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!!!

Moments before the rain… another dramatic & moody sunrise along the lakefront. Huge dark clouds covering the sky as the rain blew in. Yet with a sliver of sunrise beauty hovering below the ominous clouds.

And yes, I did get rained on as I was pedaling home… mwah, mwah, mwah…

After adding warts onto my pumpkins, it was time to paint them all with orange flashing slip… as my plan is to fire these in my next soda kiln. The slip might look “plain” now… but in the atmospheric firing, the soda mixture will make the slip change to an orange color. If all goes well…

You know that everyone loves a good stem on their pumpkin when searching through the pumpkin patch. So I’ve added some twisted-viny stems to my pumpkins! Next up, my other favorite thing… some good warts & bumps coming soon!!!

It’s always amazing to me how a few grooved-line indentations & a squished top can make a simple sphere look so much like a pumpkin so quickly!

Tonight in my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we finished off the session by sharing some finished vases. They had asked for a class “challenge”… and I gave them a TULIPIERES!!! During the session, several of them tackled building their own tulipiere vases! Clara went for three sections stacked with a mini vase on top! Christine made one piece with a beautiful blue & red glaze. Ashley combined her wheelthrown oval bases with extruded tubes. And I provided the fake tulips… I thought that was the most I could do!!!

So here’s a few more pictures of Clara’s tulipiere…

And here’s a few more picturs of Chritine’s tulipiere…

Plus, a few more shots of Ashley’s tulipiere…

We had a couple more who were tackling the tulipiere challenge… but ran into kiln issues and they weren’t quite done in time for class tonight!

While I’m still “struggling” to keep Summer alive… hanging on as long as I can… I must admit to myself that it is time to start focusing on my new Fall harvest. Starting with wheelthrown spheres… these little babies will be “pumpkintized” when they get to a soft leatherhard stage.

So every year for ART IN THE GARDEN, the artists do a bunch of fun collaboration projects for the show! Once again, I am teaming up with my pal Cory McCrory to do another fun collaboration… with my soda-fired textures & Cory’s colorful sense of whimsy!!! The big question every year is “What to do?” This year Cory came up with a new idea… and the “plan” kind of resolved itself with this plastic frame!!! More to come…

And mark you calendars now for ART IN THE GARDEN in Glenview, Illinois on Saturday, September 10th & Sunday, September 11th.

Kind of a sticky humid morning with lots of clouds along the lakefront… and a crazy-cool “cloud” of fog that rolled through the city as I was pedaling through. By the end of my ride, the skyline was practically gone… shrouded from view!

Suddenly a batch of porcelain mug forms have shown up in my studio… next up?… stamping, trimming, handles & colored flashing slip accents… in that order!