I’m posting photos of the latest painted plates in two blogs.The work was really bold and colourful this time.

Eric chose his usual oval plate form, one white and one terra cotta. I applied grey slip to the white one and he uses red, turquoise and black for the design. This combination has become a new favourite for him.

The other plate, made with my terra cotta clay, forms an interesting background to the turquoise, red and black – softer than usual.

When I was at his Western Front home the other day, dropping off all these plates, he showed my his folio of gouache paintings. He says that the work on plates has informed his painting in a major way and I can see how that has happened. I’m looking forward to seeing a major show of these paintings sometime soon. They are actually quite lovely – can I say that? Maybe he’ll allow me to post photos of some of them one day.

Allyson’s two plates work beautifully. The gentle colours and shapes on the asymmetrical squarish plate form are a delight. She tells me that she and her partner would like to have pottery lessons!

And as usual, Renée quietly applied her pre-planned collage of bold colours and the results are wonderful. She painted the large ‘pope’s hat’ style platter I’d made for her first, covering the floating underside as well. I’m pleased that the flat style she had me make for her did not slump at cone 04!   Her other two plates are the squarish forms. These artists seem to like that atypical shape.