Flowers in a heat wave.

These Lilliums got burnt while they were in bud

during the first heat wave.

Crispy edges saved them from going to market.

First sun flower for the season.

I am a fan!

Lions tail is a South African shrub

It is not fazed  by the heat,

the flowers last well in the vase too.

The corn flowers got 

too big for themselves and flopped over filling the

center of this circle...snap dragons

having a second flush.

There is some basil in this circle also.

Mum gave me some special sunflower seeds,

they are surrounding this garden

....nearly ready to harvest

 The Ixias are long finished and not too

many Lilliums left in this bed.

 The feral rabbits destroyed about 80 bulbs...

With the forest so close, this is my 

Farmer Brown section!

As you can see, the garden

 comes right up to the edge of the forest we planted in

1992 

I was trying to capture the paddock sprinklers

It is pretty dry out there...

amazing to have any grass left after this heat wave.

Day 4 of this latest heat wave.

I will be staying inside with the cooler on.

4 days over 40 degrees is a marathon...

a cool change is expected this evening

Leopard print glaze

A student experimented with

Tenmoku and Satin white.

Her results were 

gold spots on a black brown background.

I mentioned this to Caroline 

who decided to recreate the combination.

I got very excited when I opened the kiln today,

Leopard skin glaze!

I am going to try this too.

Thanks Amy Duke for the inspiration,

Thanks Caroline for your curiosity.

The second experiment was a success but

did not propel me to try. 

Tenmoku, Hyacinth blue and Satin white.  

It did run a bit even though 

I scraped off some before I loaded the kiln.

Perhaps it is my preference for warm colours.

Well done Caroline!

You have two beautiful bowls to collect.

Christmas is coming

I want to rotate the photo

 but havent worked out how to do that

 on the new device.

The new new device because I dropped the first one!

It did not respond well to the concrete floor.

These stars are fantastic if i may say so.

A special little punch. Fiddly to clean up.

There will be three sizes at the market on Saturday

These are the baubles

Some with a message and some plain

Mostly red and green

But some blue, aqua.....

Come to the market and have a look.

Jaycee Park 

I have shown these sheep beforer but

I am toying with the idea of a chess set

with the pawns being sheep.

I am wondering what the other pieces would be.

If it is Australiana...I think the emu and kangaroo 

would have to have a place, but if it was farm yard....then

The king could be a Bull....

would the queen then have to be a cow?

Of course the horse could be a horse...

A bishop?....a pig?

Oh it is all getting a bit hard....

The castle would be a Barn...or a dunny? 

Perhaps just make some more shèep and keep thinking about it.

I am no of fan of succulents however

They do occasionally give me reason to rethink this.

Given our climate I should be right into them.

Sunset on a warm spring night.

Flowering for just one day, 

these are simply stunning.

I think the sprinkle of rain the other day

really helped these along.

They are quite lotus like...without the water.

Mum left MS her  cacti and succulents when she left.

Good thing they practically look after themselves.

There is no automatic watering system in this front yard.

Florists pottery

Pre market Friday and the pottery room is transformed

into a florists.

I pick many buckets of flowers during the week,

and store in the cool room.

Then I get them all out and start to make my bunches.

I get to look at all the colours and consider what will work. 

I love parsley flowers and choose to add the in mix

They have a fresh green look with delicate fireworks feel to them

Featured here with yellow correopsis and asparagus fern.

Real asparagus fern that would be edible asparagus if I kept 

it trimmed to ground level.

Just like the weeds, it gets away from me.

The blue larkspur has started to self seed in the flower garden.

I will encourage this.

Foxgloves are a new thing I am growing. 

Unsure if they will cope with our climate.

Alstromerias do very well at this time of year.

Shame that yellow is not a popular flower colour.

Here is a new alstromeria that I could not resist 

at the nursery this week.

It is called Indian summer.

Prefers part shade which is good as I have a spot like that.

Ready and waiting.

The  view from the pottery door

Not the vibrant colour of early spring...

I will have to find something for summer.

Palimpsest pit firing

Saturday night we fired the pit

with the Palimpsest sculpture in it.

There were a few other bits in there also

I think we may have put too much timber

in and around the big sculpture.

The fire burnt quite hot before we covered it up.

It smoked it's way through the night.
We feasted on home grown lamb and vegetables

MS, experiented with cooking in clay.
We had a few camp ovens as well.
Amy made soda bread which we cooked in a camp oven
All of this was accompanied by acoustic  music.
It was a fun night.

 We agreed to meet in the morning to reveal our pots
But the fire pit was still way too hot,
So we all decided to wait till the next morning.


Finally it was cool enough to uncover.
There was still some smoke and embers
But we could wait no longer.
I had my long tongs.

Amy remebered to document all her experiments.
I think we will all benefit from this.

Some pots had been fired to stoneware 

 and found their way into the pit.

It is early morning in the billabong

The light is already becoming harsh for photography

I made some oil lamps, ran out of time

for the decoration I had planned

But I think there will be more pit firings really soon

We had to use Sasha's cardigan to create enough shadow here

for this photo. I had expected more black.....

I think the reds will glow a bit with some wax polish.

 I will polish a few of these before I take some close ups.

Once it is polished and put in the gallery
on the black cloth that it was made on I am sure
It will look good.
This exercise has inspired the club members to make and fire more.

It is all about recreating the accident,
or manipulating the good bits.
We are set for a smokey future I think.

Palimpsest work in progress

Palimpsest work in progress.

The sculpture was formed last Sunday evening

About 10 participants turned up

to assist Sasha and Petri with their project.

The event was recorded and will be included in their 

short film, along with the interviews they

did during the weeks leading up to Sunday.

The urge to use my hands was overwhelming

but I was able to resist.

It was difficult sitting on a hardwood floor

and pushing the clay with feet.

It was interesting that some participants worked together

to achieve different textures and shapes.

Bob enjoyed it so much he organised 

for the students of the special school to make one too!

 They are sitting here getting the morning sun
I do hope I can bisque them before
the pit firing next Saturday night.
It is going to be a forest feast with some Slow Food people
One of the locals who worked with Petri and Sasha
on the lighting for their filming,
is an accomplished musician and I do believe he  is
bringing his banjo and a couple of musical friends
Live music in the Billabong
With a feast and a pit firing.
Sounds awesomely creative  and fun
The haredst part will be waiting until morning to
dig through the ash to find the little bits.

 Like these sheep.
I couldnt resist and have made some in red clay too.

 I am getting a bit obsessive making heaps of sheep.
I think I want to exhibit a flock of them.

I need to make more lambs.

This is a case of Art imitating life,

My life as a farmer and a potter.

And an exhibiting Artist.