taking up ceramics and being a beginner

Earlier this year I started a ceramics course for beginners. I absolutely love learning new creative things, but since becoming a Mum 3 and a bit years ago (not to mention the pandemic of course) it's been a little more challenging to find opportunities for in-person learning. 

I am a huge advocate for online learning (be strange if I wasn't!) but I really wanted to do something in person, mainly because as a family we relocated from London to Nottingham right before the pandemic, and I often find creative courses a great way of getting to know a new place, meeting new people - and I just think it's good for the soul to have to go to a specific place to learn something - there's a physical and metaphorical 'getting out of my comfort zone' about the whole thing (plus ceramics is pretty tricky logistically to do online!).

The first few classes I was struck by how unbelievably quickly 2.5 hours flew by. Ceramics is absolutely absorbing and you cannot help but get completely immersed in it - quite literally at times as it can be pretty messy - so you really have no option to be getting distracted by your phone or other interruptions, so for this reason I've found it incredibly relaxing as you have to be so present with the whole process, it's a great medium to encourage mindfulness.

Here are a few of my favourite experiments so far:

I have really loved being a complete beginner in a totally new creative medium. At times this can be incredibly frustrating, when things don't turn out how you intend them to, but it means you have to let go of any expectations and be very process led - trying and experimenting, then trying again to get to a result closer to what you are trying to achieve. This has led me to realise a few things about my own visual style, as I started the course with no real plan or specific type of work I wanted to make in mind, but over several experiments have noticed that I'm trying to make things which are quite aligned with my 2D work; vibrant colours, geometric shapes and mark making or patterns to add some depth and interest. It's funny that I hadn't really identified these very clear hallmarks of my style until I saw them cropping up in my ceramics experiments!

My main challenge currently is that as a beginner I just don't have the skills yet to make the things which are in my head, and one of the key things I have realised (which should have been obvious really), is that the things which I have a clear plan for - ideally with sketches and/or templates - tend to turn out much better than when I make off the cuff. I've been working intuitively and without a plan in all my personal 2D work for a while - it's quite an intrinsic part of the process to work this way - but this just doesn't translate well into ceramics. An important lesson, so I've been thinking a bit more about the types of things I want to create next and actually making some plans - I'm really excited to get back into the ceramics studio! 

Have you become a beginner in a new creative medium? What realisations have you had about it? I'd love to hear about it!