About me.
My first experience of pottery - I came to it fairly late in life - was a four-day throwing course at Deborah Baynes' working pottery, at that time in White Roding, Essex. The extreme frustration of early attempts at the wheel leads you either to give it up immediately or to become hooked. I, of course, became hooked and after years of practice my fingers have finally "got it". However, even now, each throwing session is a learning experience.
I went on another short course at Douglas Phillips' pottery at Queen Camel in Somerset. I then did a two-year part-time ceramics course at the Sir John Cass School of Art in Whitechapel. I learnt to make coil pottery with the wonderful Sudanese potter Mo Abdalla at Camden Arts Centre, using two-inch-thick coils of clay.
In 2001 I moved to Cheltenham to be with my partner, built a workshop in the garden and became a full-time potter.
I use red earthenware clay from Stoke on Trent. I love the warm red colour (created by the large iron content) of the fired clay, which glows through the white slip I use as a base for decoration. Colours are created using only natural mineral oxides - cobalt, iron and copper. So, all earth colours (plus a tiny bit of turquoise). My pots are high-fired which makes them strong and dishwasher-safe.
I like to make pots for people to use in their everyday lives. When a pot breaks it's not a catastrophe - come back to me for a replacement! My prices are reasonable.
I also paint, mostly in oil and here, on this page, are two paintings of my garden workshop - in spring and winter.
