A fragrant walk down the street…. thanks to one of my neighbors who has an amazing garden and grows a wide assortment of asiatic lilies every year. While the fragrance might be too much for some people, they’re beautiful flowers dancing on graceful stems… and outdoors the aroma has room to spread freely… so not so strong in one place! And every year, I think I need to add some to my garden next year…

We’re well into Summer now… and you can tell by all of the beautiful flowers blooming everywhere! Like these wonderful zinnias with such great colors, textures & details. Pretty cool for another Texture Tuesday!

Trying to get a few more things done in the next two weeks… throwing, stamping, firing, glazing, firing… before the GLENVIEW SUMMER ART FAIR on July 30th & 31st. So I did a little stamping on another large platter. Here it is from the start… row after row… one stamped impression at a time!

I mean… one row is nice… but two might be better…

So why not go for a third row of stamps???

And if three rows are good… lets go one row further!!!

Looks like there’s just enough room left for one more row of stamps…. so let’s go for it!

Quiet morning with a large cloud moving through… creating some early morning drama along the lakefront before the reflections began. Still a perfect way to start the day!

It seems like I’m ALWAYS making mugs… as they are my all-time favorite thing to make!!! Also pulling some more together for the GLENVIEW SUMMER ART FAIR in two weeks… and celebrating another Mugshot Monday at the same time!

Looks like a yummy potato salad in a yummy blue bowl! Homemade food always tastes better in handmade pottery!!! Thanks for sharing Kristy!

A quiet Sunday night in the studio… just me and a few more mugs in the making! Whenever I can’t decide on what to make… MUGS seem to be my “go-to” default… every time!

I love when your “friend-worlds” collide! Like earlier today when my good college friend Kelly & her mom Mimi met up with my pottery friend Cory McCrory during an art fair at the Vrooman Mansion in Bloomington! I know Kelly has been an online “fan” of Cory’s work for several years… so this “friends-collision” makes me very happy! Plus, it looks like a few purchases were made too… which also makes me happy!!! Fun pottery for everyone!

This past week in Summer Camp, my kids were Wheelthrowing for the most part… but on Thursday my morning kids switched to handbuilding. Sure, they “could have” made anything, but I gave them a challenge. I told them that I wanted them to make two mugs with a theme that ties them together. Some of the themes they chose?… cookies & milk… fruit & veggies… earth & moon… dragon & dinosaur… cat & dog… and so on…

Once the mugs were built, the kids then switched to painting them with colored slips. Once done, they’ll dry and get bisque fired… and then someone at Lillstreet will be glazing them with clear glaze after camp ends. The kids will need to come back about two weeks after camp to pick up their masterpieces!

And then once they were done, we set them aside so the slip could dry a bit… and put them together in their “sets” of two!

After this week’s “bowls om purpose, not a cylinder gone bad” demo… I was left with fifteen bowls to finish up. Sure, I “coulda” left them the way they were. But, you know I co e from the school of MORE IS MORE!!! So here’s a few shots of what I’ve done with them since class!

So for now they’re all stamped & detailed… just waiting to be trimmed!