Travels in China 2019

 Back in 2019 we travelled to China. Thinking that we would be returning at some stage I didn’t write about our travels but then we had no way of knowing that COVID would close China’s border.

We travelled to the Song mountain, one of  China’s sacred mountains.

One of the place we were able to visit was the Shaolin Temple which was the birth place of Kung Fu.

Bowls

 I am experimenting to see if I can post from my phone.
Here are some recent pots the one above being for a Christening.
Each bowl takes me a day to decorate. I have been making these for 10 years so it surprises me that it hasn’t got any quicker.

This is by way of an experiment to see if I. An blog from my phone.

May in China

 When I was a child I never had any ambitions to travel. This didn't change when I became an adult. Even people who travelled on package holidays I held in high esteem as if they were a higher species.
Then my daughter emigrated and before I knew it I was applying for visas booking flights and packing my bags.
Arriving in China for my seventh visit our travel continued, we were off on the bullet train to Tianshui in Gansu province.
Our quest was to find the school where our granddaughter was found abandoned when she was just a few days old. We found the school in a poor town near Tianshui it looked particularly bleak in the torrential rain and there seemed little to do but move on.
Our next travels were to take us to some of the sights that the area is famous for.

 Visiting some of the old temples involved quite a lot of climbing. There were hundreds of gods modelled in terracotta but we weren't allowed to take photos. There was the 'blue buddha' with his blue moustash.

 Back near Xian there is a modern buddha. This is the three headed buddha.

 One thing we found is that where ever we travel children are just the same. When our granddaughters came across another child playing with bubbles they didn't wait to be asked but just joined in the fun.

 Grand temples are all very well but one of the most fascinating things in China is park life. You can spend all day there and there will be an ever changing parade of activities to entertain you. ( and of course no one minds if you join in)!

 Another wonderful thing in China is their street food. In every street and on almost every street corner there will be people cooking. This man was making pancakes and filling them with egg and vegetables before rolling them up for breakfast. These people probably do the same food every day and look really skilled and all the food looks and tastes delicious.

One last image, not a huge statue but a small one sat inside a temple garden in Xian. I think I will be taking inspiration from this, maybe a sgraffito cat.

A good resourse

I was recently in Cardiff Museum and Art Gallery and there were some excellent pieces of studio pottery. They were from the private collection of Anita Besson. She had left

them to the Derek Williams Trust.
Although the gallery is long closed all the archives are still on line. Here is a link

Wassail Bowls

As a child, along with every other school pupil in south Wales, I visited The National Folk Museum at St.Fagans. I visited this folk museum countless times and so it is not surprising that some of the exhibits lodged in my mind. Most powerful amongst these were the wassail bowls. These would have been made at Ewenny pottery.
These were bowls that held cider or other drink and were carried around at twelfth night.
They usually have 16 handles and can be passed around. But it is the lids that fascinated me. they are encrusted with modeled figures and numerous birds. Some have figures with farm animals, but the one above even has the husband and wife sat at the kitchen table. Quite a feat to apply the slip I would have thought!

On returning to Wales one of the first things I wanted to do was to revisit these pots. However, having rushed to St.Fagans before the removal men even delivered all our worldly belongings I found that they were not currently on display. Not to worry a few phone calls later and the museum staff got two out of store for me.
I was very delighted to get up close and personal with them without even the usual glass case between creating unwanted reflections.
I was allowed to take photos but unfortunately my PC recently died taking with it my photos! Then recently I found these photos on my phone.
The pots are quite large and very sculptural.

Here are some tiny pots I've made influenced by seeing the wassail bowls.

This is a wassail bowl I made quite recently. I haven't managed to decorate it nearly as much as the Ewenny ones as I am still quite nervous when it comes to dipping them in the slip. They have been great fun to make and I hope to make time to create some more.