The Personal Struggle of an Artist (From Pigments to Plugins)

Let me start with a little complaint.

Anyone who knows me knows I tried to keep the technical side of websites and marketing at arm’s length for as long as humanly possible.

I mean, I have a daughter. And she not only runs her own blog on healthy living, yoga, and inner balance – themanapura.com – but also has a gift for things that leave me utterly cold: SEO, plugins, YouTube channels, email marketing, and what I call “online dark magic.”

So logically, I asked her for help. Instead of gentle mentoring, I got a cold shower. Apparently, my articles are too short, impractical, unusable, and most of all – not “Google friendly.”

Quote: “Mom, don’t write for people. Write for Google. At length. Repeat keywords. Everywhere. And add alt tags to your images.” And then she said something that sounded like Mandarin to me.

But you know what? That wasn’t even the end of it. Then came the rest of the blah-blah – marketing and Instagram. Because these days, it’s not enough to paint. It’s not enough to have a website. You also need to record videos, post Reels, save Stories into Highlights, edit timelapses, and dance to trending audio – naturally, with perfect lighting and a relaxed face. The Instagram algorithm is like an unpredictable gallery curator: one moment it loves you, and the next it kicks you under the carpet. And just when you think you’ve figured it out, the rules change.
Back to square one…

At that point, I wanted to pack up all my brushes and run away to an artist’s residency in a forest with no Wi-Fi.

To me, painting a backlit swan portrait is way easier than figuring out why the video with one single like gets more reach than the one I edited for an hour. But I’m learning. And what I’ve learned – and want to share – is that it’s okay to be imperfect. You’re not late.

And you’re still an artist, even if you sometimes Google  “how to add captions to Reels.”

I breathe. I click. And then I make coffee.
Damn it, I’m the one who creates.
Let the algorithms dance their chaotic dance around me.

So… I told myself: fine. I’ll figure it out. On my own.

Through WordPress, through Elementor, through the sneaky labyrinths of formatting and SEO plugins – whatever that even means.
With the help of ChatGPT – who didn’t judge me, didn’t yell at me over meta tags, and always patiently explained what a “responsive layout” is or how to use headers from H1 to H3 properly. And of course my lovely dauther will never let me to fail.

And you know what?
It’s creative too. Just a different kind of brush.

So if you’re the kind of soul who’d rather buy a new shade of crimson lake than mess with article redirects… welcome.
It’s not impossible. And if I could do it (and trust me, I resisted), so can you. 

And now – finally – to watercolor.

Because in the end, the most beautiful thing is still that moment when the pigment obeys…
…and the water behaves just the way it should.

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