Art has always been one of my favorite subjects in school. The creativity and wonderful works of art that are created in that very room are incredible. Watching a piece go through the creating process, then seeing the final result is truly mesmerizing. Growing up with an older sister I always looked up to her as a role model. She too loved art and was amazing at it as well. I always watched her work on her art at home, pieces she has worked on for weeks. So being the younger sister I wanted to follow in her footsteps of being an amazing artist. The one thing that was worrying me was all of the effort and time that goes into creating one piece, but nonetheless, I have stuck with it.

On the first day of school, after having my first two classes, I walk into the art room and teacher greets me at the door. I choose my spot and wait for class to start. The teacher talks about all of the different projects the class will be doing. One of the last projects we will be doing is creating ceramic boxes. This is the one project I am really excited about. The day ends and a new day begins. We start working on our first piece, a one-point perspective drawing. The days continue until finally the project I have been waiting for.

The teacher starts talking about what all needs to be included in the ceramic project. After she finishes talking, the creative process starts. I have to come up with the perfect theme that fits the teacher's guidelines. So many different themes I want to do but I decide to go with the theme of flowers. As I begin drawing out my design on paper I start to think that my design will be too hard to do, especially for this being my first ceramic project like this. Ignoring this though I continue to draw out the design and finally finish it. I show the teacher and she approves.

Now I start actually creating the box. I go through the steps to make the sides of the box. I roll out the clay, cut it to length, then slant the edges. Over and over again I continue this process. The class period ends I have two sides of the box done. As I get home I am still thinking about how I am going to create these roses on top of the box. I decide to get some playdough out and work with that to figure out how I am going to make these flowers. I try many different ideas but I finally found the perfect process.

The next few weeks I continue to work on the box, restarting more than once. Finally, I get to the point where I can start making the roses. This is the second to last step in creating my box so I can’t restart anymore. I create the first rose which turns out looking like a blob of clay. I continue to try to find the right thickness and design. I finally get my first rose created. I continue to make more roses until I have about five. From here I see that most of the roses are too big to go on top of the box. I restart once again, but this time only with the roses. I finally get three roses that will work. I attach the roses then put my box in the back room to allow it to dry out so it can be fired.

A few weeks later the teacher brings out the boxes from the kiln. I go over to look at mine and I am very happy with how it turned out. I then start the process of glazing it, which takes forever. I stay after school almost every day so I can finish this box. I eventually finish glazing it then it gets put back in the kiln. Within three days the box has been fired for the second time and is returned to me. As I look at the finished product I have a huge smile on my face. This is one of the best pieces I have ever created.

I have seen how much effort and time goes into making an art piece from all the art my sister did but never knew it would pay off like this. After spending almost a month in the creative process and restarting many times I have learned one main thing. What I learned is that I need to stop being such a perfectionist and I need to stop being so hard on myself. After learning this I was much more aware of the mistakes I can play off and the mistakes I should change. This has helped me in many different situations, not just art. This one art piece has changed the way I think for the rest of my life.