62...A wet autumnal week and Maire Genevieve Gallois

Day one of new sculpture

I've been asked recently to make some larger sculptures so started this week on this one which is exactly the height of my kiln (27 inches). I've had this one in mind for some time but put off starting because of the amount of small pieces that have to be hand rolled to build it up.

Day four

Four days later and it was building up nicely...I covered it lightly to wait out the weekend...but found it collapsed down on itself the next morning...damn! This has happened once or twice before, and usually when the weather is humid as it has been all this week. These sculptures become very heavy because of the amount of clay added to the internal form and you have to get the additions on at just the right time...too dry and the larger pieces have a tendency to fall off...too wet and it collapses. Ah well, that's what prototypes are for I suppose.

Out in the garden Laila has had more success with her creations and has been building hazel structures which will be supports for all my tall flowers next year.

Hazel and Willow forms

This is a bed which contains Hollyhocks, Delphiniums, Alliums, Gladioli and other tall plants. The trouble is it is on a slope, and the plants end up flopping down...so she came up with this. It's an interesting form in its own right and will look good all winter while it's waiting for the flowers to grow.

Near my town is a little village called Petit Appeville. I have passed through it many times, but hadn't discovered these windows until this week when some French friends took me to see them as they knew where the key was hidden to get into the church. The windows were made by a really interesting woman called Maire Genevieve Gallois who was a Benedict nun for most of her life. Until much later on in her life she concentrated mainly on drawings.....

one of the stations of the cross

but people found them unsettling and disturbing and they were not really regarded as art until she was discovered by the art world when she was in her 60's.

Figure with beret

This was also about the time she started on her stained glass. The figures in these windows are really different from the usual that you see. They are charactures of people that she knew, and are funny, strange and often cross looking..especially in the first image I posted here. It seems strange that these amazing windows and drawings are hidden away in this little church with only the locals getting to see them on a regular basis.

Mist in the autumn trees

This has been a very unusual autumn. Three weeks ago we were swimming in the sea, and even now it is incredibly mild. The night temperature has been almost the same as the day and I still don't have the wood burner on in my studio.

This weekend though has been windy and the leaves have all come down with a 'flump',

Mistletoe trees

This has left all the Mistletoe exposed on the trees. People when they first come to Normandie often mistake these for large nests....they seem to particulaly like Poplar and fruit trees. This year there are loads of berries forming whereas last year there were almost none...on ours anyway. I expect someone will say that it's a precusor to a cold winter...but more likely to do with the spring I should think.

November Artichokes

The garden is also confused by the weather. The Artichokes which had started dying back, started up into growth again, and produced a second crop of small heads....which we enjoyed with lemon butter this week. I have also picked a lovely bunch of roses, and the clematis has a couple of large purple flowers out on display.

A silver day at sea

However the most exciting thing of the week for me was on tuesday when I caught the ferry back to France. Alongside the ship was a pod of dolphins jumping from the water, they were exactly the same colour as the sea and sky in the picture above. I was so excited I shouted out, and all the passengers on the boat ran to look...I'm suprised the boat didn't list to the side! I couldn't get my camera out in time...I was too busy watching...so you will just have to imagine them.