Clare Gaylard Artisan Glass 

Since we are a full house again with three artists to two otherwise, there is some jostling for work and deskspace. Oldest renders bookcovers with facepaint and youngest paints portraits on eggs - and random found objects. Hoping others are occupied and in health.

A week of sunshine has been a tonic, the light is exceptionally sharp and clear.

A commission is welcome at any time but this is an excellent reason to clear off the workbench, pull some colours I wouldn't normally and get behind the torch.

For the first time I'm pleased with the ridiculous accumulation of photographs on my mobile phone. Some favourite things from an early January visit to the British Museum. Left to right: I've always loved The Wave, my parents had an old,clothbound book of Hokusai's work and it was a favourite. An Egyptian kohl pot, SO fragile and so well preserved. A Mexican mosaic mask of unsettling intensity. A Grayson Perry ceramic pot, a wonderful Oceanic totem and an ornate, Jewish wedding ring. An Ottoman vase, a quiet monday evening in the main hall and a scrimshaw nautilus from Sloane's personal collection. 

Well two walls really but plenty of structural support and an excellent roof. A wonderful bee and bug hotel and a change from postcard-ready photos of Framlingham Castle. 

I don't usually post work in progress if it's too early on - it can skew the idea or stall the process. I reckon while we are in lockdown folks might want more to look at and this experiment made me happy. Armchair travel to the sea.

This sculpture imprinted itself on me as a child via a black & white photo in an old book. I sketched and painted and drew it numerous times. The oil-painting above was done around ten years before I saw it for myself in the Louvre. I wanted to catch the dawn-like, expansive, ethereal atmosphere it gave me and using a palette knife and impasto paint. I didn't convey the vigour - there are some more paintings or drawings in there.

Herbs, Angel and freshly baked bread, deferred education, work plans and hopes for three offspring but fortunate in health and hoping it's the same for others.

I'm drawn to making rings because they are so complete and of themselves, such a sensible wearable talisman or treasure. This is a lovely little book alongside a goldstone, glass swirl ring I made. A favourite page from the book and an honourable mention for a ring made for me, wrought from fimo while the maker was still at school.

At the Gallery 142 exhibition focusing on the amethyst geode that inspired a recent collection.

At last? Art Nouveau-style ring commission. Sculpted entirely in the flame.

A ring commission and a splendid, well thumbed, highly-recommended little book: Perfume Bottles by Judith Miller.

My days of making costumes are over, it remains a family affair though: Sister-in Law's 2020 novel 'The Year Without Summer'. Daughter with her cover illustration for Sister's (Eleanor Brown) recent 'White Ink Stains'. A couple of daughter's (Insta @sultanabrian) interpretations of favourite book covers. Having read both of these superb books and passed on the flame, all I have to do is wait for my copy of The Mirror and the Light to arrive.

Venus totem from over ten years ago, still a favourite.

We now have daylight until 4pm, it's not radiant but it is an improvement.

Sometimes I plan, design and edit for months, this time I took a clear, pale spring day in the fields, with a sky full of seagulls - and distilled it immediately into a ring.