It was a cloudy morning. And not in a good way… okay, so it wasn’t so bad…
Yesterday was so incredibly gorgeous with all of the colors splashing across the
clouded sky. Today there were SO many clouds that the sun never had a chance!

How can you not LOVE teaching Summer Camp…
when faces like these are looking back at you every day?!

As this week of camp continues… my morning Wheelthrowing Camp finished off
their stoneware pieces to get them into a bisque kiln. They trimmed, they stamped,
they carved, they added handles, they finished their pots. We then switched to
terra cotta and they found out it was a lot messier than stoneware! But still a lot of fun!

And who wears WHITE on terra cotta day?! I tried to warn them all ahead of time…
let’s just say, that outfit will never be white ever again!!!

My afternoon camp started working on color theory by painting their own color wheels.
With just the primary colors & white, they had to fill in the entire grid with their color
combinations. When they finish this part… the plan is that they’re going to recreate
the color wheel again but this time with collage pieces!

It’s been a LONG time coming… and I’m finally going tonight to see Cirque du Soleil.
The last time they came to Chicago was a few years ago with “Kooza”. And now?… “OVO.”
We’ve had our tickets for almost four long months… waiting… anticipating… dreaming.
And finally, tonight’s the night. I’m so excited. I’m sure there will be more stories to come…

Throughout this morning’s sunrise, it was constant display of incredible colors.
Every few minutes it would evolve & change to another stunning sky show!
It was tough to get the miles in… as I “had to” keep stopping to take more pictures!

Unfortunately, when I got home, we had no electricity in my condo building?!
So there I was… in the dark, sweaty and trying to get ready for Summer Camp!!!
And no way to share my morning photos until the power came back on…

So there I am… surrounded by a room full of crazy Summer Camp kids.
Trying to keep them focused. Trying to keep them working. Trying to keep them from
tearing the place apart – slight exaggeration. When one of the other studio artists comes
downstairs and pulls me out of camp to tell me that there “has been an accident”
in my studio. What??? No one was even up there?!

So I excused myself from camp, left my assistant in charge, and went up to see what
happened. Apparently, someone closed the studio door a little too hard and this bank
of shelving fell off the wall. Literally pulling the screw anchors out of the wall…
and crashing down, spilling everything all over the place. Including my glass bead making
toolbox and all of the glass rods inside! And breaking some of the pieces that were drying
on my table. These shelves have been on that wall for YEARS!!! Why now? Why today?!

Maybe this is a good excuse, or should I say reason, for me to spend some quality time
in the studio cleaning, repairing, fixing it up and getting rid of all the garbage that I’ve
accumulated over the years… and still have really no good use for it all?!

So my plan is not to replace the shelving… since they can “jump off” whenever they want?!
You all know of my love for pegboard. So there will be more coming soon…

Another beautiful morning along the lakefront.
It’s the perfect way to start my morning… before the rest of the city wakes up!
Quiet. Tranquil. Serene.

So my Wheelthrowing Camp is only for the morning session.
At 1:00pm, many of the kids go home, while others start the afternoon session.
This week, my afternoon session is Clay & Multimedia. Which basically means
we do a clay project on Monday, and then other random art projects throughout
the week. And if all goes as planned, they’ll have a fun time, make some great projects,
learn a little bit along the way… and take home all of their projects on Friday.
Including their terra cotta plaques we made today. Here’s a few in the works…

Today was the first day of another week of Summer Camp.
This time, my morning camp is Wheelthrowing with the kids. Too funny!

So something that adults sign up for and take a 10-week class, suddenly…
we expect these kids to “get it” in just five days! It will be a fast & focused week!
I do a couple quick demonstrations, they do some throwing with stoneware,
some trimming, some stamping (perhaps?), and those posts go right in the kiln.
Then we switch to terra cotta for some more throwing & finishing. A little hand building
on Thursday, as well as some underglaze. Then on Friday, their stoneware bisque comes
out of the kiln and they’ll do some glazing, as well as glazing their terra cotta pieces!
So like I said, there’s a LOT of work ahead of them… abd keeping it fun at the same time…

And so far… they’re off to a good start…

By the end of class, some were still a mess… and others were eager to wash their hands!

Well, it’s the middle of July… and it feels like Summer is finally here!
My first Triathlon is just seven weeks from today! Yikes!!!
Yep, that’s it. I’ve said it. I’m doing my very first Triathlon. So there.
I’ve been watching it for years and every time I tell myself I should do it too!
Never worry about the fact that I don’t run or swim! But I’ve been biking
seriously for over twenty years… that will make up for it, right?
How hard can it be, right? If all of “those” people can do it..
And it’s just that very sense of ignorant confidence that’s going to kill me!

So I signed up for the Chicago Triathlon way back in January…
just under the deadline & cost-saving for early registration. People tried to
convince me to do the “Sprint Distance’ Triathlon for my first one ever. It’s about
half the distance for each activity. But if you’ve ever met me, you know that I’m
kind of an all-or-nothing kind of guy. I may think about something for a long time,
consider, reconsider and over-think a few times… but once I decide – I’m in!
And if you’re not going to do the FULL Triathlon… why bother?!

As luck would have it…
without changing any part of my workout routine, I got a case of “self-diagnosed”
plantar fasciitis in my left foot. So there I was… all excited to get started & invigorate
my workout with my new goal in sight… and then I can’t even walk normally?!
What!!!… are you kidding me? Really???

After two months of keeping off my foot, letting it heal & rest, the plantar fasciitis
finally left and I slowly got back to working out. And although it’s still not “perfect,”
I’m trying to push myself towards my Triathlon goal. Excited, but cautious.
So now I’m back biking… and back to Step classes… and getting back into shape.

And then I started jogging. I bought new running shoes – my first ever!
And went for my first run and did an easy 2.5 miles. And I thought… pretty good
for never running before, huh? Again… ignorant confidence.

I’ve done the same route a couple times and e-mailed an old friend who is a marathon
runner and also training for her triathlon. I jokingly told her I just need to run that
same 2.5-mile route four times in a row to get to my Triathlon 10-mile distance!
She wrote back and told me the Triathlon is 10 kilometers, not 10 miles!!!
So that’s just around 6.5 miles… not bad if I can do 2.5 on my first time out!
Ignorant confidence.

I’ve run a few more times… in fact, just the other night I went for my longest run yet…
7.2 miles! I felt pretty good. Just bored. You know that “runner’s high” they all talk
about?… we’ll, I haven’t gotten to that yet. But if I can run 7.2 miles with seven weeks
to go… why worry?! I’ve got ignorant confidence!

So my plan has been to add jogging for the month of June, and then add swimming
during the month of July… and put them all together during August. The Chicago
Triathlon is not until the last Sunday of August… so I’m pretty sure I’m right on track.
I’ve just got to be able to survive a 1-mile swim, a 25-mile bike and a 6.5 mile run.
All back to back… non-stop… how hard can that be, right?!… ignorant confidence!

Today… after I played all day at Step Class, and then biking along the lakefront…
I went out and bought my first wetsuit so I have no excuse but to get started on
the swimming portion. Maybe tomorrow morning?

So that’s where I’m at… ignorantly confident.
And looking forward to my first Triathlon.
Hopefully, one more thing checked off the Bucket List… if I survive!