You know the rest… and yes, I did get rained on. But not too much. Just enough
to make me turn around & head home. Luckily, the rain was after a gorgeous red sky sunrise!

After a few sprinkles of rain, the red sky dissipated as the sun continued to rise.
The clouds were still filling the sky to create a dramatic backdrop for my morning ride.

And then the sun finally made it over the horizon, and up behind some clouds. Creating dramatic
bursts of sun streaming through the sky. The rain was gone, but the clouds were still there!

Today, my friend Chris & I completed our first Century bike ride of the season.
A hundred miles of pedaling through the cornfields or Northwest Illinois, up into Wisconsin,
and back again. It was pretty darn windy out there… as the corn isn’t tall enough
to break the wind yet!!!

Tonight I went to see “Snow White And The Huntsman.”
From the trailer, it looked pretty cool. Lots of great effects and stunning visuals.
Well, it did live up to the trailer. Charlize Theron was pretty incredible as the
Evil Queen. Snow White on the other hand…

Okay, so the role of Snow White is played by Kristen Stewart from the “Twilight”
trilogy that I luckily avoided. Anyway, I didn’t quite “buy her” as Snow White.
Reportedly the “fairest in the land” – with lips as red blood and skin as white as snow…
you know the drill. Let’s just leave it at… I wasn’t a fan.

However…
One of the Previews before the movie REALLY has me excited!
So by now I’m sure you’ve realized that I’m a big “Les Miserables” fan.
I’ve seen it FAR too many times. Every show. Every version. Every soundtrack.
Even the French concept album… and I don’t even speak French!

Anyway, the trailer was for the upcoming full-feature, musical movie version of
“Les Miserables” After more than 25 years, my favorite Broadway show of all time is coming
to the movie theaters. I had heard the rumors of a movie… and was kind of scared that they
might mess it up. Well, from the looks of the movie trailer… they did a great job!!!

Click here to see the movie trailer for “Les Miserables”… coming out this Christmas 2012.

This past Tuesday was the last night for my Spring Wheelthrowing Class at Lillstreet.
As usual, we celebrated with a potluck in class… complete with ice cream sundaes
and my very own homemade, hot fudge sauce! Thanks to Grandma’s recipe!!!
Hard to believe that 10 weeks of class have already come & gone. But always so fun
to see how far my students have progressed from that first night of frustration.

So now we’re on to the next session…
Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing

4-Week June Session : Tuesday Nights from 7:00pm-10:00pm
Generally for those who just want to continue working on their projects. Plus the perfect
chance for newbies to get a quick taste of wheelthrowing fun. Four weeks is a little too
quick to cover “everything” – but we’ll try our best!

8-Week Summer Session : Tuesday Nights from 7:00pm-10:00pm
Starting the first Tuesday after the 4th of July, the new session starts and goes
through the months of July & August. We’ll cover all of the basics from wedging,
centering, throwing, trimming & glazing. The full process squeezed into 8 weeks.
Plus, we always try to tailor the syllabus for those returning students who want to
focus on a certain form or technique.

Registration for both sessions is already open.
Stop by Lillstreet Art Center, give ’em a call or register online by clicking here.
Be sure to sign up soon before the class gets filled up!

Finally, an air date…
Saturday, June 9th at 8:00pm Central.
More details to come…

Remember that big pile of gooey clay I was reclaiming in my studio a couple weeks ago?…

Well, tonight I finally pounded it up and put it into clay bags.
Turns out it was two hundred & eleven pounds of “FREE” clay!!!

Sure, it still needs a lot of wedging before it can be used. But I needed to get it off the big
plaster bat before it got too dry. My next step will be to take my “mixed-up reclaim” clay
and layer it with some “new” clay. I’ll take a new bag and interleave it with the reclaim,
cut it, layer it, squish it, pound it… cut it, layer it, squish it, pound it… repeat. Once the
layers are incorporated with each other, I can start the wedging. I’ll do a bit of wedging
and then put them back into the bag. I’ll so the “real wedging” when I get ready throw
with it. Until then, the bags of reclaimed clay will be sitting in the corner of my studio.
Just waiting…

It’s official… Summer Camp starts on Monday at Lillstreet Art Center.
Another fun summer of playing with kids & art supplies… creating… laughing…
and maybe even teaching them a few things along the way!

Summer Camps at Lillstreet are for the full week. Kids have a choice of taking the
morning session from 9:00am-1:00pm, the afternoon session from 1:00pm-3:30pm,
or putting both together for a full day of fun. There is even an “after camp” option for
those kids who need to stay later until Mom or Dad can get off work to pick them up.

