Paul Mathieu spent much of his day here working on one of my new forms, an altered square shape, drawing and painting pot forms. Around the edge he has written his thoughts on ceramics in the context of other art-making: Ceramics is the Memory of Humankind. I expect he will do further work on this piece with low-temperature lustres.

Then Paul worked on the huge platter he had inscribed with lines last time he was here. He painted it with white, black and yellow underglazes and asked me to give it a clear glaze. I’m pleased to see that the lines are still visible.

He took an extra bone-dry plate home to work on there. It has been painted with black underglaze and then sgraffitoed. The red on parts of the edge just make it pop.

Renée Van Halm always comes to these painting days well-prepared with collages. She uses these as the basis for the abstract designs she paints on plates. Here she has painted one of the ‘square’ plates as her contribution to the Western Front Gala set of six. Her other two are a larger square plate and a fun little bowl, all strikingly bold.

Now she’s asked me to make her a large ‘Pope’s Hat’ plate to work on. It is a form that has an attached foot, so that’ll mean that the whole underside can be glazed. I’ll try to get one made soon, Renée.