christmas reading

I am on my way to Edinburgh, where I plan to spend Christmas by the fireside with family and friends and puppies, eating and drinking and making merry. I'll make sure to leave time to read Christmas Pudding in the evenings, too. Mitford's sister, Jessica, recalled that during the writing of Christmas Pudding, Nancy spent months 'giggling helplessly by the drawing room fire, her curiously triangular green eyes flashing with amusement, while her thin pen flew along the lines of a child's exercise book'... A frolicsome Christmas read.

two pears

For D.'s mother's Christmas present this year, I painted a pair of pears.

art on a thursday

Self-portrait by Duncan Grant.

Duncan James Corrowr Grant (1885-1978) was a British painter and designer of textiles, pottery and theatre sets and costumes. He was a prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group and is best known for his painting style, which was strongly influenced by the intense colours of French Post-Impressionism.

pottery class

Last night I enjoyed my final session of amateur winter pottery - I've been going to a class every Wednesday for the past three weeks underneath a couple of railway arches in deepest, darkest Dalston. Turning Earth is a newly opened studio, run by potters Tallie Maughan and Stuart Carey and is open for potters working at all levels, who can come and go as they please. I was a complete beginner, and have had a go at throwing clay on a wheel, making coil pots and glazing. I've ended up with a reasonably handsome (but utterly imperfect and not entirely round) plate, which I spent last night painting with a leaf pattern.

The underside of the half-finished plate... Alas, I don't think I'm a natural potter. Unfortunately I really don't have the patience. It's been a very therapeutic way to spend a few weekday evenings, however! I recommend!