There is something very therapeutic about having my hands in clay. When I’m bringing a thought dancing around in my head to life, I go quiet. I can’t watch TV, listen to podcasts, or have conversations. Sometimes there’s music when the mood strikes, but more times than not, there’s total silence. It’s my time to reflect, go within and meditate.

There’s a transformation that goes on in the making process. I truly feel that there is no wrong way to do clay. Which opens up tremendous freedom from feeling inferior. It’s the one place that people actually get excited when you don’t know something, so they can share what someone else taught them. You get to see immediate results from your efforts, and are constantly proven that you are talented. Clay is such a forgiving medium. If you don’t like something, you alter it, or smooth it out, or start over. After all….it’s about the journey, less about the end product. The end result is really an investment in centering yourself and having fun. Escaping for a moment, or sometimes laughing with friends. There’s no wrong way to do it.

What you thought you could make, suddenly seems too ambitious. What seems like a disaster one moment, suddenly takes on a beautiful new light, when you start to shape, cut, carve, mold, burnish, etc……

Even 25 years later, there is so much more for me to explore. Clay feeds my soul like nothing else! It has been a constant companion in my mind. I see life through the eyes of a potter, where every thing in the world around me becomes a shape, a texture, a color I want to try. It allows me to stretch my creative mind, by taking inspiration from non clay objects or pieces of work.

My only problem is there’s not enough time in the world to try everything that I have saved in my inspiration folders. Maybe, one day!

I hope you invest in yourself, and allow yourself to escape for a moment in time. Don’t we all deserve it?