I believe this was in Fantasy & Science Fiction, sometime in the early to mid 1980s. I cannot remember title or author, alas.
The setting was on a planet where only one man lived; at some point in the past, humans gained the ability to walk to other planets, and also they sometimes got other powers. This person was an artist; he had the ability to create an opalescent substance that he could mold into shapes.
His solitude was invaded by a man on a quest -- he had seen a beautiful woman, once, and was trying to find her. He may have been injured or too weak to continue, as he bothered the art recluse for a while -- although this was, of course, just a excuse use to tell the story.
The primary point of the bulk of the story was that the artist was angry at his lack of skills; the seeker kept commenting on how beautiful every piece was, but the artist pointed out that was simply the material, it was inherently so beautiful that it didn't matter what he did with it.
Eventually, both the seeker and the artist saw the woman appear, and the seeker left to follow her.
The story ended with the artist making a sculpture that was good, or almost good, and then "And the next one was very good indeed."
