Paper Bag Princess

I was inspired by a post on Rae Dunn's blog, in which she writes about some pieces of hers that turned out completely different than what she expected, but their "uglyness" became beautiful to her the more she looked, and reminded her that sometimes having certain expectations for clay can leave you disappointed, until you let them go.

I went into the studio after reading that post, determined to try something different and let the clay speak to me, without expectations of a certain outcome. I expected uglyness, and possibly something that might fall apart or collapse. What I got was this lovely girl. I call her my Paper Bag Princess, and I just painted her yesterday. As I was making her, I cut out the crown shape in a nod to Rae, who uses the image a lot in her work.

I'm definitely getting a taste for building with soft slabs. I made another one the next day, a sort of a sack shaped Queen bottle figure. It feels totally different from my struggle for perfection on the wheel, and it's very freeing.