How much time do you spend trying something new?

Even for those who have honed their work to a well established voice and style, I believe the question is a valid one.  For those who are still exploring as part and parcel of their working practice it may be more closely examined a process.  However, the question must fall somewhere for all.   I believe it's a very valid one, and creates a series of questions on the creative process.

How much time to you spend on new possible forms, styles, projects?
Is there ever a drive to do something entirely different from your established and successful work?
Are you afraid of your customer base/peer base not responding well to your "new" attempts?
Is there fear/avoidance in exploring at all?
Is there comfort is sticking with what works and spending the time to elaborate within that framework?

I made this as a request.  I do like the idea of wall pieces,  I have some ideas for some that I think will compliment some of the work I'm doing.  I have to be honest; I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do to make one of my Ship&Whale vases hang on the wall?  I just had a hard time at first even getting there.  I resisted.  Obvioiusly, I finally did it, and the result is I'm ambivalent about it.  I didn't have the luxury of spending a ton of time figuring it out - and what you see is the result without much time for exploration.

But, it's brings up a some questions for the purpose of broader discussion.

I've gotten mixed response. I don't know.  I'm mixed. But to lightly defend its existence, I will simply say that I am devoted to exploration.  That includes making things that I may not be super excited about, or pieces that are early iterations...and even making sucky things some times.  We can't make great stuff every time, can we?  Well, maybe some of you do, bless you ;-)  In decades of creating, I still don't.  And I feel if I start to worry too much about what someone will think - I will lose what I believe is a freedom.  Am I being naive here?

When I go to workshops, I am so respectful,  I rarely ask the artist what isn't working, what hasn't worked or things that don't' work - but I want to (I did once because they opened the door).  Perfection is lauded and encouraged, and it should be.  Excellence is probably a much better word.  The learning, the practice, the hours, days, years of arriving at excellence, however, is about what didn't work.  All the things that didn't work that added up to making great work.  Right?  I wish we (the collective creative community we) talked about this more.  There is a confidence in putting the whole show out there.  The ability to express the failing along with the winning.  In my mind, as I write this, I picture those backdrop photos we all see so often with jacked up, shitty pieces that would normally not see the light of day.  They are what make us good at our trade.  Why aren't we proud of them.

Ok.  I don't think that piece is horrible, but I'm not stoked about it.....but, it does create in my mind a bunch of new ideas in having made it.  Therefore, I believe it was worth doing.  So, at the risk of looking like an ass, sometimes I think I'm going to post about some stuff that isn't working, that is suspect, that is a back to the drawing board exercise.  Why not.  What do you guys think?

500th post - where we've been, where we are, where we're going

This blog started simply to collect images and honestly do something fun with my dearth of down time at work.  For years, I'd collected imagery for inspiration - everyone does that, right?  I did it probably for 10 years before the idea popped up to start this thing.  I had no idea what I was doing, still not sure I do.

I'm just going about this in a very organic way.  

Being an introverted type, I wasn't sure I could even think of anything to say or know what to do, but I went ahead anyway (if you missed it; I did apologise in advance and do so again for my remedial, lazy grammar).  I just figured it didn't much matter, I'd just do it for fun as an experiment.  I had no idea anyone would read it or even know I was here.

The corporate office job allowed me the perfect venue to write almost every day.  The odd thing is I now no longer work in an office every day, and I confess, I've been posting fairly intermittently.  Facebook and Etsy are largely to blame, but there was a discernible shift when I stopped working...how I spend time.

I was just talking with Scott Jenning's last night at Red Brick's Open Studio party about time.  We are both at opposite ends of the spectrum and we've both been where we both are ;-))  In other words, I used to work a full time job and did my ceramic work at night and on the weekends which posed some issues with not having enough time.  What little time I did have was about getting work done.  I'd focus on what I knew I could make.  No muss, no fuss.  There was very little opportunity to explore and develop because there simply was not ...enough time.  Scott was teaching, he is now working a full time job and working in the studio in his off time.  The other side of having a full time job is having the security elsewhere to be able to choose how you spend your making time.  If you take of the pressure off just making to sell - there is an opportunity to fool around with new ideas and explore - but there is rarely enough time to do both production and exploration.  The process for each and the space around them are completely different.

Leaving my day job and choosing to focus on my work for a while has been a pretty amazing journey.
It's been close to 20 years I've worked full time.  My having this much time is certainly a luxury.  It's also really weird.  It has helped my work.  Having time just to think, space to think, of ideas, of shapes, of forms and new templates has been a great exploration worth all the transition pains.  It's a subtle process that transcends definition.   It's the space between actions, often in the subconscious where the real innovation happens, where ideas are born...

I think the ole' blog's got more in her.
thanks for reading, following and leaving comments.

Cheers,
and thanks !
linda

that's a new t-cup btw...tempest in a t-cup

Google Art Project

Google Art Project

Google Art Project is an online compilation of high-resolution images of artworks from galleries worldwide, as well as a virtual tour of the galleries in which they are housed. The project was launched on 1 February 2011 by Google, and includes works in the Tate Gallery, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; and the Uffizi.

The "walk-through" feature of the project uses Google's Street View technology. The project includes 16 images over one gigapixel in size (over 1 billion pixels); the largest, Ivanov's The Appartition of Christ to the People, is over 12 gigapixels. By comparison, a typical digital camera takes pictures at 10 megapixels, or about 1000 times smaller in area.

It's taking forever to load.  When I can actually use it, I'll leave a comment about it!  But, if anyone has had some experience - tell me what you think. 

Some findings

This is a piece by Chris Garofalo.   Her website is HERE
And then there is THIS from the Sunday TMagazine.  A neat little tidbit about Chris, and a cool visual of her studio.

I've been rooting around in some unusual places on the inter-webs and have come across some real keepers.

I (with the help of my fellow Pinterest-ers) have a kaleidoscope of ceramic inspiration.  Follow me on Pinterest HERE.   If you haven't taken the dive - go, at least take a look, and maybe, get in the game!  It is an amazing environment.  I will start to write about some of that work here in the posts to come.

I also found - and this may not be news to you guys - but it was to me;  Brian R. Jones podcasts - hours of great listening in the studio.  There are loads of interviews and discussions about the world craft and making a living at making.

Things go by like a rushing river - I'm just reaching out and grabbing on to a few tiny tea leaves to study some of these things a bit closer...