Inspiration for some of my surfaces comes from nature. My blue-green speckled crystalline glaze has a ground that brings to mind lichen slowly growing on a shaded rock with vivid blooms of flower-like crystals on top. I took this piece with me on a 12 mile walk from my workshop to the town of Hebden Bridge, seeking out places to make images in a sympathetic natural setting.
At Hoof Stones Height, the summit of Black Hameldon, an outcrop of the Lower Kinderscout Grit, weathered in fantastic shapes, was the first setting. The pot did not feel at home here, the grey gritstone set with quartz pebbles glittering in the sunshine was too alien for the soft colours in the glaze.
Onwards and down into Noah Dale with its forlorn scattering of long abandoned farmsteads. Even on a sunny day, it is a bleak forbidding spot. The ruins of Pad Laithe and Noah Dale itself offered no comfort – these are desolate places and I moved on, leaving the cry of the curlew behind on the high moorland.
Hebble Hole, the Pennine Way crossing of Colden Water was busy with people enjoying the fine weather. Moving deeper into the woodland, the colours changed from the moorland browns to the soft colours of spring with bright green leaves and soft bluebells. Here was the perfect setting.
