I start by wedging a porcelaneous clay, then insert torn slices and chunks of black clay here and there. At the wheel, I work the clay until it is carefully centered, before pulling up the walls and opening out the belly. The clay looks a little dark, and messy.

I leave it to dry till the next day, either in a damp box, or covered in plastic (it’s winter now in Canada, and with the heat on, the clay would otherwise dry far too quickly).

The magic comes the next day, when the time comes to trim the piece. As the surface clay peels away, little by little the swirling colour beneath is revealed.

Height: 15 cm; diameter: 15 cm. White stoneware, and black stoneware; fired to cone 6, in oxidation.

Height: 14 cm; diameter: 16 cm; porcelaneous stoneware, fired to cone 6, in oxidation.

I am still intrigued by, and happy to work with the same matte, copper carbonate glaze as well as the slips I was using for my earlier Ottawa Guild of Potters’ solo Celebrating Clay exhibition. Those were a collection of tall, hand-built cylinders, with some small wheel thrown vases.

What’s different this year is that I am pleased to be back throwing at the wheel, and enjoying throwing larger and larger pieces. This one is one from a couple of months ago, and still small. But there will be more, and hopefully I can confidently reproduce this bluey-green colour, which for me recalls the quiet, always changing surface of Ontario ponds and lakes

I threw this piece while in Cape Town, at the Kommetjie pottery, Zizamele. I was intrigued by the potters’ excellent use of underglazes, and thought I would give it a try too. Then brought it home, not yet glazed (below). I was still in the watercolour mood, following the two University of Cape Town summer school art classes.

Perhaps I should have left it at that. However, once home again, I coted it in a glossy transparent glaze, as I felt it to be rather bare. But that made the colours too stark. As a last resort, I coated it all over with a light yellow slip, and fired it again to cone 6.

Stoneware, underglazes, glaze, and slip. Fired in oxidation, to cone 6.

12 cm x 12 cm

This piece is inspired by trees, specifically one tree, a Northern Catalpa (number 9 in the official listing of Remarkable Trees of Canada’s Capital), growing along the Rideau River, in Ottawa, close to where I live.

I start by throwing cylinder on the wheel, then force the clay outwards until the rim starts to give way, recalling the idea of leaves waving in the breeze. After the first glaze firing, I add touches of porcelain, as a reminder of the Catalpa’s white, orchid-like blossoms.

Stoneware, porcelain, and glaze. Fired to cone 6, in oxidation.

Diameter: 21.5 cm, 11.5 cm

Reeds waving in the breeze, and leaves floating on the water, all bathed in sunlight.

Wheel-thrown, using reclaim clay at Olaria Mealha, Lagos, Portugal. Only having time to bisque it there, I glazed it once back home in Ottawa. The streams of glaze create an attractive flashing just where they edge onto the bare clay. Did the gas kiln bisque firing in Lagos create that strong effect? Was it iron in the reclaim clay itself? All I know is that I haven’t, so far, been able to repeat it — and doubt whether I ever will. Oh well. I like it.

Wheel thrown. Stoneware; glaze fired to cone 6, in oxidation.

Height: 17 cm, Width: 10 cm