I had many words to write, but wanting to make the most of the time that I have today, instead put only pictures.

In my studio

My studio is now run by dragon time. I chose to have the large clock without numbers and although at first I thought that the clock was a 'bit plasticy' have decided that it does look good on the wall. Will do some more designs soon to add to the ones at the gift shop for The House of Golden Dreams.https://www.facebook.com/TheHouseofGoldenDreams

First mug design almost finished. One more to go, and a powerpoint for Sunday ( talk at Oriel y Parc) and daughter to wave off to Peru, and cousins to see.

I want to play with the idea of time and make clock designs.

17.28: Wednesday

Playing shop.

Afternoon tea?

Bags and iPhone cover and mousemat from cafepress. So far, so good. Just ordered samples to show at Art in Action.

Plotting, planning, later, painting.

Up early, walking and thinking then home to hot chocolate. Feeding the birds takes longer every day as more and more come. Almost so tame now that they cover the feeders while I am filling them. Little do they know that I am only luring them in so that I can make a bird pie!

 

Birds, beasts and beach.

Yesterday, Christmas shopping in St Davids in the tiny bookshop on The Pebbles. I came out of the shop with more books than I would ever leave a huge Waterstones with including the beautiful George Orwell which would make the most excellent Christmas present for Nick Clegg, and The White Ravens by Owen Sheers published by an independent publisher called Seren.  Painted into the dark hours while the wind called around the house carrying the cries of the lapwings.

On the beach this morning:

A small scrap of a seal pup, born too late, now just a feast for crows.

Strange light reflected from heavy clouds that promise snow.

In the garden, chaffinch, sparrow, bluetit and great tit, starling and robin, jackdaw, thrush, blackbird, magpie, rook and dunnock. There have been goldcrests too and wren and goldfinch and bullfinch. But still no greenfinch.

Opening

At 2pm Adam began to take away the bricks, one by one to reveal shining pots. The kiln was still warm as an oven. Inside the pots sang, tinkling like a music box.

 

It was the small pots, porcelain, that sang so beautifully as they cooled. Magic.

 

Inevitable cheetahs

At Adam's studio the pots stood waiting. I sat and painted on them and scratched into them and all the while he mixed chemicals to make a glaze and started packing the kiln and bringing in great long pieces of wood for the firing.
Having no idea what I was doing or what the finished thing would look like I did a few pieces, some hares, some birds and inevitable cheetahs.
Outside there were chickens and ducks and distant foxes over sunbleached winter fields. 
Ailsa made us soup and we sat by the big window looking out on the beautiful land and then worked on a few more pots, watched by the donkey. When I left Adam was dipping mugs into a white glaze and scraping and sponging moonjars and packing them with wading.
The kiln will be opened by lunch time on Saturday. I love the sound the pots make as they cool, like a strange music box. 

Ceramics is a much more physical thing than I am used to. The kiln itself is a large space. The pots when packed in look so vulnerable. The wood for firing is heavy and needs feeding in to the oven to make the heat. And then there are all the things that can go wrong.
I was nervous, not wanting to ruin Adam's shapes with scribbles. Adam is nervous as he doesn't want to blur and smudge my scribbles with too heavy a glaze. I have absolutely no idea what they will look like when they come out. They shrink. Colours change. With luck they will shine. 

 

Mud, ice, birds, rain, time.

On the second day I realised that I still had my phone on silent. It rang. It was Adam and he said he had things I could go and draw on, so I called in and there were rows of small jars and mugs. He gave me some to play with, more tomorrow. Time to experiment. He is firing in the next few days.
Outside the studio I found some ice to photograph.

 

Back home I have work to do and outside the rain in playing on the roof.

 

Tears, smiles, memories, housework and lists.

I need a list as my focus has meandered off on the pathways of grief.

1. Pick flowers to dress the house. When I look at the windowsills now I see flowers, though I know that some people will only see dirty windows. Soon the sash windows will be refurbished and then they will be clean again, for a while. For now I like my dirty windows. They remind me of this time last year. When I had no roof.

2. Make list.

3. Cross some things off list. ( This was a tip given to me by man in the art shop yesterday to try and give myself a sense of achievement!)

4. Robin Hobb/Lindolm cover roughs x3.

5. Continue with nursery rhymes.

6. Gild partridge and pear.

7. Paint a large owl painting to take to Art in Action to gild.

8. Sweep the studio floor, set the Chicken time Lord and tidy up the studio for 1 hour. 

9. Think about drawing for the rabbit lady.

10. Do powerpoint for school visit and also facebook invite to evening event at school in Hertfordshire.

11. Do artwork for Kids Need to Read Calendar. Rough first.

Outside in the garden ginger cats are curling in sheltered places. In the right hand top of the photo below, where the bench ends, you can just see the jasmine that marks the corner where Kiffer curls beneath. The foxgloves look so beautiful and soon a wave of roses will roof the space. Love-in-the-mist has escaped from the stones and seeded in the grass. He is close to the house.

Today I remembered the time when he climbed up the shelves to try and reach the venison that was defrosting and pulled down and smashed my favorite hand made mugs. I smiled.  The broken china all looked so beautiful smashed on the slate. At the time I was not pleased, but I would give all that and more to have him back here to smash it all again.