Going potty for pots

When I first heard mention of a BBC TV show about that was hoping to do for clay what The Great British Bake Off has done for the Victoria sandwich, I admit I was skeptical.

A programme where we watch contestants make pots didn't sound like it could hold my attention for 20 minutes let alone a whole series of hour long episodes - after all we've all seen someone make a pot on TV if not in the flesh before (Patrick Swayze of course manages both!). However, strange as it may seem I find myself hooked.

What tension as pots crack in the biscuit firing, plugs don't quite fit in coiled sinks and as the contestants race to determine who can make the most egg cups in 10 minutes. Then of course there's all the sensual stroking of the clay and who could forget the tears of the big man judge as he marvels at the creativity.

Throw in a few great characters - we've got Major Tom with a stiff upper clay lip and a gentle touch, the hunky vet and Jim the rock-a-billy up against farmer's daughter Sarah, Sally-Jo the designer and grandmother Sandra who doesn't look a day over 30!

By far the best bit though is waiting to see the results of the glazing when the pastel shades that entered the kiln are revealed in all their shining bright glory.

Can't wait for the next episode! Check out the first three here.

PS: Dear Father Christmas, Please can I have a potters' wheel...

Romantic fairytale endings....

I am awash with romance and sequins, music flows through my veins and my feet dance to the passion of the music....

Ah, twas the night of the Strictly Come Dancing final and a televisual feast. I am drunk on the romance of the winners Kara Tointon and Artem Chigvintsev. I may have to wear a floaty dress and high heels for at least a week for jeans and trainers would somehow dampen the feathery quality of my heart. I want to float around a dancefloor in the arms of a handsome man...

My dreams lately seem to be taking on my televisual watching. There's been one two many zombies lurching their way around my subconscious lately but I'm hoping they will be banished for good and replaced with the magic of sequins and the ballroom. I can't believe it is over for another year. My favourites won; they are so romantic and beautiful together, I have come over all soft and tearful.

It was a joy to watch every contestant ... and special mentions should also go to my second and third favourties - the delightful SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSScoTT and the inspirational Pamela Stephenson, who made it to the final, scored a perfect 40 on, I think, three occasions and is older than the other two finalists put together. Pamela, we salute you!

I delayed posting this because I wanted to paint something, but time is not on my side so we'll just 'borrow' a picture from the BBC.

It's only art...

... but I like it!

I was enthralled by a wonderful piece of television. No, it wasn't Jordan picking cockroaches out of her cleavage or Sam Fox balancing a large and very alive water spider on her tongue... It was culture darlings, of the kind that you can only trust the BBC to produce.

OK, I admit the 'I'm a Celebrity who needs a bit of publicity so I'll allow myself to get tortured on TV for three weeks' was rather tempting, because sometimes you do have to indulge in a little trash, just so you put things in perspective. However, 'Art on your walls' was just lovely!

Little Sue Perkins took us on a journey of nostalgia from the sitting rooms of our grandparents in the 1950s to IKEA just last weekend. This was a programme celebrating art for the masses, as interior design, escapism and joyful sentimentality. You might love looking at a sheep in formaldahyde in a gallery, but over the back of your sofa? I think not. We prefer the windswept branches of a silvered tree on a white beach or the hypnotic sunset over Ullswater.

This mass-produced art selling by the canvas-load is giving birth to a whole new breed of artist. What's so special about them? Well, they're still alive for one thing which is a novelty and making a tonne of money which is another!

The programme paints an evocative picture of our childhood visits to Nan's with a Tretchikoff exotic lady with a strange tinge to her face giving a bit of colour to the woodchip. Then it took me to student digs where our poster choice indicated our tribe. This put you very clearly into the camps of those you either had something in common with or, more likely, wanted to be a part of. Coming from small-town-in-the-Midlands-that-nobody-has-heard-of put me at a distinct disadvantage on day 1. Your choice of cheap art from Athena (or even cheaper knocked off from street traders) was a statement about YOU. Were you, like Sue a Betty Blue? Or did you favour the political statement perhaps? My romance was more traditional. I think I might still have this poster somewhere - a little tattered and frayed but I was too unwilling to part with it - a little episode of my history! Oh how I longed to be passionately kissed by a tall, dark & handsome man on the Champs D'Elysse!

So, what did I take from this programme? A reminder of my Nan's hallway. Memories of bug-eyed children looking sadly down at me from 1970s portraits. The reminder that to be cool, you really have to be French. And the lesson that what defines art is up to you. It's what gives meaning and pleasure to your soul and opens a window to another world.

Oh yes, and a new item for my 'to do' list. Create some very marketable art and sell it to The Art Group - these are the people that fill IKEA, Argos and B&Q with affordable art and make the artists a fortune in the process and guess what.... they are based about 2 miles away from my studio (aka dining room table)! Serendipity??