Fall seems to be a reflective time. The year is coming to a close and its time to think about what you’ve accomplished throughout the year and what you would still like to accomplish before year’s end. Maybe you’ve been considering how you’ve grown as an artist and a person.
My friend, Tina talked a little about personal growth on her blog today. Libby Mills talks about Nurturing the artistic vision on her blog. I love the comment about how she sets up her own roadblocks because I think it’s something we all do. We need to think more like children. Think like we did before we were told something wouldn’t work or that things had to be done a certain way.
The greatest joy, for me personally, in working with polymer clay is the possibilities. What if I do this? How can I make it look like that? Yes, there are a lot of failed projects along the way. That’s just part of the process. If you learn something from each failed project and take that information forward into the next project, was it really a failure? I try to look at it all as a learning experience.
So many people at the bead show said they tried polymer clay, but it didn’t look anything like my beads. Hey, my first attempts at polymer clay didn’t look anything like my work now either. I seriously hope that my work in a few years will be that much better.
Here’s a photo of some of my earlier work. There are some lovely swirled beads (LOL!) in there. I will admit that I picked up caning relatively quickly, but would you look at those day glo colors!
Life is about the journey! Seriously, because when you think about it, the end result is death and not something to go racing towards. I feel the same way about my art. There is no pinnacle of success to race to. If you don’t continue reach and grow both personally and artistically, you stagnate and the journey is over.
Enjoy your journey!
