Pots in the Park

Potfest in the Park was a wonderful week-end of pots and pot talk. In fact I obviously talked too much because I took almost no photographs! We did get a view of one of the lakes on Saturday evening. I had never been to that part of the world before so I did want to get a view of the water. It is a very beautiful area and we were blessed with some wonderful sunsets. Mostly I was at my stall and I never even saw all the other stands which seems such a shame when there were so many good pots and excellent potters there.
Mathieu van der Giessen was diagonally behind me so I enjoyed handling his slipware. I bought some plates from him that I am going to use daily. I bought quite a bit of pottery that I am looking forward to using in the kitchen.


I should have taken some photos of my stand at the beginning of the week-end as it's looking a bit bare here. I found the week-end very motivational and it was good to meet Christine as I feel I know her through her blog. I would very much like to be getting straight back into the studio but I've got a fortnight off now . A week to prepare for a youth camp followed by the week cooking at Newday.

This weeks news

The wassail bowl above was meant to be for the competition at
Pots in the Park. The title of the competition is 'cultural connections'. Being from Wales I made all the connections and culture Welsh. But sad to say that there is shimmering on the edges so it won't be coming with me to Penrith. Unfortunately I did it when the weather was hot and it was drying up too quickly.

This is the view of the garden from the studio. With the kiln on the room gets very hot so I have to keep the door open. On Saturday we went to visit friends in Deal as it was their Open Studio .My friend ,Annie Spencer-Smith is a photographer and specialises in black and white photographs. She has included my pots in some of her work. I am thinking of using some of them as part of my backdrop at Pots in the Park.
The pier is at Deal. The weather was glorious and we were able to enjoy our lunch on the beach. Though that was probably the only bit of the day that two teenage boys enjoyed! Being escorted to artists studios was not their idea of fun!

Family news

We've had a week off to do some family things. Last Thursday we waved my daughter and her husband off as they flew out to Singapore on their way to China. They plan to emigrate to China so they have enrolled on a two year language course in Xian. The photo shows us all together before they left.
On the Friday we travelled to Wales to spend some time with my parents. The weather flicked from hot and wonderful to very wet and cold! Still we got out and about between the downpours and visited beaches, gardens and galleries.
Yesterday I got back into the studio and onto the wheel. Today it's slipping and turning.