Having spent more years than I care to remember teaching small children, the urge to encourage self expression (within bounds)is sort of second nature. Watching the children produce personal works of art, literature, drama and music was very rewarding, but when would it be my turn? Now that have the time, I'm really enjoying creating clay objects that reflect my own interests and personality. As a child, the forces of nature were paramount in my life. Country living made you watch the weather, the changing seasons, the animals, and how they all interacted. We didn't go to school because it was too far away, and a lot of time was spent roaming the bush, playing in the creek and helping with the farm work. I still fnd Australian flora continually fascinating. I love the way each plant is uninhibited in seeking to obtain the soil, moisture, light and shade that it needs. I love the way each one nevertheless exists in its own space, utterly dependent on the environment around it, yet unconscious of the intimate connections and mutual dependencies on which its existence depends. This simple inward focus is the quality I'm trying to express in my work. I make bowls, vases, platters, mugs - all the usual stuff - but they're only an excuse for the decoration. I'm celebrating flora - the delicacy, fragillity and movement of grasses, the shapes, sizes and colours of leaves, the visual effects of light and shade, and the way everything fits together, insects, plants, animals and weather. The Australian porcelain that I use is very white. I shows up simple outlines whether drawn, carved, inlaid or etched, and is ideal for the use of delicate rare earth colours that reflect the nuances of nature. I just like playing with it.

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