winter thoughts

I have been experimenting with this new technique lately and the result is relief patterns. I love the idea of the painted surface, the etched into surface and the relief surface combined (You might be seeing those pieces in the near future). I have been trying to figure out a way to make models of things (smaller more utilitarian things) that I can make molds of and cast and have them be finished pieces. As it stands now the etching process I developed and use on my work is enormously time consuming. It takes thirteen steps to get the final result. It makes it impossible to make the pieces any faster than I already do. They take the time that they do and that is that.

Lately I have been getting many requests from shops and galleries that would like to carry my work and I am suddenly having to really think before I say yes. How much can I produce myself? There is a limit to how much I can make. I do it all myself, no assistants, no interns, though I am seriously thinking it is time I do get some help. It is so exciting to be busy and that people are responding so positively to my work. On the flip side it is also very stressful when I get overwhelmed and feel like I am falling short of my commitments. This holiday season that became very clear to me. So many things can and do go wrong with ceramics. It is something that anyone who is thinking about making ceramics for a living must factor in. Problems are inevitable. It goes hand in hand with the medium.

I have been working with clay since I was twenty-two. I am now forty-two. The first ten years were spent learning and the past twelve I have been making and selling my work professionally. In so many ways I feel like I am just starting out. I really don't see a future for myself without clay. No matter where I am or what I am doing with the other parts of my life it is a given, in my mind, that I will be making ceramics. Back breaking as it is. I am just trying to get smart about it. I have so many ideas for projects and products. Many which just sit on my shelves waiting for me to give them some attention. It is not a bad thing to be this busy. It is a great thing. Truly a dream come true for me. It is so nice to be closing out this year feeling like my dreams are being realized and that I am moving into a new year with new things to consider and think about. After all isn't that what it is all about?