My Stint As A Stone Artist

Guys, a few years ago, just before the pandemic, for a brief stint I fancied myself an artist and painted stones. I kid you not. I genuinely thought for a moment that I had a career in art.

This was around 2019. My former employer had closed its doors, I was back on the job market, competition was stiff- everyone was a content creator, I had a family to think about, young children to take care of, and I was trying to find a way to make a living independently. I'd been in the creative arts, I did poetry, none of those things were lucrative, and so I thought, well, why not art? Yep, not necessarily the best thought out plan.

Listen, in hindsight, we can laugh about it today. In fact, I'm bringing this story to you because I have enough confidence in myself and I am proud of my journey, but for a bit there... I was travelling around to beaches, collecting stones, painting on them, and creating little craft pieces. There's nothing wrong with that, don't get me wrong. It's a great pastime and can even become a good business venture if you're a good artist and serious about your craft. If you were like me though, just looking to make another dollar, well...

Join me on my journey as I share some of my work with you.

In 2019, when I decided to paint stones, I discovered a beach to the south of my country, miles away from my home. I'd never been to the beach before, though it's fairly popular among locals, but I had done a Google search looking for beaches with stones and I had found this one, and so, I downloaded Waze, loaded an empty bucket into the trunk of my car, got in the car and set off on an adventure.

I did not think it through. For one, I did not anticipate that logging stones a fair distance from the beach to my car would be back breaking work, but as you could imagine, it was. After the second bucket load, I felt like my arms were torn from their socket. After the third trip, I could go no more. I was exhausted, my arms and back ached, and the car was dangerously low because of the heavy stones. So I got in the car, drove back home, washed the stones and prepared to paint.

I started painting animals and the natural environment.

I then tried some cartoon characters. I painted Spongebob expressions, Minions, and even Snoopy from Peanuts.

As I became more comfortable and daring, I tried a couple craft pieces. So I tried to recreate a scene with ants carrying shells, and then I tried to make a turtle out of a collection of stones. This is how that turned out.

At the end of the day though, guys, while I was enthusiastic about painting stones for a while, that enthusiasm quickly died when I realized that there was no market for my work. Here's what I discovered when I went out with my crudely painted stones and attempted to sell them: I was an amateur artist, mediocre at best, and no one wanted to pay for stones. When you live on an island, you've got to be top tier to get a local to pay for beach stones.

I stopped painting.

Am I a Quitter?

Well, that's one way to look at it. I had a different perspective though. I looked at it as sometimes you have to understand when a particular path is not meant for you.

Truth be told, art was not a genuine passion of mine. I simply wanted the money, and so it was not a difficult decision to put the brush down and walk away.

Some good did come of this experience though. Not only did I understand in real terms how important it was to have proper planning and a feasibility study or market analysis in place as part of the ground work to determine if there is a need for or interest in any business venture I was interested in, I also realized that sustaining a business required a lot of hard work and commitment and acceptance that many times and in many niche markets, profits don't occur overnight.

Brand building is important. And as an artist, you have to sell yourself as much as your product.

I also learned that I was more creative with a pen than a paint brush, and I went on in the same year to self-publish a book which is still available on Amazon under my real name.

And get this, a couple years later, during this pandemic actually, I learned that my son, who was about four at the time I was collecting and painting stones, must have been observing this journey, because he then developed a keen and natural love for art. In fact, if I may say so myself, at seven, he's actually quite a talented artist.

Today my baby's work adorns our walls, and one thing is for certain, my baby will always find a market and an avid supporter in me.

Well, guys, that's a little bit about that journey. Thanks for reading. Maybe I'll share another piece of myself with you another day, but for now, please tell me, did you ever have a hobby or interest that you thought of turning into a business? And did you follow through to the end? I know there's lots of talented people on here, so I'd love to hear your stories.

Have a great day.