What better way for artists to spend a birthday than to get together for a day of painting? Last Wednesday was Eric Metcalfe’s birthday and Pierre Coupey’s was three days earlier. Alan’s was in early August so there were two vast cakes for tea-time! The other Raiders this time were Mina Totino, Philippe Raphanel, Kate Metten, Michelle Normoyle, Cindy Richmond, Tamara Mills and Marlene Madison. Six is probably a good maximum number for future Raids!
It was another of the terribly hot and smoky days we’ve been having this summer. We worked in the basement studio with the doors closed and with a fan blowing.
A few days earlier my local potter friend Ysabella Choung was here giving me advice on the commercial glaze and its firing temperature. She offered to pop by and give my visitors some hints about underglaze application and possible ways to avoid that horrid shivering. Bless her, she was here at 10am, with spray bottles, extra stools and lazy Susans. The Raiders were pleased to hear Ysy’s suggestions. Some of those were: using a hair-dryer between applications of underglazes, spritzing with a little water to make the brush strokes more transparent and protecting painted areas with a paper towel to prevent smudging. With such a large group this day I was so grateful to have a helper. I managed to get my bisqued pieces waxed ready for glazing but it was also my role to set out the potluck lunch and find more tables and chairs and dishes and cutlery.
We risked the smoky atmosphere, choosing to have lunch outside on the patio and we survived! Once again these creative people put together a fine variety of food. Philippe made a delicious chicken and pea aspic, flavoured with surprising fillips of fennel, Eric again brought his summer contribution of overnight potato salad, Cindy and Kate made special salads, Tamara made a paté, Mina baked a Victoria sponge cake and others brought delicious contributions from Whole Foods! 
Later on we needed a revivifying cup of tea and slices of sponge or rich carrot cake, but for this we crowded around the dining room table. Now that it’s actually raining, two days later, it’s hard to remember how very hot and smoky that day was.
The last photo shows how 26 of the 36 plates I’d prepared were painted. Over the next week I hope to get a first glaze firing done and that one will include my nine jugbirds to take to England soon, and then do another glaze firing after that for the remaining pieces. We discovered that some Raiders do like leather hard or bone dry plates to work on so that there is the possibility for carving, sgraffito or wax resist. Pierre and Philippe used wax between coats of underglaze so I need to bisque them one more time to burn that off, so their plates will be in the second firing. 
I want to say a special thank you to Ysabella who was such a help on a day when we were a large group. Now I hope we have most of the questions resolved about how to use the underglazes and glaze on bisqued Wonder White clay. Fingers crossed.
