“A pottery exhibition gathering orphaned cups from far and wide, each cup representing a child in the foster care system in search of their Forever Family. Our goal is to give a voice to as many children as I can who deserve to be seen and heard.”   -  Pam Kinsmith

A fellow potter & friend Pam Kinsmith is championing the cause and starting up this wonderful event. I am excited to be part of it from the start, offering suggestions & encouragement to get this project started. The plan is to raise funds for the foster care system by gathering cups from potters around the country. Each “orphaned” cup will represent a child in the system. Each cup sold will help fund that child in finding their Forever Family. It’s a cause near & dear to Pam’s heart… and I am excited to help in any way I can.

More details will be coming soon…
Click here to follow “Finding Forever Cup Exhibition” on Facebook.

Okay, so I’ve been gone for three weeks. And that’s a LONG time.
So I haven’t been in the studio, or even touched clay in three LONG weeks!!!
But now that I’m back, it’s time to get back into the swing of things. Including teaching my Beginning Wheelthrowing Tuesday night class. Last night was my first week back, but it was my students’ third class of the new session. I feel like I’ve missed out.. even though I know my teaching assistant Susan did a great job getting them started.

Last night we tackled pulling handles and attaching them onto some of the cylinders that had made & trimmed… without me!

And we followed that up with some stamp-making… you know it’s my favorite. And I always try to get through this demo early on on the session so they will have some of their own stamps to work with later in the session.

Let me just say… it felt great to be back. Great to meet my new students. And even better to touch clay again!!! It’s been too long…

Early morning with one big, dark looming cloud…

And a few miles later as the clouds dissipated a bit and the color started to break through.

After three weeks in Dover, it felt great to get back on my “real” bike for another sunrise bike ride along Lake Michigan. I’ve missed the Lake… and I’ve missed my morning sunrise routine. I tried to squeeze it in while I was in Dover, but it just wasn’t quite the same. And this morning had a dramatic sunrise to kick it off my triumphant return to the lakefront bike trail.

As the sun finally made it over the horizon, the was a small “window of opportunity” for the sun to peek out from under the clouds. Luckily it did… and we had a brilliant & colorful sunrise!

As the sun continued to rise, the clouds created a beautiful, textured canvas for the morning colors to bounce of off. A brilliant cloudscape along the lakefront.