"If it was easy..."

As I begin to spend more and more time doing pottery, and expanding the range and depth of the pieces that I'm creating, I am finding that "failure" has an important role in the creation of art. Pieces blow up when I try to fire them. Glaze turns out wrong. Things collapse or warp when they dry. Sometimes, it's simply a matter of getting to the end and finding that a piece doesn't speak, or it's out of balance or whatever. I take a step back, figure out what went wrong, and try again, sometimes three or four times. I'm finding that it's a normal part of the process.

I told someone once, "If it was easy, it wouldn't really be art."

It's not always an easy lesson to swallow.... :-(