Here it is, the end of Easter Sunday and I’ve just turned on a bisque firing. What would my father have said? But today, somewhat rainy, was treated as a work day. The pleasure of having the family here for a meal will happen tomorrow.

But I had promised the most recent group of ‘Raiders’ that I would be filling the kiln very soon and they were here last Tuesday. This time the visiting artists were Renée Van Halm, Eric Metcalfe, Marian Penner Bancroft and first-timer Lyse Lemieux. Renée was keen to try the technique of painting with underglazes on a much bigger form and had selected a large ‘pope’s hat’ bisque-fired wheel-thrown mould. I made it almost twenty years ago! Marian had a plan to paint a set of four related plates.

Meanwhile I was painting some jugbirds, and now that they’re done I find that the kiln is full. I can hardly wait to see how this latest batch of work painted by Vancouver artists turns out. As usual I’ll post photos when they’re glazed. Today’s photos just show us all hard at work.