8...An October week with giant puffballs

October view from studio window

A first frost this week but the garden is still very green. It doesn't look like it is going to be a particulaly colourful autumn this year. I would normally spend most of the day in the studio, but there is so much produce in the garden this year that I am having to spend the afternoons bottling and stirring jams. The garden also needs clearing and mulching.

Hamish shovelling free compost

 Luckily in France, there is usually a huge pile of free compost at the local tip. This particular pile was steaming hot and smelling like a ripe fruit cake (sort of). We filled every sack we could find and the garden is slowly going to bed under a blanket of this lovely black stuff.

Sean with giant puffballs

The garden is also producing more than just fruit and veg. We have found nine of these so far this year, and they don't keep. I could fry up a meal for the whole village!

Poppy centre, pom poms and cornflowers

In the studio I have made a start on a few new things. The poppy centre will be filled with black monofilament once is has been glazed fired. But mainly I am thinking and designing.

Sloe vodka, Quince jelly, Contignac and Membrillo

In the kitchen the preserving goes on, albeit slowly as I can't get the membrillo to set. Only another two crates of quince to go. For the moment though, I just need to clear up as every surface, even the wall clock, seem to be covered in sticky jam!

7...Back in the studio

Part of my studio

Back into the studio today, but had to light the stove before I could start....its freezing! Actually, it was part delaying tactics as it is always tricky to get going when I haven't been here for a week or two, usually I clean.

Lollipop Dahlia

During the summer, I discovered some georgeous little pom pom Dahlias that looked like little lollipops. They were yellow inside and a lovely pinky red on the edges. They couldn't be more different from the huge Dahlias that I make that are as wide as my kiln and very heavy. Anyway, I fancied making some of these and putting them onto thin rod so that their heads will nod when they are placed into their wood base.

First protoype lollipop dahlia

In an earlier blog I mentioned that I was designing some cornflowers to go into a sculpture of the blue, white and red flowers of  France. I didn't have quite the right blue for the flowers so added some cobalt carb to my sky blue colour.....

oops,not quite right

......but I overdid the cobalt and although the colour is fab, the surface is not. So back to the drawing board. I also need to make the bases smaller and the blue part of the flower bigger. This is tricky as although they will look better, it can make them prone to topple over in the kiln. Well, we shall see.

6...The commute to work

Having been back in Brighton for the last couple of weeks, I've come back to Normandy today to see how the garden grows and to get on with some work. Autumn and winter are a busy time for me as it is during this time that I get the space to be able to design and make new work. I have a few ideas running around in my head, and now I need to get them down onto paper and start experimenting with the clay.

I tend to go back and forth on a weekly/fortnightly basis, so I suppose I am a channel commuter. However, as I go everywhere by bike, my commute is a ferry then a cycle ride, lovely in good weather as it was today.

Coming into Dieppe



The journey to my town is an hour or so from the port and is in the next valley along. That means that I have to climb a hill at some point, there's no escaping that, and after puffing my way up the steep hill out of Dieppe many times I now cycle along to Arques le Bataille and take a more gradual hill on a much quieter road.

The castle at Arques, half way up the hill

The roads in France are a dream to cycle. The few cars that pass you on the quieter roads will give you a wide berth and there is no sense of the war between cars and bikes that there is in Britain. People walking along the side of the road or working in their gardens will always say Bonjour as you pass.

Sugar beet mountain

The countryside changes all the time, at this time of year there are piles and piles of sugar beet loaded up by the side of the road awaiting collection. They'll soon be off to make lots of cheap european sugar.

5...Working at an Art Fair

Several times a year, generally in the spring and autumn, us artists have to display and sell our wares at various Art Fairs. This can be fraught with difficulties, is it in a good location? will it be well attended? are the organisers organised? and many other considerations. Why do we do this? Well, it is just one of the ways in which we try to scrape a living, always a hand to mouth existence, especially if it is ones proper job and not supplemented by teaching or other part time work.

stand on arrival

Art fairs are an exhausting business. After setting up and getting the display right, you will then stand for 3 - 5 days talking, hopefully, to many people, explaining your work, your methods and your inspiration. The good thing about them is the fact that you get to meet the actual people who will own and enjoy your work and often build up a relationship with them which can continue for years. For many of us who spend much of the year working in isolation (with only Radio 4 for company) this is a good thing and helps to re affirm our original decision to make art our life.

10 minutes later

This weekend, I have been at the Palace Art Fair in Fulham. It was run by the same people who organise the Brighton Art Fair and although it was their first time in London, many of us took the risk of a stand at a new fair because their organisation of the Brighton fair is second to none.

some time later

The feel of this fair was different to Brighton as it was the first time that many of the visitors had met us and they seemed surprised at how good the work was and how well curated the show. I think that this one will be a grower and I look forward to doing it again. Today however I am giving my feet a rest!

private view with long suffering partner