4...A week in September and a Japenese visitor

In a normal week, I will put my dungarees on mon morning, work each day from 8.30 to 4.00, and then take off my by now, very grubby dungarees, on fri afternoon. I have to have a good work routine as my sculptures are very time consuming and I cannot keep on top of the necessary work unless I keep to it. When I have finished in the studio, I usually spend an hour or so in the garden (it is a hectare so could really do with someone full time on it) and then I will chop or saw some wood if it is that time of the year. This week however I haven't been able to keep to my usual routine. I am coming back to get ready for the Palace Art fair tomorrow (link on the right) and I will then be in Brighton for a couple of weeks, so I haven't really been able to get down to any serious designing or making. Also, the garden is not just calling, it is yelling. The apple and pear trees are groaning under the weight of an unusually large crop, and I have to decide which to pick and store before I come back, and which can stay on the trees  for the time being. My ancient Quince tree has also had a very rare crop, and has  been in need of rescuing from the ivy that has crept up all over it, almost unnoticed. So I have spent most of the week up in the tree pulling off the stubborn Ivy and picking the Quinces. The house is now filled with their georgeous smell, and I've filled lots of jars with Contingnac, an old french dessert made with Quinces and Oranges.



The old Quince tree



Todays dinner

I  aim to eat something from the garden every day of the year. By january/febuary I am usually down to leeks and apples and if I'm lucky some squash, but this time of year I can fill a box every day.

At the beginning of the week, we had bibllical rain over here, mind you we often do. My french friends often remark on how much they have heard that it rains in England....but it rains much more over here!  Monday morning after a day and a night of heavy rain, the sun came out full strength and everything in the garden was steaming and sparkling, it was lovely. I suddenly noticed that the garden was full of cobwebs too. The hedges were draped in them and everywhere you looked spiders were busy spinning more.

Busy spiders

I belong to a website called Warmshowers.org. This is a place where you can ask for or offer accomodation if you are cycling around. This week I got a request from a Japenese man called Hayashi who wanted to stay for a night on his way through. Chatting with him at dinner, I asked where he had been and he said that he had started off in Alaska, been all through North and South America, up through Europe, and he had just come from Dover after cycling from Edinburgh. I asked him how long he had been on the road, and he told me three years so far!

Hayashi and his heavy bike

He is now working his way down through France, across Spain to Morroco, and then all the way down Africa. It should take him another two years. I think he is escaping from his job as a computer programmer in Japan. On the back of his bike he had a present for his cat which he is going to post back to Japan from Paris. Anyway, I sent him off after a large bowl of porridge for breakfast to get him to Rouen.

Bon Voyage Hayashi!

So, not a very typical week.....although I'm not sure these days what a typical week is.

3...A gallery of tiles

When people come to visit, they are always facsinated by the studio, I think most people enjoy playing with clay given half a chance, and it's fun watching them create something lovely. So this year I decided to create a gallery of tiles from all the friends that come to stay as a record of their visit. It will be interesting too to see how the childrens tiles change every year.

Jane Denman....Ballet dancer

This lovely tile was made by my friend Jane (link to her website on the right). She has been working with dancers for the last year or so to create a body of work based on different types of dance. I like the way the dancers legs kick right off the tile.







Mika, Erin and Kiku

These tiles were made by three lovely girls who used every colour I had. I like to see them all hanging together, they make me feel happy.





Karla and Hannah

These two tiles were made by my friend Karla and my goddaughter Hannah. Hannah's tile is called 'Fish and Chips', the four blue balls running along the tile are the peas!





Rex Matthews



Jude Matthews

Harriet Matthews

Charlotte Matthews

These four tiles were all by the Matthews family...all are artists as you can see and very competetive too! They have rather raised the bar. Charlotte couldn't believe the size of the snails that we get in the garden over here, and that they are eaten....she wouldn't let us cook one for her though!

I think it's amazing what lovely ideas people will come up with and how much can be put onto a 4" tile. Next week I'm thinking of setting up a stall at the market ....wonder how much I'll get for them?    Only kidding guys!

2...Cornflowers

This morning I woke to find a beautiful moon shining through my window surrounded by dark rain clouds. Outside my window is a huge Beech tree on the left and an Ash on the right, its like my room is a tree house. I have my cuppa in the morning watching the birds and red squirrels run along the branches of the Ash.

Today I have been working on Cornflowers. They were a tricky little flower to design, but I've been wanting to make a sculpture for a while based on the blue, white and red flowers of France, the Poppy, Margueritte and the Cornflower. They are so iconic here. Not only do you see them growing at the edge of fields, but they are built into illustration everywhere where they want to depict a Frenchness....on the paper wrapping of baguettes, on beer bottle labels etc.

I already have Poppies and Marguerittes from previous sculptures but this one took a bit more thinking out. I've got there now, and just have to try to make up a blue that will do it justice. I'm trying to get these finished in time for the Palace Art fair, which means that I will have to get them dried super quick then glazed and in for a single firing by next wednesday....

view out towards the south west from my studio

The weather has been dramatic today. Heavy showers chasing warm sun. The garden is lush and green, but everything is just on the cusp of falling into autumn.

Looking out to my vegetable garden, I can see the sweetcorn that now needs to be pulled out and the ripening grapes with my scarecrow lurking behind.

1...A First Blog

Well, moving on into the blogging age, and after  encouragement from some clients who were interested in my double life, I've decided to set up an account of how, where and why I work. Never having been a very reliable journal keeper, it will be interesting to see if this fares better, but it is a good way of collecting my thoughts and recording my work processes.
My studio is in Normandie, I moved there a few years ago when rents were rising on the studios that I ran in Hove, and my work was getting larger. I have a house and large garden there that was being under used, and we were never able to keep on top of the gardening, so it made sense to be there on a permanent basis as I had lived there on and off for over 30 years.
We had chosen a house that could be easily reached from Brighton, and to atone for the fact that I have a kiln (being a bit of a greenie) I now cycle to and fro on a regular basis.
It sounds idylic, and sometimes it is, but it also requires me to be physically strong. Our heating, water and cooking is run by a woodfired Rayburn....the wood coming from our garden. Life has to be extremely organised to keep both the studio and the house warm enough to work in as our winters in Normandie can get very cold. So, I'm up in the studio first thing in the morning to light the stove, and then I have breakfast while it warms up and the smoke clears (its an old Godin). Then with my trusty companion Radio 4 LW, I work through until 3 or 4 oclock and then its off to prepare wood for the rest of the day and tomorrow. Chip Chop!....I couldn't be without an axe these days. A bad day is one where the rain has set in and there is cricket on the radio...I pray for rain at Lords. A good one has a bit of sunshine, some new ideas on the go and a successful glaze firing.

The garden is a constant source of inspiration to me, and as I learn more about planting and growing, I find more and more to excite me. From one of my studio windows I can watch my vegetable garden grow, and from the other, looking towards the south west I watch the seasons change.........
This weekend I have been at the Brighton Art Fair, which was as much fun as usual, lovely people showing and a very well organised affair. I sold well and am nipping back to france tomorrow to finish off a sculpture or two for the next Art fair which is being run by the same people and promises to be a good show. It's being held at Fulham Palace by Putney bridge. http://www.palaceartfair.co.uk/