It’s still a bit too chilly for Summer art fairs…
so I’m kicking off my art fair season next weekend at the Prairie View Arts Invitational in Naperville. It will be a fun show for everyone who’s been jonesin’ for an art fair through the dead of Winter… like myself. Mark your calendar for next weekend… Friday night for champagne & tacos, or Saturday with homemade soup & bake sales. Either way, great eats & great art. C’mon by!!!

For more information, click here for Prairie View Arts Invitational.

Also fresh from this week’s soda kiln, a new collection of textured square slab vases… in three sizes!!! With a different texture “picture” on each side of the vase! Perfect for the soon-to-be-here Spring flowers!!! And making their “big debut” next weekend at the Prairie View Arts Invitational in Naperville!

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And I did… get on my feet, that is!!! A great night of musical theater. So much fun with Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. Okay, so not actually them… but a rousing musical adaptation of their rise to fame… and a fateful night with a bus. An incredible sing-along for those of us who grew up in The Eighties. C’mon shake your body baby, do the Conga!!!

Especially fun for those of us who have memories of seeing Miami Sound Machine at the Rosemont Horizon. Sure, we had to sit through a soccer game to see them perform those three songs during halftime on a folding stage they rolled in just for her! And the saw them again during her superstar days during her World Tour when they performed here in Chicago. I remember the days surrounding the bus crash… and her triumphant return with “Coming Out Of The Dark” at the American Music Awards. All of which is represented in this musical. Two thumbs WAY UP!!!

And some amazing architecture & craftsmanship at the Cadillac Palace Theater.

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Never too soon for Christmas ornaments, right? Well here’s what they look like fresh out of the soda kiln. Bright & shiny. Next I will add a bent wire ring on the top to hang them from. And since I love making them… I’m sure there’s another batch or three in my not-so-distant future!

Some of you have asked how I fire my wheelthrown holiday ornaments. I posted a couple “before” photos… and these are the “after.” Still standing on their little tripods. With the tips dipped in kiln wash so they don’t soda-fuse to the ornaments during firing.

And a couple soda-fired teapots fresh from the kiln…
err, well okay, in the photos they’re still IN the kiln. Technicalities.
Pretty pleased with these regardless of where they are now!

Here’s a quick peek at a few of the mugs that came out of this week’s soda kiln. Some beautiful colors & soda effects… and a crazy cool flashing mark on one of them!!! Not sure how it happened… nor if I like it yet. I must have had something sitting too close to it in the kiln.

What do you think about the crazy flashing mark?

Let the games begin! We started out last night with so much promise of the hours of bingo fun to come… but ended with COVER ALL. Needless to say, I didn’t!!!

Hey, at least we had hours off fun with the “usual cast of colorful characters at the Bingo Hall. And I walked away with the free “Happy Easter” bingo dauber they were giving away.

So not a total loss!

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On another gloomy gray day, I’ll take a bit of Spring green anywhere we can find it.
Loving Mother Nature’s textures & colors in Early Spring.

More Fun Day Sunday with the pre-Broadway PRETTY WOMAN at the Oriental Theater. Great to see Samantha Barks as Vivian. Nice throwbacks to the movie… just wish the songs were better! Kinda makes me happy our tickets were free! Makes me want to watch the movie again though!

I must admit I was hoping for more! I loved her as Eponine in “Les Miz”….
but she never quite got a chance to shine as bright as Julia ROberts did.

What’s better than one Broadway show?… TWO!! It was a “Double Feature” yesterday with an evening performance of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT at Oakbrook’s Drury Lane Theater. Very fun & entertaining… but one of the STRANGEST adaptations I’ve ever seen. Instead of the traditional desert of the Bible, this show took place in a Las Vegas hotel room. Seriously. And every time the Narrator sang one of her songs to progress the story, she performed it as a different Las Vegas icon. Britney. Cher. Liza. Celine. Bette. Shania. Her impersonations were fun, but it totally took away from the story. Well that, and the fully-decked out Vegas showgirls… several of whom were burly guys in drag??? Go, go, go Joe!

Here’s an example… like this scene where the Narrator is totally upstaging poor Joseph as she sings ala Celine Dion. And with every impression, we also got an awkwardly humorous moment where Joseph takes a celebrity Selfie of himself with the Vegas Icon!… only to be projected on the large LED screen behind them.

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