Marinating in the Ugly

Sitting with the difficult.

“Marinating in the ugly” might be helpful at times. The wear board of mugs, those notebooks of your novel, or the last round of paintings that isn’t working out might need more time. Rather than starting over, ‘marinating in the ugly'“ could help solve interesting problems or take your work in a whole new direction.

“Marinating in the ugly” could be a time of reflection on what’s not working and how you feel about it. It might even be a great skill to have and hold difficult conversations with ourselves and our work that we might not enjoy. Resistance loves it when you ‘marinate in the ugly”. So try not to get stuck in the ugly too long. Realize it’s just a dip.

My cry pile of pots that did not work out cause me to “marinate in the ugly.” I have to walk by the pile every day. Sometimes, I may stop and pull a pot and look at the failure. I might think about trying to recreate or solve the problems the pot might have. What proved difficult before might now be achievable because I know I have built skills through practice. That might mean I have made many more ugly pots in between which allowed me to create good work to make it better.

Jennifer, at work, says she' marinates in the ugly' on her days off from the paper factory, so she may not take the time to do her makeup and hair. I asked her to explain what she meant. Jennifer says that “marinating in the ugly” for a few days allows her to appreciate how she looks when she feels she looks good when work becomes stressful or difficult. It's a type of self-care that involves first “marinating in the ugly”.

I have a few mugs and bowls that help me “marinate in the ugly” in my cupboard. These forms clearly did not work out, and at times, their style started to grow on me. I may enjoy and start to appreciate what I thought to be not working before and change my mind about it. The uneven lines when the glaze dripped, the fingerprints, the out-of-round rims, that glaze color that did not fire out correctly. At times I may laugh to myself and think I should make one hundred of the problem after discovering I was just being hard on myself.

Maybe take time to '“marinate in the ugly” today. Feel free to sit with a difficult situation, creation, or idea that might not be working out and see what you come up with. It might take hours, days, months, or years of marinating in the ugly before things take a turn for the better for that difficult thing. Five years ago, I had an ash glaze test that almost ran off the pot and stuck to the shelf. That glaze may look amazing on pots if I can control the melt. For now, I’ll “marinate in the ugly” and finish my coffee in the cup.