There is something about white; the simplicity, the purity, the cleanliness. Winter has been disappointedly wet and warm this year in general, but the sodden grey monotony has intermittently been broken by the odd crisp, sparkling, frosty day, when the whole world seems to have been frozen in time and nature suspended in animation.
Nowhere looks more beautiful on these days than our own AONB in the Chiltern Hills. Skeletal winter trees frame frosted seed heads, and spikes of iced grass crunch under foot, whilst a watery winter sun brings a pale golden glow to the white landscape.
Having just visited Candice Coetser, trained renown South African ceramicist now living in East Sussex, we are in white mode. Working in paper thin porcelain, with matt & glaze finishes, her vessels are small, considered and perfectly formed; each one a complete masterpiece, with a small detail – a line or a tiny foot – giving each a finishing definition.
Flowers and shrubs are in bud and colour comes quickly with spring. But for now we still belong to winter and white rules supreme.
