Friday 30 October 2015

Orange-ness

There's so much Orange everywhere at the moment. 
 Orangeness shouts out from every corner, 
and orange is already a very shouty colour!

Autumn leaves right outside my door
Halloween orangeness is screaming from every direction.
Halloween gets more horrifying each year, on so many levels.
But we won't go into all that!

My very un-scary pumpkin.
Been doing a bit of sculpting today, 
and came up with my own antidote to the horror!

I love Orange as a colour in its own right,
 but I can honestly say that I have never
 worn anything orange in my life.  

www.catherinedanielceramics.com
Yet, I love using orange glaze on my ceramics
 - it has a zesty zinginess about it.

Ceramic patchwork panel - in orange hues.
I really want you to appreciate the sacrifices I made
 in bringing you my friendly pumpkin today,
 so please keep your eyes 'peeled' (sorry!),
as you look at the next picture!
One broken potato peeler!
Lots of pottery in the making but nothing finished as yet. 
 Just got back from a week in Cyprus, 
so yet another interruption to routine. 
 This little fella was wandering around the grounds of our hotel
 - he was about as big as my hand! 

Perhaps the least scary picture ever! 
He looks terrified!  
Maybe he knew Halloween was round the corner!
  Too much orange!

Cathy x




Tuesday 13 October 2015

Back where we started ... the best laid plans!

The reason for the deafening silence on the blogging front is that having moved to Scotland a year ago, as some of you know, we have now moved back to Norfolk! 

We had the best time in Edinburgh but our family is here and the distance proved too unmanageable in practice.

It will remain in my heart as a very special time when I made some very special new friends, one of which was through this blog. 
Thank you Penny for your company in and out of all those galleries and charity shops! 

Work in progress - looking forward to glazing this one!
So, with no regrets whatsoever about our little mid-life gap year, I am now making pots in yet another workspace and feeling just a little disoriented!

Have pottery - will travel....

The experience has made me wonder what the word 'home' really means. Is it different for everyone.  Is it 'where the heart is'?  Is it in a landscape which inspires you?  Is it something you feel inside, no matter where you are?

Kicking through fallen acorns on my runs this week ... and so the oak leaves.

Life is a journey and it's not always linear.  
As one Scotsman once wrote:

"The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley"
Robert Burns, 1785.  
To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough.

Drying out before first firing....

I have had the chance to explore a beautiful part of the country and a fantastic city and it has been a joy.  But, as another chap wrote:

"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time"
T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets.

Thing is though ...... I'm not sure this is the end of my exploration .....  but one thing's for sure, life's never dull!!

What does 'home' mean for you?  


x Cathy