Well who’d have known a couple of months ago that we would all be in this predicament?
The studio had been reopened for 6 weeks, I was starting to get into the rhythm of making again, stuff was starting to go through the kiln firings, sales were beginning again after the post-Christmas slump …
Still, life is never predictable and many, many people have it far worse than I do. I have a comfortable home, a garden, a loving daughter who willingly shops for me and the company of my mother who is sharing lockdown with me.
I have discovered new ways of doing the things I love – speaking to a good friend every evening; a weekly quiz with my badminton group; twice weekly group exercise classes; daily prayer services led by our Rector; weekly sharing of recorded music clips by our church choir; and most importantly for my creative self, the studio is meeting three times a week to pot together! All by the medium of Zoom, an app I had never heard of before lockdown, but such a boon in these isolated times.
The numbers of pieces I have made with the studio group and independently is growing, carefully dried out and packed away in tissue paper until such a time as I can return to the studio to get them fired. I seem to be loving making birds at the moment, probably inspired by the garden birds that I am taking more notice of now, more than ever before.
I’m not sure how much longer this will last. Some days are more difficult than others. Today is difficult. But I’m trying to focus on one day at a time … one … day … at … a … time.