Melinda Chan

Last fall, I decided to sign up for a membership to the ceramics studio. I did this mainly because I wanted to get my own practice in. I need to try things on my own and make my own mistakes in order to really learn.

I've been watching videos on YouTube to remind myself of best practices. It's interesting how you can hear something repeatedly, but not really get it, until someone says it in a way that clicks with you. Maybe it has something to do with whether you're ready to absorb the information, but in any case, the videos have been helpful. I might not get it the third time I hear it, or even the 10th time, but maybe by the 18th time, I'll finally get it.

Above are the first four pieces I've done on my own as a member, not as a student. It's important for me to make the distinction because as a member, there is no teacher guiding you along the way. You have to get the timing right about knowing when the best time is to do something--probably the biggest challenge because if you had a certain design in mind, it may not be possible due to the timing.

I've got more pieces coming along. Most are waiting to be decorated or bisque fired. Just trying to show up and practice regularly, experiment and see what I like/don't like.

These are my six of my favorite drawings from my drawing project last year. They are my favorites for different reasons. For some, they were fun to draw, for others they helped me express my feelings or I liked how they turned out.

Drawing and posting something each day was one of my biggest accomplishments of 2018. Here are some takeaways from the experience:

1. I surprised myself with the fact that I was able to do this every day. I had no real plans to do it for the year and was careful not to make that promise, but taking it day by day, I showed up and created a collection of daily drawings for the entire year.

2. Social media gave me the accountability tool to help me stay disciplined each day. Without, the pressure of knowing that my friends would be expecting a drawing, I probably wouldn't have gotten far along with the project.

3. I tried to experiment with different styles, colors, subjects, techniques, but I end up sticking with abstract drawings.

4. Having to draw and post each day forced me to be present and recognize the passing of each day.

5. By focusing on quantity, it helped me not get too pressured about the outcome of each piece.

6. There were days when drawing helped me process my feelings that would've been difficult to express in other ways.

7. People seem to like my more realistic drawings more than my abstract drawings.

I'm not planning to continue this drawing challenge in 2019. I hope to continue drawing regularly, but I'm not going to do it daily. I may take some of the drawings from 2018 as a starting point to explore a topic further and develop a series.