apply their durable finish coat. If it doesn't warm up, I will just have to wait a little while longer. That lacquer is very temperamental, but it's also by far the best coating I can give the stones.
Numbering done...
Spring has historically been a time when I have a sudden "bulge" of new pieces come to market because winters are too cold for the finish work.
And no, I'm not going to do it inside because the fumes are quite noxious, and linger for several days... the entire household does not deserve a headache, just in service of art!
So, on to the prototype stones for the commission:
Prototype no. 1: "all the Chakra colors on each stone."
Day 23 Stone Painting:
Today is going to be for experimentation, more than anything... hoping to come up with several design "styles" which I'll put on the "extras" to see how they work.
I spoke to the ladies from the retreat again, and their consensus now is that the stones should look fairly similar, because they want their "swag bags" to impart a sense of equality of value. They also really like the idea of incorporating the colors of the 7 primary Chakras into the design.
I can do that.
Prototype no. 2: Based on the design from a much larger stone. I think it's a bit boring and doesn't translate well to a smaller size.
Not a bad start. I'll work on a couple more design ideas tomorrow... and then we'll take it from there.
Day 23 Summary and Social Media Bits:
Two prototype stones finished: Not super impressed with either; these designs are better suited to much larger stones, but I'm trying to respond to someone else's wishlist/vision here. Tomorrow I'll try to do a couple that reflect what I feel they might go with. This is always the tricky part of commissions.
Daily Twitter/X post: Check. Trying to reach other Etsy sellers, in this case for tips on how to best use the 10-second video clip option in my sales listings.
Daily Facebook Page post: Check. Shared a photo of one of my "Heart Stones." Seems like a good time to start planting the "seeds" for Mother's Day.
Daily Instagram post: Check. More of less duplicated the heart stone post here.
Other Stuff: As usual, this Hive post; glad to get my finished work "labeled," and I got started on the multi-stone project, which is actually a relief. Daily shoutout to 
Day 23 completed; today's efforts didn't feel overly "taxing," and I also found time to find and revive a very old Red Bubble account I made... and now I'm considering some additional options, taking my cue from a few successful artists I know who "fund" their work by allowing their work to appear on coffee mugs, mouse pads and t-shirts.
Is that a form of "selling out?" I don't know, for sure... but I do need this whole endeavor to be at least somewhat self-liquidating, so I'm exploring my options.
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2024.03.13 AS-TXT-216/186