A Work In Progress

This is the Wizard. He's a work in progress. When I walked by the children's clay table, I spotted him. Thinking he was a child's project, I sat down to study him. It turns out that the teacher was making him herself with the help of several students who made the decorations on the back of his robe and the stars on his hat, neither of which are visible in the photo. But his creator assured me that she had big plans for him, that his gloves will be shiny bright green and . . . I've forgotten the rest.

Teaching children and adults to create art is part of our outreach program at Spanish Village, one we take very seriously. We're not required to do any teaching, but we are certainly encouraged to do so. I've even thought about doing it myself at some point in the future. I'd like to teach something unusual, some dying art, something that could be continued on into the future.

In the meantime, I'm concentrating on my studio. I put the fabric back on my display table and put out a lot of my jewelry. I still haven't put the price on it, but I've been keeping track of what I've made, how much the materials cost, and how much time I've spent on each piece. So I can label everything appropriately, possibly with a few exceptions.

Besides setting up my display, I finished three pieces of jewelry I had started previously and made a new one. I'm trying to work on unfinished projects, but it's hard sometimes. I always want to start something new. And when I arrived in my studio this morning, I was feeling discouraged at my seeming lack of progress with my studio and my jewelry. I was so discouraged that I didn't want to even set everything up. But as the day progressed and I made some headway on several projects, I began to feel more optimistic and invigorated.

It's strange to think about the fact that Spanish Village has a number of artists who work individually in their studios, and yet each one is absorbed in what he/she is doing and has some idea of the direction to go in. I know that I can work and work for days and still have some idea of what I want to make next. I guess that means I'm headed in some direction that may not always be self-evident even to me. But that's okay, I think, as long as I'm making progress in some direction. And who knows, maybe I'll wind up with shiny green gloves, too.