I take you inside my cottage as I finally install my hand-crafted ceramic fireplace surround -- and make some mistakes along the way.

The COVID pandemic has pushed many of us to find new ways to relieve stress. Local 4′s Paula Tutman shared her journey with art and how that helped her stay mentally fit and emotionally healthy. She used clay.

As I packed up the ceramic tiles I made for my cottage fireplace surround, I had a serious A-HA moment. I have no idea what I’m doing!

I take you inside my kiln for the firings of the ceramic tiles and navigate a few ooops! How will it turn out? I’ll take you with me as I see my finished tiles for the first time and prepare myself for the big installation.

Once my ceramic tiles have been built they need to be finessed. It is deliciously time-consuming as I figure out ways to bring my art to life with techniques I’m teaching myself.

Are you stressed? Get clayed. That’s how I chose to deal with the isolation and strain of covering a pandemic for TV news. I call it my COVID Clay-cation stress management program. What I discovered as a whim was a sense of deep peace and even joy every time I touched clay.

As a broadcast journalist for nearly 40 years (yes, I started when I was 6 months old), eight of those years as a police reporter whose daily diet was heavily dosed with crime and mayhem, I have learned to roll with the punches. My skin is pretty darned thick. But Covid-19 turned out to be my most formidable foe.

As a broadcast journalist for nearly 40 years (yes, I started when I was 6 months old), eight of those years as a police reporter whose daily diet was heavily dosed with crime and mayhem, I have learned to roll with the punches. My skin is pretty darned thick. But Covid-19 turned out to be my most formidable foe.