also, this:
Never, ever apologize for that. This is how you get better and better, by trying "crazy" or "playful" things and then looking at the finished product to determine what is eye pleasing. Good job being adventurous!perhaps a bit too playful w/ comp on that one
On the top photo, you could tweak it just a tiny bit, scoot the clay boat up onto the table, so you only see the vertical grid, not the table frame, get a white piece of paper just in front of your scene and angle it to throw a little bit of light on the front of the chawan, then crop the whole thing to square to emphasize the circles. I think it would look really good.