Reviving an Old Design Style: Dream Stones

Reviving the ”Dream Stones” I last created sometime in 2017 was one of those many things on my seemingly endless list of ”I really need to get around to doing this” items.

Sure, they are a bit prosaic, but they were extremely popular, back when I had a wide range of painted stone styles on display at our local brick-and-mortar gallery.

I'm not even entirely sure why I stopped using this particular style, except for maybe we sold all of them, then closed down the gallery, and then I just (more or less) forgot about them.

They are not really like my usual mandala designs... and they are boring difficult to paint, as well as very time consuming.

So now I have finished a few, and put them for sale in the eBay shop — we'll see how that works out.

Speaking of "eBay Shop," a fellow artist friend tells me that people pretty much just don't look at art online" anymore.

Unless, of course, we're talking digital art and NFTs.

Painted stones are about as analog as you get!

Not ready to give up on the whole project yet, but I struggle to find anything very encouraging, anymore.

There was a time when I thought this whole project would be 3/4 online sales, and in-person shows and events would just be "extra icing on the cake." As things actually look these days, in-person sales account for about 95% of sales, and online is a very infrequent surprise.

Next Step: HiveList

In recent posts, I've occasionally alluded to setting up a shop here in our own HiveList Marketplace because I am a big proponent of the idea of extending functional use cases for Hive.

And one of the ways to definitely create a tangible use for Hive is to have it be the official currency people get to buy and sell goods and services with.

So far, I have started working on some of the basic requirements to set up a store... including buying and staking some Hive-Engine LIST tokens which is part of the deal for using @hivelist.

The last Dreamstone I made in 2017...

Before going forward with setting up another sales outlet, though, I need to finishing doing the bookkeeping and prepare my small business taxes.

Alchemy Stones completes its own IRS "Schedule C" and I have to get all the expenses sorted out... which means retrieving seller fee records from eBay and Etsy, and digging up the receipts relating to some booth fixtures we purchased for doing outside shows, during 2022.

I'm not much for doing bookwork, but it's part of the artistic gig. Oh well.

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to leave a comment, if you feel so inspired... engagement is part of what makes Hive such a cool venue!

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

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Regardless, your upvotes and comments are always appreciated!

Thank you for supporting independent art!

2023.03.03 AS-TXT-149/117