Blessings on the Doorstep

[Photo]Spring has finally sprung in Wisconsin, and I had to share a special blessing that has come our way. I take it as a good omen for my pottery venture, and for life in general.The mainstay of my pottery business seems to be centering around my garden items, like toad houses, bird houses and feeders, and garden lanterns. I keep trying out new designs for bird houses, and one that I came up with was a cone with a slab top. I was having trouble with warping of the tops, as I have to fire them separately off the body of the house (because I fire the body upside down so the rim is on the kiln shelf), and was about to abort my efforts with this design.But then I hung one of my cone houses on a shepherd's hook, right beside the driveway and the front sidewalk that leads to our front porch. Needless to say, it is in the path of very high traffic, with two teenagers and their friends and the rest of the family traipsing by.Imagine our surprise when a pair of bluebirds (yes, bluebirds! Believe me!) took over the cone house and the female promptly laid four beautiful blue eggs in her little nest. She dives out every time a car pulls in, or out, or someone walks by, but she is hanging in there and doing her best to hatch her brood.It was just such a spiritual lift for me, as I have been rather homesick for our small farm and was getting a little depressed about the long winter, and how the downturn in the economy has affected our family budget and the pottery business. We had bluebird boxes all around our farm and enjoyed several families that came back year after year. We moved last year to a subdivision in order to downsize, with two kids in college and retirement to plan for. Having never lived in a subdivision before, it's been a bit of an adjustment. I deeply miss my gardens and wildlife, and the peace and quiet of the fields and woods.And so these little blessings are a lift for my spirits every day, and encourage me to keep plodding along with the pottery business, at least for now. I guess I won't abandon that design after all. I'll work on it and perfect it a bit more, and send them out into the world with the hope that bluebirds will bless a few more people who need their encouragement and inspiration.Sometimes blessings come on wings... just when we need them most. :)

Well, after a long hiatus from working during the holidays, it's back to the studio for me. We have the unusual fortune of having several family birthdays clustered during the period from Thanksgiving to just after New Year's, and so the family get-togethers and dinners just go on and on. Being the main "cook" in the family, it keeps me busy and distracted from making pots.

But now I have no more excuses, and with an ambitious schedule of shows I would like to attend this summer it becomes a little urgent that I get on with it. I have lots of new ideas... I've made some sketches and researched some glazes and I'm excited about the prospect of trying out some new things... and then something just stops me cold.

I'm not sure exactly how to describe it... I'm not truly certain whether I'm suffering from some type of anxiety or whether I'm just plain lazy. The fact is that "ideas" are easy... Ideas are fun. Making them into realities... well that's hard work. And it is risky. If you give life to your idea, and it fails to come to life, it hurts. It disappoints. It discourages. If you give life to your idea and it actually survives the creation process, well then you have to evaluate it...weigh it...critique it...and decide whether to place it before strangers to allow them to do the same. Risky.

Sometime ago I read on another artist's blog a favorite quote. It was a list that was titled, "How to Make Yourself Miserable as an Artist", or something like that. The main gist was that you should work for yourself, not for the approval of others, and work for the love of the art, not for the money. So very true, but the reality is that we do care what others think, and the fact is that we have bills to pay. So if I give life to my ideas and they fail in the making, then I have wasted valuable time that I could have used to make inventory that I know sells. If they succeed in the making, but fail in the public opinion, then not only have I wasted my time but I have also taken a little personal criticism that might sting a bit. That's no fun.

On the other hand, I don't want to be an artist who is so fond of their own creation that they can't stand back and view it objectively, warts and all. Critique can be fertilizer for new ideas and directions. Ultimately, however, I have to make pots that I like. I want to make it financially as a business, but I know that if I ever start making just "what sells", the spark will go out. And then I might as well be working at any other job that clocked in and clocked out.

So I will haul my sorry carcass out there and dive in. New ideas for a new year. God only knows how many disasters I will have in the process, but maybe a few will turn out and will please me. Perhaps they will please a few others, as well. I will enjoy the process, whatever the outcome... if I could just.... get.... moving.

January 2, 2008

Here we are at the beginning of a new year, and this is one of my resolutions...to establish an Etsy shop to peddle my wares on-line and a blog site to stay in touch with my customers and friends.

Not that I have that much of interest to say...just ramblings. But I spend so much time working alone in the studio and muttering to myself that I thought I might as well mutter on-line, too.

Here you will find info on new work, trial and error, successes and failures. I will share some techniques and maybe some recipes (both for glazes and for food, as I love to cook). There will be a few musings on life in general, as well.

Mostly I suppose this will be a log for me to reflect on my work, what direction I am taking, what has worked and what hasn't, and what I think I ought to remember along the way. And if anyone else finds any value in it, well... that's great, too.

Best wishes for a very successful New Year to you all!

Teresa