These are the weeks when I’ll be teaching camps…
Besides the first week, all of my camp are “full-day” camps from 9:00am-3:30pm.
My camps are also designed for kids who are 8-12 years old.
There are plenty of other camps for kids of all ages.

Week B – June 11-15 – Wheelthrowing AM, Clay & Multimedia PM
Wheelthrowing basics from start to finish. We’ll wedge, center & throw on Monday
and work our way to glazing on Friday! Clay & Multimedia is a clay handbuilding project
on Monday and other random art projects throughout the week… quite possibly
with tie-dye on Thursday!

Week D – June 25-29 – Garden Camp
It’s a full week camp art projects for the garden. Planters, flower boxes, lawn ornaments
and maybe even a totem pole along the way?!

Week E – July 9-13 – Fire, Forge & Feast
We start the week on the “dirty side of the building” making clay plates, bowls, cups and
handles on Monday & Tuesday. Then we move over to the “clean side” on Wednesday &
Thursday to make metal knives, forks & spoons. Friday we put it all together and have a
great potluck lunch on their finished dinnerware sets! These week I co-teach with
Pam Robinson who is the one in charge of the Metals Dept. at Lillstreet –
and an incredible metalsmith in her own right!

Week F should have been Chess Camp, but I got “pulled away” for a two-week “glitter gig”
in Dover, Delaware. So the camp is still running, but I won’t be the teacher this summer.
Instead, my friend Dave Trost will be taking the helm. His whimsical & satirical approach
to sculpture will really be fun for the kids! Still… no Chess fun for me this summer. Bummer.

Week H – July 30 – August 3 – Wild Things!
It’s a wild week filled with animals every step of the way. All of our projects are
animal themed. Including a Field Trip to Lincoln Park Zoo on Tuesday.

Week I – August 6-10 – Fire, Forge & Feast
So much fun the first time… so we’re offering it twice this Summer!

Week J – August 13-17 – Masters Camp
A little bit of Art History, thrown in with a lot of fun art projects! We go to the Art Institute
on Tuesday for inspiration – and all art projects this week are done “in the style of” a famous
master artist. The week culminates with a “gallery show” of the kids works!

Check out the Lillstreet website for a full listing of Summer Camps.
There’s a lot of Clay & Multimedia Camps, as well as metalsmithing, painting, etc… and
plenty of specialty camps like Movie Making, Cartooning, Sewing, Fashion Design & more!
It’s always a fun summer at Lillstreet Art Center.

It was a warm “sweltering” holiday weekend… so it felt great this morning to get out
for the morning ride and NOT be sweating before I started pedaling!!!
And so nice to see the lifeguard chairs back on the lakefront. A nice harbinger of summer…

And then the sun broke through…

Today was a lot sunnier than yesterday… and a LOT hotter…
thankfully we had a wonderful breeze blowing through all day.
It would have been unbearable without the breeze.

Special thanks again to all of my wonderful customers who stopped by to say hello!
Especially three of my students from this current session at Lillstreet Art Center.
Thanks to Laury, Linda and Tracy who shlepped all the way out to the ‘burbs…
each of which have been doing an incredible job in our Wheelthrowing Class.

So, sure I could show you some nice pottery shots… some pictures of my work.
Or, I could show you some of the beautiful flowers that graced my booth this weekend.
Including some purple Queen Anne’s Lace, orange alstromeria, lotus pods, green rosehips,
white tulips, fragrant stock and more! Plus some little glimpses of pottery!

My Textured Slab Vases never looked better than with one of my all-time favorite flowers…
kind of a strange plant with great colors, incredible textures and funky structure.
It’s called Kangaroo Paw – and it’s crazy cool!!!

After the clouds moved out, the customers came to shop.
It was great to see so many of my dedicated followers stop by to say hello!
Plus, it was great to get two award ribbons this weekend as well…
not just one, but TWO!!!

The first ribbon was a special Merit Award from the show organizers
Not quite “Best Of Show”… but always nice to be recognized for your hard work & creative
efforts. Plus, the prize is basically reimbursement of my booth fee!                               Sweet.

The second was a Special Sponsor Award from Dr. Bruce & Lynne Peterson.
Apparently, local businesses “pledge” to purchase a certain amount during the fair. Then,
people from the company come to the show and decide who they want to award & spend
their money with. Well, I was lucky enough to be chosen for one of these awards.
So I not only got a cool ribbon & certificate… I also sold more work!!!