Post cards from St Ives.

We went in search of sunshine and blue skies and found them here in St Ives which really does have the bluest of blue skies and sea. I met my blog friend Lesley Ninnes here in the lovely Art Space Gallery and saw many examples of how this wonderful light has inspired so many artists over the years.

A trip to the St Ives Tate is a must if only to sit on the rooftop terrace to admire the views. The whole of the town is awash with galleries and museums and there is always something interesting to see, my favourite places being St Ives Ceramics, the Barbara Hepworth museum and garden and the tiny Fish Pye (spelt with an i on the sign outside?) studio which sells beautiful hand made pottery by Laura McCrossen Of course I had to take home another piece to add to my collection.

I have visited St Ives several times before but this was my first time as a grandma so had the added pleasure of time spent with our growing family. We feasted on Cornish pasties and clotted cream teas; scones, jam and cream so thick that you can spread it with a knife. I had under estimated the steepness of the hills choosing instead to remember the fabulous views afforded by the strenuous climb to the top although I was rather glad not to have been the one pushing the pram uphill!

Hudson and Middleton Bone China.

If you haven’t already entered the free draw to win the beautiful braided rug below you have until Monday to do so, when I will pick a winner at random. All you need is a postal address in the USA or Canada and this lovely braided rug could be yours. The company will even ship it to you for free so what are you waiting for? Leave a comment in my last post and I will enter your name into the hat.

My new collection of “designer” mugs is finally ready to buy on-line by following the link in my side bar to the Hudson and Middleton site. They are manufactured in a lovely old Grade II listed building in Stoke-on-Trent, England, which is a bit of a rarity today. The factory has been making exquisite bone china for many years now; it was founded in 1875, which makes it one of the oldest potteries in Britain. It has been touch and go as to whether or not the factory would survive, shortly after I delivered my artwork earlier this year everything looked very bleak and the company went into receivership. Happily the management decided to buy the company and the factory was rescued and many jobs were saved.

I have chosen a design from my bird collection to show you today, there are four birds in this series, blue tit, robin, chaffinch and thrush, all of which are well known in Britain and are some of my favourites. The blue tit (shown here) is one of our most attractive garden birds and can be encouraged to visit by installing peanut feeders, they have a lovely habit of hanging almost upside down when feeding on nuts, caterpillars and seeds. You can learn more about them here on the RSPB website.

A visit to Longton

I have been busy working on a new collection of designs for bone china mugs. The new designs will not be available until early next year and I cannot show them to you at the moment, so, instead I am showing two of my designs, which are currently in production.

Hudson and Middleton Ltd will manufacture the mugs in Stoke-on-Trent and on Monday of this week, I drove over to Longton to deliver the artwork. To visit this famous potteries town is to take a step back in time and whilst I was there I thought that I would photograph some of the old bottle kilns at the Gladstone Museum. Bottle kilns were once a very familiar feature of the area, now only a few remain and they are being preserved for posterity.

The Hudson and Middleton factory is still manufacturing English Bone China in a factory which dates back to the Victorian era and operates from it’s original grade two listed building and is one of the oldest potteries in the country. Over the course of my career I have seen many of the famous potteries close with the loss of thousands of jobs. Many of the ceramic companies have moved their manufacturing to the Far East but I am pleased and proud to say that my mugs will be made in Stoke-on-Trent, England.