Bisque fired oak leaf bowl

Fresh out of the kiln, this rather large bowl with fallen oak leaves is about to be glazed. It's hard to see the many textures and finger prints from this cell phone picture. I tried some new glazes of kalamata black on the outside and red orange inside. Will post the final product next week.

Autumn at its peak

Rainy today, I can't concentrate on anything without the distraction of my favorite magnolia tree outside my glass door. It's the tree that keeps on giving, and changes constantly throughout the year. I plan to capture the essence of the tree and imprint the leaves in my next clay project. Last night was my weekly pottery class and I always feel energized by the group of feisty and talented women who are the Tuesday night regulars. It was very productive; I made a large plate decorated with Japanese maple leaves in white stoneware clay but prefer working with the creamy buttery texture of porcelain and the ability to make it almost paper thin. It's always good to get outside your comfort zone, though. I also made a set of four Morning glory saucers to match the set of plates I have yet to fire.

Amazing Japanese Maple Tree

Seeking inspiration and items for my pots, I walked my dogs, Riley (shiba inu) & Braxton (chihuahua) yesterday on a different route and stumbled upon the most amazing blazing red Japanese Maple. I have never seen a color so saturated and plan to duplicate the brilliant red/orange/burgundy hues in a glaze for my piece. No way can my camera attempt the capture the breathtaking fiery red of this tree but I have made a large plate embedded with these leaves. I'll post the final result once the piece is completed.

Shell bowl

One of my first porcelain bowls made with shells collected years ago in Captiva Island. I glazed a set of plates yesterday and am yearning to have my own kiln to fire at whim. It's Friday, time to make something new out of clay and hike in the woods for inspiration.

Milo

Yesterday was a banner Autumn day and I was out taking pictures of my daughter, Audrey for her high school yearbook while one of my cats, Milo watched.

I want to make pots like these sculptures

Enough of my work, this was an exhibit by Yayoi Kusama in Chelsea last Spring with my son, Skyler (pictured). When I'm finished with my nature phase, I'm going to go pop like this artist.

Porcelain platter

A platter made from leaves, wildflowers, and cone flowers collected from a trip to New Hampshire last month. This was decorated with underglazes and the painter in me wants to treat it like a canvas no can do with with the unpredictable and surprising results of glazing.

Porcelain Pasta Bowl

A departure from my garden and into my kitchen, this large and robust bowl was made from casts of my favorite pasta - bows at the base of the bowl and decorated on the outside with squiggly noodles begging for a name. The overall affect is almost baroque in appearance and completely unexpected of my style.

Morning Glory bowl

This rather large porcelain bowl is imprinted with morning glory leaves; they climb my fence and choke any plant crossing it's path. If it weren't for the beauty of the flowers and the heart shaped leaves, I yank them all out. The leaf at the base of this bowl is gigantic - 7" wide. I made a set of plates to match which haven't been loaded in the kiln yet.

An unidentified weed ..trumpet vine ?

I had my morning hazelnut decaf cup of coffee with this porcelain mug which brought memories of some kind of weed I yanked out of my garden a thousand times this past summer. The botanical name escapes me now and so does the generic name for that matter. Another cup of coffee and I'll get remember...hopefully. Okay, so now my boyfriend, Joe, tells me that this is a trumpet vine. As a biologist, he's probably right but I just don't associate this with the vine without the trumpet shaped flowers. Better than calling it a weed.

Vinca Bowl

This is my hand built porcelain Vinca bowl. This lovely waxy leaved vine covers the ground around my house in the shady areas year round - and sprouts periwinkle blossoms in the Spring. I decided to try a red under glaze rather than painting it the natural deep green color of the leaves.

Vinca Plate

I decided to make a set of plates with vinca which covers my property in the shady areas. They all broke in transit to the pottery studio except for one. Porcelain is very fragile in it's green state yet much tougher than stoneware when it's high fired. I learned a lesson on this one. But that's the beauty of clay - much like life, unpredictable and you never know how things will turn out at the end. These are the before and after images of the plate.

Echinacea bowls

Summer now gone and Fall passing quickly, I decided to take my favorite garden plants and make porcelain pottery pieces that will remind me of them always. So I started with the pink coneflowers (echinacea) and made these pots while on vacation last month in New Hampshire. I regret glazing them after this photo because the starkness of the white made them so nice. Glazing is not like painting because you never know what you'll get in the end. Once I reglaze them, I'll post the final results.