This self portrait was painted specifically for a friend and colleague as a gift, and is in her private collection. In 1997 I opened my first pottery and art gallery, Glasswater Gallery. I met Kate when she brought in her exquisite hand made dolls to have displayed in my shop. We have been fast friends since that day. While working together in my third shop, The Rowan Tree, I took to painting clay flower pots. Several of them were painted royal blue with gold dots and sun faces on them. It amused Kate to see me painting these pots for some reason and she wrote a beautiful poem about it for me. That was in 1999. This work is dedicated to the memory of the joy and fun we had then and Kate’s stalwart friendship and love since then. RUTH J JAMIESON