Great Expectations.

I've been getting ready for the Ceramics Showcase for weeks, well maybe, for years actually.  

Lately, I've been throwing and glazing and horsehair raku-ing and waxing.  This week, I've been packing and pricing and hauling and unpacking and setting up.  Driving across town in rush hour   traffic to set up booths and lights and an installation to make money for a non-profit that helps needy families grow their own food.

I spend half my time selling plates to benefit a non-profit and half my time selling my own work.  I'm much more comfortable talking to people about the plates and the non-profit than I am talking about my own work.  

But I do have expectations.  I try, as I said to another artist, not to expect a lot so I won't be disappointed.  But that's old programming.  Is it greedy and selfish to want to sell my work and make money?  Don't we all want to use our skills and work to make money?  Why is it that artists seem to be so skittish about money?

Art is work.  Work that requires time and skill and dedication.  So, I'm changing my mind set.  Now.  

I'm going to lift my head up, talk to people about my work and expect them to buy it.  And when I slip down the rabbit hole of fear, I'm going to shake it off and make my self see that expectations are, indeed, great.