Philippa de Burlet

Ceramics

9 May

My current studio is the first one I have had with a view. Across the garden, about 20 metres away from my window, are four oak trees. Three are in a group and they twist and bend all over the place. On the left is the singleton, much straighter and more well behaved. They remind me of a grown-up and three children although they are all more-or-less the same size. In spring, just before the leaves come, I can see the occupants of the tree coming and going. Tree creepers, nuthatches, woodpeckers, great tits, thrushes, pigeons and squirrels go about their daily lives and I stop and watch them like a nosy neighbour. In the autumn the ground underneath is strewn with acorns, oak galls and then leaves. The leaves take ages to decompose and, by the time spring comes around again, the leaves are still mostly intact but blown against tree trunks, the shed and flowerpots. I’ve got to know the leaves as well as the creatures and it surprised me how varied the leaves are so I began to draw them. These are some of them, transferred onto clay, and played with.