Clay Pipes I come across numerous clay pipes – or fragments of them – on the foreshore. They are a common find for mud-larkers as most working men smoked tobacco in ‘days of yore’. What is fascinating is that they come in so many sizes, shapes and designs. The one with the Buffalo Head and letters RAOB (Royal Antedeluvian Society … Read More
Foreshore Finds
Foreshore Finds I spend a great deal of time looking at and recording surface textures and patterning. My instagram feed is testament to this. Here are a few pieces of Victorian china – fragments of broken plates, cups and other ceramic wares – that I have picked up on my mud-larking trips. I collect odd shapes as well as colourful … Read More
Buddug
Enamel plate by ‘Buddug’ (Quote by Roahl Dahl) I have this plate hanging in my kitchen. It is by a Welsh artist named Buddug. It seems apt to share it here. I love these sentiments as I find myself constantly observing with “glittering eyes the whole world around” me. I have signed up – rather belatedly – to Instagram in … Read More
Label
Label with stamps from a vintage Hat Box I am a keen photographer, snapping anything of interest I happen to come across. I enjoy detail and am constantly drawn to surface textures, colours, tones, lines and marks on surfaces and objects. I particularly enjoy old collectibles and curiosities, historic buildings, worn or disintegrating objects which suggest a fragility but also … Read More
Tomb
Graphite on Paper – Tomb, Exeter Cathedral As an artist, art historian, arts administrator, writer and curator, I am interested in a wide cross-section of fine art, craft and visual culture as a whole and have recently been going through a period of personal and creative reflection and reassessment. Over the years, I have used paper, pencil, paint, pastels, photography, … Read More
Ceramic Shoes
‘Reap only what you sow’ – Ceramic Shoes (Stoneware clay with oxides and glaze). Those of you who have visited my website before will know that I have labelled myself a ‘ceramist’ in recent years as, since completing a two year Ceramic Diploma in 2007, this has been my primary discipline. I am known best for ceramic shoes although I … Read More
Golden Oak Leaves
Golden Oak Leaves Some places have a timeless quality. My neighbours’ garden is one such place. An old farmstead, it is dominated by a grand old oak tree which offers shelter to many birds, animals and insects throughout the year. It is a magical place and sitting under its canopy, on a sunny afternoon or at dusk, there is a … Read More
Tom’s Midnight Garden
Philippa Pearce -Tom’s Midnight Garden. Detail from cover design by Peter Farmer. I have always loved reading. The books I had as a child were richly illustrated and even before I could understand the words I remember looking at the images that accompanied the stories. (Many of those ‘treasuries’ I still have and would never part with). I particularly enjoyed … Read More
Eye
(Detail from The Big Fish – a printed ceramic mosaic sculpture by John Kindness – 1999 Donegall Quay Belfast) I find it endlessly fascinating to contemplate how we, as individuals, interpret the world. As a very small child I drew mermaids sitting on rocks, pointed out dolphins, turreted castles and tall ships in cloud formations and worried my mystified parents … Read More