Not much pottery going on in 2011. While daylight is the best for viewing detail, some things just look better under electric lighting, in a glass tank, in a museum. Presentation is absolutely everything. As more pieces are assembled, and the concepts get more intricate and refined (but not necessarily better glazed, because the finish is always so unpredictable), inferior pieces get regulated to the reject league.
What once seemed good now seems crap. At first, it was like hey everyone look, I made something with my own hands! Wow-ee! Get me a shelf quick so I can put it up! Oh I say there, wouldn't it look suave in a silver display cabinet from Ikea with fancy backlit mirrors! But then you look at it months down the line or compare it to another person's work and think what the hell is that? Pass me the bin! The gratification of the idea and implementation of a successful design, construction and painting process can often outweigh what is often a disappointing final result. Even if something turns out like a sack of pig plop after it's been dried and fired and then painted and then fired again, there's still something fulfilling about threading laces of clay during the first step of the build.
It helps to judge whatever you do by the standards of someone who does it for a living. If you have a hobby for nothing more than time-killing or personal enjoyment, then fair enough, but if you are serious about something, it pays to be realistic too. You may have finally learned to juggle 3 tennis balls after years of practice and now believe you are the best thing since cheese slices, but how do you react when you come up against some master clown from the circus who has been juggling up to a dozen skittles at once, blindfolded on a tightrope since she was a nipper? Do you say "sack this" and go back to doing your day job well, or flex your pecs, man up, and go for 4 tennis balls? Man or mouse? Chump or champ?
