A sincere THANK YOU to everyone who came out to ART IN THE GARDEN last weekend. It was our ninth year of doing that grassroots art fair… and our ninth year of doing collaboration projects with the other artists. But this year, I think my pal Cory Mccrory really blew it out of the water with these amazing birdhouses. I made the textured terra cotta houses… and then Cory collaborated & added her usual sense of whimsy & color on top of them! We only made TEN… and they went fast! Quite the collector’s item for those ten lucky customers!

And now we need to start thinking about how we’re going to top ourselves next year for the Tenth Anniversary of collaborations with Cory! Any suggestions???

Well, here they are… forty terra cotta cylinders waiting to be trimmed… and then GHOUL-ized!!! I have a plan, I have a doodle… but I’ll feel much better after I make the first new Ghoul to make sure it lives up to my vision.

And just to make my job harder, this year I’m going for another two-parter! Yep, twice as many pieces to make… forty of this & forty of that… and I have about a week to get them all done!!! YIKES!!!

So here they are… the beginnings of this year’s new Ghoul. The first batch… and the fresh batch still on the bats. I’m making another “limited edition” of forty Ghouls for ART IN THE BARN on September 23rd & 24th. Starting to feel the pressure…

So… just in case you’ve been wondering… YES, the new addition to “The Ghoul Collection” for this year has been started!!! And they all started with just a ball of terra cotta clay! In fact, I started throwing the base forms last Saturday night after a long day at ART IN THE GARDEN… and finished throwing them early Monday morning. So you might say I got a bit of a “head-start” compared to my usual procrastination techniques! But we all know… I work best with a deadline!!! HA!!!

Clear skies with just a hint of banded clouds along the horizon. There was definitely a chill in the air… so it was long sleeves & gloves!!! Crazy, right?! It definitely felt like FALL this morning!

And now, quick shower & change… and then back to ART IN THE GARDEN in Glenview for Day Two of our grassroots art fair. We’d love to see you today!!!

Not a cloud in the sky.
Just a beautiful morning for a beautiful bike ride.

With just a sliver of sunrise… and a lot of clouds just above the horizon, it was another amazing bike ride morning! I had kinda hoped for the sun to illuminate the clouds & splash fun colors everywhere… but alas, it was not to be!

Pedal on…

This colorful collaboration came home with me from ART IN THE GARDEN. A perky flower made by Cory Mccrory surrounded by beautiful mosaics by Kristin Dann Conneely. I especially loved how the beauty of the day was reflected in the broken mirrors… blue skies, green leaves… beautiful day!!!

Lots of clouds, but not a lot of sunrise this morning! Some dramatic cloud-cover hanging low on the horizon out over the lake. I kept hoping for some sunrise colors to splash across the clouds… but it never quite happened. So we got a lot of drama with some crashing waves to boot!

The new session of pottery classes started tonight with my Intermediate Wheelthrowing students… and Martin is back!!!

Need some good recipes?…
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