BOTANY DAYS

In between all my experimenting and playing with new ideas, the working life continues! This is a recently completed panel commissioned by a client with specific reference to nature combined with the particular colours and atmosphere of the living space where the panel will finally be displayed.

CHERRY TOMATOES IN A DISH

While the world seeks more wars to fight let's gaze at cherry tomatoes in a dish...
(featured above - one of my very new pale green pedestal fruit dishes)

STILL LIFE WITH LEMONS

Alchemists’ work, turning tin and arsenic and vegetable juices into golden fruit painted with a kind of showy complication and variety that suggests there must have been competition among the painters of lemons.

Above is a quote from Mark Doty’s lovely little book, Still Life with Oysters and Lemon, which is both an ode to the still life form and a meditation on ordinary objects and time.

So in the spirit of 17th Century Dutch painters, here is an image of my actual dish holding real lemons, and indeed a homage to the still life form and inviting contemplative meditation on the ordinary life.  

AN APPLE A DAY...

And on with the quietness...alongside the orders I am playing with spontaneous forms and enjoying the still life quality enhanced by the accompaniment of apples. (These came out of the kiln early this week.)

AFFIRMATIVE WHITE

I am usually drawn to using bright colours, but a quiet side of me - an antidote - comes up every now and then, and increasingly more often these days. The above items are part of a bespoke dinner service for a client. I call this my 'white-on'white' ware, in fact it is white matte texture combined with white shiny glaze all covering a charcoal clay which gives the white some depth. All packed up and shipped off today!

HIGH TEA?

I am rather into the concept of 'high tea', although so far this only extends as far as making the tiered petit fours stand...longing for some delicious treats to display on this commissioned piece, recently out of the kiln.

CURIOUS DISHES

In the past few weeks I have been experimenting with new shapes and new expressions. These are a few of my rather curious re-worked and re-worked dishes out of the kiln today. I am trying to make pieces that can function both as sculptural and utilitarian items. Watch this post for more of these coming up soon!

CLOBBERED POTS AND OTHER THINGS

There are many definitions of clobbering ranging from hitting someone hard to overwriting the contents of a computer file. However in the ceramic context my understanding is that 'clobbering' means to decorate another's work with overglaze.  The first image depicted here is of 2 clobbered vases - these white vases are from Ceramic Matters and I have added my mark to them.

There are currently all kinds of activities going on in my studio, a lot of work is in progress. So I decided to photograph some of the pieces lying around waiting to be further worked on. Images here depict plates that are decorated and need to be glazed, plates that have been glazed and need to be fired, slab built dishes which have been freshly made and are drying and small decorated cups awaiting glaze. A lot happening simultaneously, images of the finished work will be posted when they come out of the kiln....finally...and assuming they all survive the element of fire!