Over the years of experimenting with clay, to create my unique style of pottery, I’ve developed a great love for the decorative qualities of the clay body itself and try to use clay as a three dimensional decoration.
I try to create, wherever possible, pleasing, fluid, eye-catching forms, and to add simply-applied and interesting decoration, on the finished pots, using thick coils of clay and thick clay slip which I texture by various means.
Once bisqued, the textured clay is highlighted, by sponging or brushing a wash, comprising a combination of oxides, which is then washed and sponged back to create highlights and areas of interest in the clay decoration.
Believing that ‘less is more’, when related to glaze finishes, I glaze the interiors of pots to seal them and use only limited amounts of decorative glaze, on the outside surfaces, to create highlights of openings and feature special effects. The unique qualities of crackle glazes, create subtle highlights of colour and texture in my landscape pieces.
The Landscape Pot
This little pot is hand-made from white earthenware clay. Two pinchpots were joined together with thick clay slip and it was shaped by beating with a balsa paddle.
A foot was attached to the oval-shaped pot, so the eye could travel round the oval form. It was pierced, chimneys added and it was decorated with a clay landscape, made from fine, clay coils and dabs of thick slip that I textured and brushed.
When bisc fired, the pot was stained with an oxide wash. A crackle glaze was painted on both the top of the pot and the clouds, before it was fired. Later, when it was cool, the crackle in the glazed areas was enhanced with a stain and it was polished.
I have always been fascinated by the wonderful weathered and hollowed patterns, in the sandstone cliffs and rocks, found around the East Coast beaches of Australia.
This set of three seascape pots, were slab built, into low-fire white earthenware clay cylinders, to which a base was added and trimmed.
The openings were compacted, and the forms were finished by shaping with a balsa paddle.
Once the flange was compressed, I began finely slicing the flange with a fine, sharp blade, and hollowing out the sandstone texture, with a series of sculpting tools. The wave pattern was combed on the outside of the pots.
The glaze, which is a tad light in colour, is a low fired earthen-ware glaze – Sea Foam – and the textured sandstone surface is stained with a mix of red iron oxide and manganese. In future, I would try for a slightly deeper sea blue glaze to give the waves depth.
Landscape wall plaques
Since I arrived to live in Australia, almost thirty years ago, I have become fascinated by the incredible ability of trees and other native vegetation to survive in unbelievably harsh climatic and soil conditions, often growing directly out of sandstone or rock.
These small landscape pictures were created, to show
the rugged and beautiful aspects of the Australian landscape.
All were made of white earthenware clay, decorated with fine clay coils and thick slip that was textured and stained with an iron oxide/manganese wash. A thick application of crackle glaze was used to highlight the clouds and frame.
This year I will be adding colour to the decoration of my pots, using oxides and stains to create some drama in my landscapes. I will also be working on a series of ceramic jewellery pieces.