Creativity

The right side of my brain has been fighting to get out lately as bigger topics such as business, taxes, and other large winter projects of the self-employed hover over me each day of my week.  The other side of my brain just doesn't feel good doing those things and after a while I notice myself feeling overloaded.  Once I get back into my creative side at the studio I feel my 'normal' left handed self! 

I've been back at making pots slowly during the month of January, trying out some new things, as well as going with the comfortable, familiar pots that I love getting warmed up with.  Being in that position of trying new things when you have no idea where they will take you, or even if they will work, can be painfully slow and frustrating.  At the same time, these exercises can be very challenging and helps spark new ideas and thoughts about each detail. You want to see instant gratification, but working out new ideas can take time. 

So I've been trying to figure out some oval boat forms, which aren't pictured here.  But in the meantime, I figured out some cool smaller basket or vase forms.  I'm thinking specifically of making new ikebana vases, or flower bricks forms.  You can probably go back into the old archives of this blog and notice that every January I go through the same phases of making pots for the spring.  Dreaming of seeds, planting, and flowers, the inspirations and thoughts are endless here.  As for new forms, being in that tough spot of not sure where I'm going with a form can be nicely balanced with the other half of the day throwing my favorite ridge bowls, pictured above.  The familiar contrasted with the new and challenging.  I didn't realize this was happening, but it made the transition from seeing a whole week flying by just tinkering around on a few vases feel better to see a couple rounds of bowls completed and ready to be slipped.