Preserves and Pottery

We’ve had our first dose of the Covid vaccine. So impressed with the organisation. Our local doctors and numerous volunteers were amazing. So glad to have had it done, we’re so lucky. I hope the second dose will be very soon.

Meanwhile Winter is up to it’s old tricks. We have had snow on and off for a week. Not my favourite thing. My poor plants are scrunched up trying to keep warm and their heads down from the wintery blasts. They surprise me though by their resilience. By noon on a good day they’ve perked up again, standing proudly and showing their flowers. The tiny Snowdrops are splashed with mud but still manage to look lovely.

When the sun is shining it’s such a welcome sight and the house is full of a golden glow. A brief shower of rain has washed away the early morning sprinkle of snow and things look more hopeful out there. I need to clean the greenhouse and polytunnels so I’m hoping for a few good days to get on with it.

I have winter lettuces in the greenhouse now but in the Summer I grow Tomatoes, Basil and Chillies. I have only just finished using my baby plum Tomatoes. Kept them in the house in a basket. No need to keep them in a bag or with a banana. The last few were not fully ripe but red enough for cooking in a drop of olive oil in my little cast-iron frying pan. Very nice with some bread to mop up the juice.

Longing for Spring and Summer. It was a nice reminder of the fruitful months when I opened a jar of plums the other day.

During the Summer I like to preserve fruit in various ways and one way is to seal them in jars. I won’t pretend it’s easy! It’s a lot of hard work but the satisfaction I get from having those fruits to use in the Winter is immeasurable. You’re probably thinking,” You can buy tins of them” but tinned fruit doesn’t taste like this. Having fruit in the garden gives you a completely different taste and texture and even bought fruit tastes far more delicious when it’s preserved at home.

Seeing my cupboard full of beautiful preserved fruit gives me so much pleasure and we enjoy the “fruits of my labour” during the cold months. Not only good things to eat but a pleasant reminder of when the garden looked like this.

I have some white china bowls to serve fruit and puddings. White dishes set off the food so well and make it look it’s most appetising.

I love all pottery though whether it’s fine bone china, good solid earthenware or contemporary studio pottery. I wouldn’t describe myself as a serious collector but I have picked up lots of pieces over the years from charity shops, eBay, online sellers or direct from potters. I admire the skills involved in producing pottery. Factory pottery is perfect and very functional and living around the famous Potteries area of Stoke-on-Trent has given me an appreciation of it’s history and importance.

When my brother was an international sales representative for one of the pottery firms he gave us a tour of one of the factories. Fascinating! The levels of skill were breathtaking and the technology was impressive too.

Although I love many forms of pottery, especially bowls, I have a particular fondness for jugs. They are such simple and yet clever objects with a shape which to my eye is very pleasing. Just a handle and a lip make them so easy to pour from. A very clever idea and so nice to look at as well as use. Here are some of mine.

I have more than I realised! I’ll show some more another day. It’s obvious I have a weakness for them.

Something else I love is a good brush for my paintings. They don’t need to be expensive. After all, I’m only an amateur artist. There is no market out there for my paintings. But as a painter I can appreciate a good brush, one which holds its shape and carries the paint well.

I find them aesthetically pleasing too. They’re good to look at. I’ve just done a painting of my acrylics brushes in their stand. It was difficult to draw and to paint and I’m not completely happy with the picture I produced. I got easily confused by the arrangement of them as they jumbled together. I persevered though and this is the result.

I made a pencil drawing to work from and painted it with gouache. I like working with gouache. It allows me to paint details and small areas and gives a nice definition which I prefer. I can’t do loose paintings and I don’t really want to. If anything my paintings are not as crisp and well defined as I’d like them to be. I enjoy doing them though.

A new week ahead. Who knows what the weather will bring. We must all stay safe. The health workers don’t need broken legs, sprained ankles and fractures to deal with at this dreadful time for them and neither do we. So stay at home and enjoy being in your own creative and comfortable environment until the storm blows over.

With you again in a few days. Please feel free to comment. Not enough content or too much? I welcome your feedback.