As the summer continues… and my morning sunrise bike rides continue…
the need to be more & more creative with my sunrise photo composition keeps getting higher.
If the sunrise isn’t stunning enough on it’s own… sometimes I need to “help” it
with a little photo composition & design!

After stocking up on clay, tools & supplies, Amy and I decided to stop by
Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis. It’s kind of their version of Lillstreet.
They have a wonderful gallery full of beautiful pots – and a great reception desk
made with some beautiful bricks that have been “colored” by years of firings
in a soda kiln. We oohed & aahhed… touched, fondled, caressed… and drooled.
Ultimately, Amy made a purchase of a sweet little vase by Ron & Cheryl Husby.
I ended up leaving empty-handed… more on that disappointment to come…

We admired a lot of pots in the gallery, and then went back and checked out their
classrooms, kilns and studio spaces. Along our tour, I found these wonderful cups.
Now known as “the cups that got away”… the studio artist wasn’t there, the cups
weren’t priced, the neighboring studio artist didn’t know anything… and we weren’t
even sure they were for sale?! So I left my contact information with the “neighbor”
in hopes that she may call and tell me I could come back to purchase the cups later,
or on Sunday. Sadly… I never got the call… no e-mail… no nothing…
But you can see why they were the “perfect” cups… that now I just have to have!!!

So we started our Saturday in Minneapolis with a trip to Continental Clay.
The same clay manufacturer that I typically order my clay from. I’ve never been
to their warehouse & store before, so it was kind of exciting. Plus, it was nice to
have a coupon and a big car to bring back hundreds of pounds of clay! I got more
stoneware, B-clay and soda clay. Something for everything and every firing.
Some for my next soda kiln, some for cone 10 reduction, some for who knows what?!
While there, I also got a very quick tour of the warehouse and their clay mixing area.
There’s a LOT of clay there… I made a dent in their inventory – and my car was now
dragging a few inches lower than it was before!

As soon as I left Summer Camp, it was right in the car and headed north!
A nice roadtrip up to Minneapolis in Friday afternoon rush hour with temperatures
just over a hundred degrees. Good planning, huh?

Kicking back in the car, air conditioning cranked up high & singing all the way,
it was a slow go just trying to get out of Chicago. Hot, humid, congested.
I finally made it over the Wisconsin border and stopped off for gas & grape pop!
When I paid and returned to the car, I noticed a huge storm headed my way.
Seconds after getting back in the car, the sky opened up and flooded the place
with heavy rains and a smattering of hail.

As I’m battling the rain, there were times when it was so tough to see the road ahead
that I actually considered pulling over under an overpass and waiting it out. Instead,
I just made sure to keep the tail lights of the truck in front of me in view. And since
I love a challenge… I had to take some pictures at the same time!

Further up the road, the rain finally stopped and the sun came back out. With beautiful
cloud formations across the sky and a striking sunset highlighting the clouds.

Enjoy it while you can… because there was another storm about a half hour ahead.
The skies got dark again and there were lightning flashes all around. Ominous looking…
and again a little scary when the crazy storm finally unleashed its fury on the freeway!

So I finally made it up to Minneapolis and checked in to the hotel – and met up with
my friend & fellow potter Amy Higgason. She had driven down earlier that day from
northern Wisconsin and shopped the day away at the Mall of America. So although
I was exhausted from my morning bike ride, day at summer camp and the treacherous
drive… it was great to see Amy again – and we chatted for HOURS when we should
have been sleeping. Knowing that we had big festivities planned for the next day.

It’s been a great week with a lot of great kids, great focus & great creativity!
They’ve all worked so hard to get their chess sets to this final stage… adding color!

And with just a bit of color underglaze, the chess sets really come to life. Luckily,
everyone completed their set just under the wire. The will be clear-glazed next week
and fired. Brian & I will then separate, organize and re-group each kids’ set,
box it up and get it ready for them to come back and pick it up. Once it gets home…
they can play chess everyday and cherish their masterpiece for years to come!

This weekend is the perfect weekend to “escape” from the city.
It is once again the annoyance on the lake known as the Air & Water Show.
Cluttering the lakefront with thousands & thousands of people. Closing the
bike trail and littering the lakefront. All to see some boats and a couple planes.
Here’s an idea – sit by a harbor or drive out to O’Hare… don’t ruin my lakefront!

Luckily, I’m headed north for the weekend to play with friends and celebrate
my friend Emily’s recent nuptials. No boats. No planes. Just friends.

A quiet moment on the lakefront. Simple. Serene.

But here’s the downside…
the sunrise may be beautiful, serene, inspirational and so much more every day!
However, with the overnight heat and stagnant air, it was amazing how fast the
swarms of gnats can invade a peaceful moment. Where are my “flocks” of dragonflies
when you need them! And yes, those are indeed gnats in the shot and not some groovy
pixelation filter breaking up the shot! Crazy… and quite annoying!

Well, we’re in the final stretch. Tomorrow is the last day of Chess Camp.
And fittingly, today the kids had some big deadlines to meet… and they did.
Our mission for today was for the kids to finish constructing all of their
chess pieces. They’ll be drying overnight so we can “finish them off” tomorrow!

The other part of “the big deadline” was that they each had to paint their thematic
chess boards. They too are drying overnight and tomorrow we’ll give them a little
shine with a protective coat of Mod Podge… and I love that memorable smell.

Tomorrow we will finish off another wonderful week of camp by painting
all of their pieces with colorful underglaze to really bring their pieces to life!
This has been a great week with a bunch of really great kids!

Natural inspriations… from another beautiful morning bike ride!