Painting on bowls, plates and tiles

Most recently  I have enjoyed using a fine brush and painting with underglaze directly on the clay ‘canvas’. It is deeply satisfying as the paintings come from my own experiences, travels and the like, and I revisit happy times. Hand painting takes time, but it allows me to personalise my pieces, making each unique. 

It all started with the chickens and cockerels that were with me as I potted in the studio. Then came turtles and tropical fish, after swimming in the waters of the Southern Tropics. And, after that, I was inspired by so many beautiful creatures: Galapagos blue-footed boobies; cormorant; New Zealand birds, including tui, fantail, kiwi and pukeko; British wildlife, such as badgers, foxes and squirrels; and garden birds and wild birds, especially gulls and puffins.

Most recently, I have perfected a design of gulls flying in the up-drafts of air as they fly off the cliffs of Cornwall, silhouetted against the sky. This design works well on plates, bowls and mugs. As all birds are drawn individually in their shapes and patterns, no two pieces are exactly alike.  

Bowls lend themselves perfectly to my design of a shoal of fish in silhouette on the outside of a bowl which, inside, contains the deep blue sea.

I can easily produce sets by throwing and bisque firing in advance. Then, should someone want a set of say, four plates and side plates, I can paint them and glaze (in the colours and designs of choice, or perhaps of designs I have made already), and then glaze fire to completion within 48 hours.