Now retired from a career in medicine I seem to have become an artist, ceramics my preferred medium. Working with clay allows me to combine a professionally ingrained need to be in control with the creative challenge of engaging with a material that has its own quirks. My work is hand built using pinch, slab and coil building techniques with each form appearing intuitively and without significant prior planning. My enthusiasm for the precision of the build with attention to curves, corners, balance and texture is limitless. My work is naked of glaze, the surface decoration largely achieved by the effect of smoke and fire on the unglazed ceramic surface. My creative inspiration stems from a love of the natural world. Mostly it’s the big stuff; the mountains, the sea, the rocks, rivers and glaciers. It’s the energy in the wind and the water. It’s the colour and flow of the seasons. Ultimately my ceramics are of the earth.