Working on fish bowls.

It was a beautiful day in the garden and I was very tempted to take the day off. However, pots are drying fast and I am behind with my work. ( As you can see I've protected the rim of the bowl with cling film to stop it drying too fast).
I am working on a series of bowls with fish on them. These are fun to do. I have a few books with pictures of fish which I work from and just draw directly onto the leather hard clay. It's a wonderful feeling drawing into the clay as there is still quite a bit of 'give' in the clay so it feels soft when you draw. There is very little planning so it's quite an immediate process. I felt a bit like a school child with a new colouring book.

Glazing!

 We had a glorious week-end walking on Dartmoor. When I returned to the pottery on Tuesday I found that I had almost no clay. A very sorry state for a potter. It did mean that I had to settle down and do some very over due glazing. In fact the pottery was grid locked with work.
The pictures above are very poor pictures but they show some of the work out of the kiln this morning.
Natural history is becoming an important element in my work. We get a wonderful range of birds in our garden and I am beginning to think I need a much better camera to get pictures that |I can work from rather than using books.
Just to prove I was in Devon I am including two photos from a village we visited. Can anyone name the village? I thought these railings were very unusual. One of the walks included trekking up to 10 tors! So I returned quite exhausted. Anyway I have since made a trip to 'The Clay Cellar' and restocked with clay. Although I have enjoyed all the slab building it was great to get back on the wheel.

Birds and bees

This is a reliquary I finished today. At the moment the lid looks a little big but that is just because the bottom has been shrinking. Most of this set are decorated with birds and bees.
I've been thinking that I need to work on my drawing skills so I've joined a life drawing class. It's ages since I've done anything like this and many of the others in the group are very young. They are all working on huge sheets of paper with charcoal and I am working on A3 paper with ordinary pencils and trying to get very precise ,accurate lines. I went to see the Lucian Freud exhibition a few weeks ago and it made me feel like giving up. It was breathtaking, most wonderful.
At the moment I have some work in Red Barn Gallery in Cumbria. It's a long way to go so I haven't been there myself but it looks like a wonderful place to spend an afternoon as they also have a great looking garden centre.
I'm off to Devon for the week-end on a walking holiday. I'm not looking forward to the walk but I am sure there must be some potteries near. We are staying vaguely near Dunsford if anyone knows which potteries are near!