Challenging ourselves by learning new skills keeps the brain active, enriches other capabilities, keeps us humble.

Before Christmas I spent eight weeks working with ceramic pro, Brenda Sutton Mader. "Throwing" clay on the wheel was more physical & demanding than I'd expected. "Building" pieces had its own challenges. I'll acknowledge that by week 6 I was a tad downhearted.

But then Brenda started bringing in the fired works we'd shaped & painted. Seeing the finished works, colourful, shiny & whimsical, made the physical effort worthwhile & rewarded the weeks of experimentation.

My favourite is this pizza: mushrooms were formed whole, then sliced. The "sauce" was painted onto a textured crust.

I'm so delighted I've signed up for a five-day throwing camp: 5 daily hours of working on the wheel! Doing exercises to build my upper body strength. Art is satisfying, but can also be hard work.