Spring To Life

Happily, we received rain this morning... the second good downpour after over a couple of months of very hot and driest weather in recent memory.

As excited for us to receive the rain, it is even exciting for me to anticipate the brilliant show of colours bursting wherever I go when the flowers on the trees and shrubs bloom. A phenomenon usually seen when there is suddenly a heavy downpour after a long drought... a survival mode triggered where trees ensure their species continuation.

Something I am associating with... pottery.


Yes, Wifey went off this morning to her pottery class at Sonny's school. She has been attending this class for several months now and has made lots of progress with her pottery-making skills.

She brings her work home where she lets me help and give ideas on the many things that she can add to the piece she currently works on. Her first piece was the start of my intrigue rather than interest in pottery-making.

She is currently doing her third project. A bowl with more flower motifs.

Wifey's first project Deco Plate

She had completed her plate with flower motifs weeks ago. She made another with the same flower motif for me to try for myself from the leftover clay. I made my own version using the carving method. The piece being flat helps tremendously, simply because I need all the room to maneuver my large hands, carving out the flowers as delicately as possible.

My first Wifey-taught-attempt at pottery

She brought it back home after oven-dried my plate for a few days at school. That was weeks ago. It sat in the cupboard for quite a while waiting for me to attempt at painting it. She brought it back out and asked me to complete my work.

Only after I painted it that she can bring it back to school to be baked in the kiln.

This morning, she placed the plate, together with the colour pallet and special water-pen brush on my iMac desk asking me to start painting before she left for her class at 10:30AM.

I started reluctantly at first but eventually got into the "grove" of things and ended up completing the whole plate in the span of 3 hours... stopping only to eat lunch with Sonny before continuing again.

My completed coloured Deco Plate

Wifey came back 2 hours later than usual because she and her PSG friends had to wait out the rain at school before heading home.

From her reaction, she was pleasantly surprised to find that I have completed colouring my plate. She likes my work.

Rough hands doing delicate art... tough

Like the arid weather, the dried plate that was sitting there all brown and plain had turned green and colourful in brilliant colours after a heavy rainfall.

Instead of selling it to a willing buyer once completed, we intend to buy it for ourselves as a memento of my first pottery work as she had bought her first work, a pencil holder.

Flowers bloom at last

"I have a place for your plate... we'll put it next to mine on the display shelve." Wifey proudly announced.