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