Raid – Gillian McMillan — Rara Avis

February Raid

Gillian McMillan — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 05:53:11 +0000

That’s odd. The last Raid I hosted was on February 17th 2025. No wonder so many of the underglaze jar-lids were stuck on solidly! Renée, Karen, Monique and Cathy brought along rubber gloves and lid-opening gizmos to help out, when they came to paint plates once again on Monday.

This is the first time I’ve invited others to work in/out of my new little studio. I borrowed a folding table and a tarp (to protect the carpet) from my neighbours. Thank you Alison and Peter. I had a few bisque-fired slab plate blanks for the painters but had also made some more bigger ones so they were bone dry. We’ll have to be very careful transporting them to a likely kiln.

As always happens, these lovely artists brought along tasty contributions for our lunch. Alan and I are spoilt! Monique Fouquet baked another of her splendid spinach quiches, Cathy Busby rustled up a carrot/ginger salad and Renée Van Halm sourced a big baguette and yummy cheeses. Karen Henry had baked us a decadent fruit Clafoutis served with cream for our tea time!

My effort is slip-painting and paper resist on a D’Arcy clay slab plate. It will be much lighter when dry and fired. The bone dry plates are now resting on a towel in their moulds to protect them for travel.

As the Raiders left for their hour-long drive back to Vancouver Karen took this photo of us and the Attic Project print. She’ll show it to Eric so that he’ll know we’re still enjoying the Raids he and I started some two decades ago.

Now I shall attend TriCity Potters meeting tomorrow evening. I’ll see who will allow me a bisquing opportunity this time. Also I’ll ask if anybody has D’Arcy Redart clay I can buy. Only this week did I discover that the clay I adopted for my earthenware work in 1993 is no longer being imported by Greenbarn Pottery Supply. What can I do?

Studio Raided

Gillian McMillan — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 04:30:44 +0000

I decided that there was time to invite my Raiding friends here for one more day of plate painting. They could use up bisque-fired plates left in my cupboard. I made a fresh one for Renée who wanted to work with a leather-hard plate with slips, for a change. Unfortunately she had a cold on our Raid day last Thursday so my guests were Monique Fouquet, Karen Henry, Allyson Clay and Cathy Busby.

These friendly gatherings have become a much-appreciated element of my life. We didn’t make a thing of this probably being the last one in my studio here. Surely I will be able to invite small groups of folks who enjoy working together to a new studio space that I shall create, right?

Following our tradition, a marvellous potluck lunch helped us along. Monique had baked an asparagus and spinach quiche and bought an apple dessert for tea time. Cathy had made a large pot of lentil and quinoa curry soup, Sally had baked us some bread and bought Gibson’s cookies on her way here from Sechelt via the ferry, and Karen assembled an excellent salad. I am spoiled.

I didn’t feel I could start a new plate for myself at this stage of packing up our household, but I trimmed beaks and added handles to some jugbirds that awaited my attention. Sally took a photo of us as she left to catch a ferry home to the Sunshine Coast.

Today Renée was feeling better so drove out to Port Moody for the morning. She seems to have enjoyed working with slips instead of underglazes, and of course would like to do more..

In this photo you can see that she has purchased some of the ‘Second Hand’ pots that I’ll be offering to new homes on March 1st.

I’ll take photos of all the plates once they have had their firings.

Now we are looking forward to our Edmonton family flying out for a holiday in BC’s rain for a few days, this weekend. I imagine they’ll have good advice for us re packing and clearing out our house. After they’ve left we’ll host the pottery sale and then our realtor will set the house listing in motion. We hope a mostly perfect townhouse will present itself soon.

Finished Plates

Gillian McMillan — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 07:42:04 +0000

The latest Raid plates are now clear-glazed and fired. I think my guests will be pleased with the final results. For each artist there’s a story behind the choices of colours and shapes, with just a few recognizable images. I do enjoy offering them the chance to play with underglazes on plates and hope that we can continue to do this next year.

Karen likes to paint these little dishes. I do like her swirly shapes on these.

She brought along a plate that Eric had painted at home. Now he mainly draws, she tells us. The yellow and orange coupe is Karen’s.

Monique used a tree image on her two plates, and then almost obscured it with layers of other colours. As ever, her work is considered, subtle and delightful.

Renée spent her day working on this one large round platter. Oh my, look at those colours, shapes and that profile! Check the back too.

Cathy, on only her second Raid, chose a large oval platter. She used tape to leave a message on both sides. The elongated letters form an interesting design, and the final glaze has brightened the contrast. Yes, she spotted the one missing letter. It happens.

I did enjoy having visitors working in my studio again. Thanks Monique, Renée, Karen and Cathy for a stimulating day. I painted this plate with slips alongside them that day. Just fun.

This is probably my final blog of 2024 so Alan and I send our best wishes for a Happy Christmas season. Ours will be much quieter than usual but we’ll look forward to larger family gatherings in the New Year.

Meanwhile we will be welcoming TriCity Potters to our house for the annual Christmas potluck party, on Wednesday next. Then we’ll continue to declutter as we move forward with our plan to leave our old house and find a smaller abode somewhere nearby. There will be a big studio clear-out in the Spring. Of course I plan to take some pottery equipment with me. The kiln could be donated to a community ‘makers’ hub’, with a hope to use it occasionally. Come on Port Moody. What can we do to make that happen?