Shards

On our walk we came across a green metal table. There were fish and chip wrappers discarded on it at one end, but also these pottery shards, like an archaeological dig. I didn’t want to disturb them but I took a photo. If you live in Stoke-on-Trent you might look at the backstamps on the back of pottery. I just zoomed in on the mug base it has a green lion printed on it, a scroll or banner shape under that and then just about decipherable ‘Maddocks and Sons Ltd’ there were other words below I couldn’t read. People who look at the bottom of pots sometimes say they are part of the ‘turnover club’. I haven’t looked at the image much yet but I can see a dark band that would encircle a plate with a white interlinked chain on it. Perhaps these came from the waters edge? The small lake at Westport, next to the table, looks to have a lower water level than normal so they might have been scavenged from there.

Weight on the fence.

The trouble with attaching hanging baskets to the fence is that as they grow and get heavier with watering it starts to bend. It’s quite a strong trellis but I think it will need replacing in a couple of years.

The wall the fence is attached to is the same old bricks the house is made of with curved coping stones on the top to keep moisture out of the centre of the wall.

Each basket has many different plants crammed in them, then there are a series of smaller baskets with single species in them. There are individual pots balanced on the top of the wall and lots of them on the ground below. Planting up pots requires a balance of compost with crocks (broken pottery) in the bottom of the pots so they have drainage, but then I usually place a saucer or a bowl underneath to catch the water so that it doesn’t dry out. We have a hose pipe so we can water everything regularly.

Growing

I need to start gardening again. I haven’t emptied out the old pots and put in new compost yet. It’s May and I’ve hardly been round the garden. We are trying to save money and so we have delayed making a start. But the perennials in the main garden are growing. The Russian vine is growing like mad after the rain. We have lots of lesser celandine and bluebells coming up, plus wild garlic. Geraniums are getting big enough to flower and the bushes keep growing. Oh so much to do and not enough energy or strength!

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Leaves and broken pots.

Found in a pothole on my walk, someone has tried to fill in a hole with shards of broken pots. I’m not sure why, and if anyone was to fall onto them as they are partially hidden by fallen leaves. I guess whoever did it was trying to be helpful, but surely using gravel might have been more sensible idea? But it did make an interesting photo. I suppose it makes a change from bits of litter and plastic.

Garden colours

Seeing the garden in October, looking at the flowers, seeing the leaf shapes. Enjoyment, colours, shapes. Pattern, design, life, waiting for them to wilt, fade, droop. Waiting for their end of days. Taking photos, keeping a record, remembering beauty. Time to grow, time to leave. Time to fall, time to die. Wind chimes and wind sculptures, wild and colourful. Hanging in baskets, pots and fences. Cram packed with joy.

Pots and apples

Just a photo I took a few days ago. A still life. I’m still ill and haven’t been out much recently, so I am thinking about what I can write about. As the saying goes, autumn is the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. It would be good to get out and enjoy the world but I’m keeping my germs to myself. Its only a cold but its still irritating.

Stay safe everyone.

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Today’s prompt.. Pots

I selected some pots in the kitchen for a quick watercolour sketch before the sun went down. I don’t do watercolours very often, these are Cotman colours which are quite strong. I painted in an A5 cartridge paper sketchbook.

It came out quite well, I could have done a better job of the ellipses, but I did not do any preliminary drawing and I just concentrated on the shadows and colours.

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Potteries

The ‘Potteries’ is the name people call the city of Stoke-on-Trent in the North Midlands of England.

Built on the coalfields of the area, with an abundance of water and clay, it was an ideal place to start making pottery in factories during the industrial revolution. Bottle kilns, or ovens (so called because of their shape) were built across the six towns of Stoke-upon-Trent, Hanley, Burslem, Tunstall, Fenton and Longton. The six towns were bought together as a Federation in the early twentieth century and this created the city of Stoke-on-Trent.

The Potteries Museum and art gallery is crammed with beautiful ceramics and is situated in the Cultural Quarter of the city centre which is in Hanley. Also worth a visit are the Gladstone Pottery museum in Longton and Middleport pottery in Middleport (near Burslem). There are many places to visit here. Hopefully they will all be open again soon.