What's Next, Mudstar?

The last thing I should be doing right now is write a blog post.  But I always seem to do things when I'm not supposed to.  Like cleaning out the fridge when I should fill out paperwork, or move my summer clothes upstairs when I should be trimming pots.

My tush should be at the wheel right now.  Oh, I'll head down there in 20 minutes, I promise, but I'm a little preoccupied at the moment.  What's happening?  Well....as I said in the post before this one, I've been re-evaluating my direction, and I can't stop thinking about where I want to go.

I love ceramics.  There's a physical response in my body for clay, which is unlike any I've had towards anything else.  But I feel the need to stretch my muscles, to do some new things.  I want to write more.  My blog, a play, a book? And I want to push myself in claywork, to somewhere that feels new and maybe a little uncomfortable.  I feel, dare I say it, ready to take on work that's a little more...yikes...serious.

I'm a little torn.  Over the last year and a half, I've been building up this little business, developing happy patterns and designs that I have repeated over and over again, because they seem to be loved and they sell well.  And isn't that why I started this whole Mudstar business in the first place?  To see if I could make money from my art?  I wanted to legitimize myself in that way.  It seemed so important at the time.

The more I go to workshops, the more I read articles about other potters, the more I read their blogs and see their work, the more I sketch and the more I write, the more I realize how little I know and how much more I want to learn.  I feel as if I have just completed my freshman year and now I'm a sophomore.  I want to push myself in a way I haven't felt in a long time.  Or maybe that I've never felt.  To take risks.  To make work that might fail spectacularly.

Though I know I haven't made my last little Tweet dish, or Hydrangea candle, I'm a little twinge-y about switching gears.  But I think I have to think about it this way: there is NO WAY I could have taken a leap of faith in a new creative direction if I hadn't gained confidence with my Mudstar.  She's made me braver.  She's made me deal with face-to-face criticism. She's made me accept failure.  She's made me smile when I wrap up a sold-something that I made with my own two hands.  When I sell to a stranger.  She's made me tougher and she's made me ready for the next bit.

So what is next?  For now, Mudstar is thinking ahead only as far as the holidays.  So lucky to be close to home until then.... Get your little red Tweets while the getting is hot!! :)

• Princeton Y Crafters' Marketplace this weekend, November 17th and 18th - it's chockful of great artisans with their handmade goods.  I would go even if I weren't part of it!! Local, little-guy holiday shopping at its finest.

• The Arts Council's Sauce for the Goose Holiday Sale, which runs the month of December.  Stay tuned to www.artscouncilofprinceton.org...they'll be posting details soon.

• **Don't miss Mudstar's 3-day trunk show at Princeton-based Jane, from December 6th through 8th.

This holiday...

Shop local.  Shop handmade.  Shop special.  Shop the little guy!!