Ice Maiden - Merit prize in the OPG 50th exhibition

The judge said : "These works are striking as a family but the Ice Maiden is my favourite. She is elegant and somehow anchored to the earth. The soft and crackly glaze with flashes of blue, umber and green is slightly revealing - 70s striped chair covering with a touch of frost."

A rose brick and a great idea

I bought this rose brick at our potters group auction - it is perfect for a group like this.

New roof in late spring

2009 v 2012

John mentioned to me how much he liked the vase on the left, made in early 2009. I realised that I had had the stripes motif in mind when I made the landscape jug on the right quite recently. Is one better than the other?Has the work 'improved' over the past 3 years? I like the jug more but the vase has a certain organic feel. Perhaps I am more inhibited as I have got older. Less free with my construction.

old iron

The old iron has revealed a delightful logo - a clue to its origin. I googled "Bristol Crown" and apart from numerous references to the Crown Court in Brstol, there were only two hits much like my interest - when and where was it made? I am sure this is probably the original roofing iron on our 90 year old house so it has lasted a long time.

Scaffolding for the new roof

This went up in the rain and then it rained some more, in fact for 2 weeks, most unusual for Dunedin. The new iron sits on top of the lawns up the back and I know by the time the roofers have done their work, we will have dead grass. As the forecast for next week predicts yet more rain, who knows when #3 will lose its glorious addition.

John, Reuben & Sam

Exhibition pieces preview

After weeks of making and then bisquing plus two glaze fires the last of these being a somewhat catastrophic event, a few pieces have emerged which will form part of my Quadrant exhibition as well as being submissions to the Portage. I used a new mid-fire white clay which I obviously pushed beyond its point of no return in order to get the best glaze results which culminated in two vases exploding with some collatoral damage. Nonetheless, there is enough salvageable. Here is a pic of some of my 'thaw' series taken the day out of the kiln and assembled on the dining room table.

A 20kg bag of clay

Out of the kiln

and yet to be properly photographed and posted to portfolio blog.

Glazed jugs

Glazing always takes me twice as long as I anticipate and these jugs are no exception. After three days working in an ice-cold room with frozen hands, I have now placed them in the kiln ready to fire and on Saturday, their magic (I hope) will be revealed. Next time I glaze in the winter months, I must co-ordinate with someone using a kiln which would up the temps considerably.

Peter turns 60

Our good friend Peter (an arborist) has turned 60. After a wonderful lunch and walk at the Orokanui sanctuary on Sunday; back home for tea and cake, Peter demonstrated his latest climbing technique in front of us all. Mary says his youthfulness is genetic! but climbing trees for a living certainly keeps you fit.

Burning bush

Although I have waxed lyrical about this year's autumn colours, this sight greeted me on Sunday morning when I opened the curtains, the early sun catching the sycamore tree opposite, slightly smudged as viewed through condensation, and I just had to photograph it.

New tall jugs

I made a series of tall jugs similar to this earlier this year which I intended to be able to have vitirified. Unfortunately, I used a combination of incompatible clays (the potter never stops learning) and only glazed two (jugs with pearl earings) -  http://liz-fea-ceramics.blogspot.co.nz/ which, while to my mind are attractive, alas are not vitirified so are destined only to be sculptural. This series are taller and built with the right clays this time, should prove more useful!

A display case

I have coveted for a long time a display case to hold a selection of my pots, not just to show them off! but as a reference point for future work. Now I have one - a retro style flatpack which J has put together and on sale at the Warehouse which stocks some nice things believe it or not.

Autumn in North East Valley

In Dunedin, we are having the best autumn colour display I can recall in 8 years. (Have we been here that long?) The few apples left are for the birds. But last night the first snow came and Mt Cargill wears a light mantle of white. J and I walked to the summit from Bethune's Gully two Sundays ago - a 5 hour return trip which was hard but beautiful, moving as you go up through pine forest to lush native bush and finally to a fragrant heather-like sub-alpine vegetation.

Glenorchy

We recently drove north west to Queenstown for two nights and spent a day exploring the Glenorchy area. A highlight was a 50 min walk through a magnificent beech forest to Lake Sylvan, near the start of the Routeburn Track. Unfortunately I left my camera in the car but the autumn colours elsewhere were stunning.

Stars in the garden

A friend gave me 3 dahlia corms last year, plants I had never grown before. These apricot 'stars' have proved an absolute delight with endless blooms that light up the garden.

Recent works rephotographed

Recent works photographed in lightbox with black background

New works

assorted lillies

New works