I live and work in rural Leicestershire which provides me with many great opportunities to study the animals that I create from my surroundings. All my pieces are highly detailed, textured and very natural – the use of oxide and ceramic pigments emphasise this. They are hand-made from coarse stoneware clay using slab building techniques. My background is in fashion and design, which I studied at Loughborough College of Art and this has definitely influenced my work especially in my attention to detail. (Julie Wilson 2013)