Crosses and Clarity

 I am so tired of praying for clarity.  And frankly, I don’t even know if I can articulate exactly what I mean when I go to the Divine praying for clarity.  So, right then and there in my journal, I decided to give that daily mantra a break. No more pleas and creative words thrown at this life being clear.  No more…”God, show me a clear path here” or “Please give me clarity around this situation” or my favorite “Dear God, please give me clarity and peace of mind.”  Because having them both would be utopia. Or would it? And it was in that moment, I realized I already had all the clarity I needed.

Just create.  

And one particular creative exercise I enjoy is making clay crosses.

Way back when, it all started with drawing crosses. The crosses I drew became bookmarks and lent favors with a few children’s bible study classes on Wednesday nights. Sweet memories I hold dear.

A gritty clay with blue underglaze atop the texture. One small part in the center has clear glaze over the underglaze.

The glaze broke nicely on this floral texture.

Small crosses with the honeycomb texture and glaze. These can be used for prayer beads and/or necklaces.

I keep my broken crosses for future mosaic projects.

A prayer bead set I recently made that includes wood, glass, stone and handmade clay beads.

There are some glazes that keep me staring at the finished piece.

Worn edges, experimental textures and irregularities show the love

A recent order of several crosses gave me another opportunity to push the materials and see what I can do with it.

Crosses glazed and ready for the final firing at Back Porch Pottery’s kiln.

This past Advent season I did a clay advent study. Here are a few of those 25 crosses. This project was significant for me and I think of it often. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of each cross, both with the material and within myself. If you want to learn more about my study check out my instagram page at www.instagram.com/artistholiday/ and scroll down to see all the photos of the crosses. Each cross also has a poem with it.

Crosses, clarity and believing in the creative process.

Building this creative life one experience at a time~

Hannah