A beautiful sunset, the smell of woodsmoke and an autumn evening spent pit firing locally gathered clay.

There’s a point in an autumn evening when everything seems to change colour. On October 24, while the Art Borups Corners Society was busy with its pit firing, the sky put on quite a show. Pink and purple clouds stretched across the horizon, with the pine trees standing dark against all that colour. It was the kind of sunset that makes you stop whatever you’re doing and look up.

There was plenty happening around the fire, with their locally gathered clay pieces in the middle of the experiment. The air carried that unmistakable smell of woodsmoke, and the evening light made everything feel a little different. Pit firing is a hands-on process that asks for patience, preparation and a willingness to see what happens.

But every so often, you have to step back from the work and take in what’s happening around you, too.

Autumn is moving along quickly now. The evenings are getting shorter, darkness arrives earlier, and there’s a noticeable change in the feel of the air once the sun starts to go down. The snow will be here soon. It’s easy to get caught up in preparing materials, tending fires and figuring out the next steps in a project. Then a sunset like this comes along and reminds you to pay attention to the season you’re actually in.

A good fire, a colourful sky and the silhouettes of the pines made for a pretty special October evening.