I will wait for the birch wood

Birch is the first tree to colonise cleared ground in ecological succession – at least in most of the UK (followed often by oak). The leaves are covered with small hairs that trap pollution particulates, too.

The poet Sorley MacLean uses birch in “Time, the deer, is in the wood of Hallaig”. It’s been a favourite for a while.

I’ve finally managed to refine a new range of work, inspired by birch in the snow. A lot of the tests have appeared in earlier blog posts: it’s hard to explain why it takes so long to get them right. But now I know I can make them consistently, and then supply galleries with pots that fit their expectations of quality and consistency. So they’ve gone up on my website, and been delivered to the first gallery – Kellie Miller Arts, in Brighton.

Somehow, I’ve got three variants of birch – birch,night being the darkest.

Birch,mist reminds me of the strange haze or mist from falling snow. The dolomite glaze has a satiny, almost crystalline quality, and goes shiny where it’s thin – like melting snow. Hard to show in a photograph, like all white glazes!

You have to see them, really. So please come to the studio, I’ll be open for Artists Open Houses – part of the Dulwich Festival – 11/12 and 18/19 May 2019, 11-6pm.