In a field of beautiful goldenrod, there are plenty of bees enjoying the flowers & pollen… and a cool praying mantis basking in the sun!

So while our adorable little Pottery Puppy has been hanging out at our Tuesday night class, we missed him this week… and fear that with the summer session ending he might not be back?! However…

This little cutie has moved in to the condo next to me! So now I get to be the best “Uncle Gary” to this little pup! Officially named Michigan Blue… but going by “Michi”... this little German Shepherd ain’t gonna be little for long! Can’t wait to play with this little guy… especially when he’s hanging out on my back porch!!!

Always nice to see some bees enjoying their afternoon meal.

So yesterday afternoon, there “may” have been a strange sighting outside of Lillstreet Art Center. There was “rumor” of a giraffe standing out on the corner of Montrose & Ravenswood!!! In Chicago?… Shocking, right?! Well, not so shocking for one of my Summer Campers this week who made his life-sized baby giraffe in Sculpture Camp! Murray worked hard on his giraffe… so we just had to show him off to the world!!!

Look like another berry bowl found a good home during last weekend’s GLENVIEW SUMMER ART FAIR. Looks beautiful when filled with blueberries & strawberries! I’m sure Allison loves her new berry bowl… but it looks like her cat is still a bit unsure?!

Look who made another visit to my Tuesday night pottery class!!! Student “Nick the Vet” brought this little cutie back into class… and when the puppy pops out, all pottery kinda stops! I mean, how can my pottery demos compete with this little nugget??? Three weeks in a row… and you can tell he’s growing fast!!! Sadly, rumor has it we “may not” see him next week as Nick will be out-of-town!

So look who came to join us again for another week of my Tuesday night Beginning Wheel class! Yep… our little “abandoned-puppy-friend” was back for another week with our student & vet Nick who is caring for this little 5-week old cutie!

Also, my fellow teacher Chelsea had been having a tough week…
so he also supplied some much-needed PUPPY THERAPY!

We had a surprise guest in my beginning pottery class Tuesday night! Nick came into class with a black duffel bag asking where he could stash it somewhere quite & clean. We put it under the wedging table… only after finding out that there was a four-week old puppy inside!!! My student Nick is a veterinarian and was at the vet clinic when someone found this cutie abandoned on the side of the road and brought him in. We all loved it… and told Nick that we now expect a different puppy in class each week!!! HA!!!

Another beautiful blue sky day… perfect for pedaling along the lakefront. Getting the miles in & finding new sculptures along the way. I’ve seen the “darker” one several times on the north side during my sunrise rides… but never quite stopped to check it out. And who knew there was a “companion piece” down on the south side too?!

Crazy cool compilations of cast metal animals – stacked, bound, tethered and otherwise defying gravity. Take a moment to try and figure out which animals are in each!!! Both sculptures are by artist Nancy Rubins… thanks for sharing your work on the lakefront!

A few years ago, I went to Colfax with friends to meet sculptor Robert Cumpston at his home & tour his workshop. That was when I was “introduced” to his work… basically building life-sized animals out of rusty farm machinery parts & pieces… and you know how I LOVE rusty metal. \

While I now have quite a Cumpston collection at home, I thought I would pedal through “downtown” Colfax (one street, maybe a dozen buildings?) to see more of his work as I had heard that after his passing, a few of his pieces were donated to the town of Colfax to honor one of their most talented residents. I was hoping for more… as I only found a giraffe and a greyhound!