Where my inspiration comes from – Nature
“My inspiration comes from the landscape at large. I have photos of all the high mountains of Wales and The Lakes and most of Scotland, in all the seasons. However, these do not translate into small ceramics, or even sculpture for that matter. But the micro-landscape does work and translates brilliantly into what I do.
Geology affects the landscape – it makes it after all – giving colours in rocks but also in raw minerals. These rocks inspire the pots, and these are completed by the food, in the same way as the micro-mosses and lichens provide the greenery and yellows in the rocks.
The ring of the Burbage skyline in the Peak District inspires the bowls’ and plates’ craggy edges, as does the view from the beloved Longshaw I know so well.
The big landscapes make me feel so small and humble me. Landscape gives me great energy by absorbing all my stress and worries. It shows me my weaknesses and teaches me my strengths. The landscape physically tires me yet gives me huge amounts of emotional strength.
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The balance and harmony of Buddhism – hard against soft, raw energy against refinement – these really manifest themselves in my work. It’s like the balance of a Japanese garden – yin with yang – but in a more brutal, rustic way which I find inspiring. Their truth and honesty give an integrity to my work, so strong you can feel it when wrapping your hands around the pieces. To feel that raw energy and share it with your customers is part of my inspiration.
The proportions of nature give my work all that is needed to make pieces in harmony and balance. The simplest curve is so hard to draw and even more difficult to make. It may be drawn by a child with innocence but ruined in the name of perfection by an adult. To make objects as a child would is something I have strived for for many decades. They come from within the soul really – naked and all powerful.”