Wonderful dinner at my favorite restaurant with two of my favorite besties Sarah & Pam.
And when there’s not quite enough hot caramel sauce on your dessert…
an additional bowl of caramel makes everything sweeter!

Thanks to everyone who came out to Schaumburg this weekend for the Prairie Arts Festival. The weather turned out so much better than expected. It was beautiful… and such a beautiful venue. Nice trees and a pond with swans!

And I had a wonderful unexpected surprise visit from my Wisconsin biking friend Sue! Such a great weekend!!!

Cereal & blueberries never tasted so good…
as when they are in a handmade stoneware bowl.
Thanks to Gerry & Rosene for sharing a quick shot of their breakfast this morning!

Here we go…. the third month… March.
And another batch of holiday ornaments made by me & four of My Talented Friends.
Remember, we’ve all signed-on for a Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge.
The plan is for each of us to make a new ornament each month of the year.
We’re three months in… a quarter of the way!!!

My Talented Friend : Cory McCrory
Cory embraces Spring this month with brightly colored ornaments of flowers, petals and textures. So while we’re tap dancing on the front edge of Spring, the past few gloomy days have been brightened a bit my Cory’s cheery ornaments.

My Talented Friend : Sarah Chapman
For March, Sarah “returns to her roots” and mimics her jewelry style with a beautiful brass & beaded ornament. According to Sarah, it’s “definitely inspired by my penchant for reversible jewelry and now ornaments!”

My Talented Friend : Roberta Polfus
Roberta continued her “galactic” ornaments! Last month they were porcelain “moon and stars”… this month see’s focused more on the “transportation” aspect of the galaxy! Methinks the Millennium Falcons will be a BIG hit!!!

My Talented Friend : Amy Taylor
Amy takes another spin on her already popular ADORBS jewelry collection…
this time celebrating Spring showers with that one ADORB-able Spring Green eye!

My Talented Friend : … oh wait, it’s ME again!!!
And for my March ornaments, I’ve been making small flocks of birds. Trying to keep them simple & stylized. I can’t decide if I like them better with textured bodies or textured wings?! So I’ve decided to make some of each.

And since I’m not really sure how I’m going to glaze finish these avian delights… I decided I should make another flock of birds for the soda kiln. These birds are made with soda clay… and still need some eyes!!! And maybe a some accents of colored flashing slips?!

So there they are… March ornaments of My Talented Friends Cory, Sarah, Roberta & Amy. Be sure to check out their websites. They’re all in the LINKS section in the far right column. And they all have fun Facebook pages too. Find your favorites & follow them everywhere!

And oh, but wait there’s more!!!
Remember, the ceramic folks have a little tougher time actually finishing their ornaments due to kiln firing schedules. So we’re frequently posting the dried greenware versions monthly. And then, once they get glazed & fired, I’ll post the “finished” results here too.

Like this one… a few finished February beauties from Cory McCrory!!!

This is the last week of Winter classes at Lillstreet…
also known affectionately as “Potluck Week.”

My class is tomorrow night… but it was a great surprise when one of my former students stopped upstairs to drop off some homemade cookies in my studio!!! I have the best students… both current and alumni. Thanks for the treat Chuck!!!

The newest addition to “Art In The Garden” is my friend Martin Chadwick. He started taking my Beginning Wheelthrowing pottery class with his wife Christi. It wasn’t until I went to their house for dinner one night that I got a real insight into his wonderful world. All I had seen from him was round pots on the wheel. All fine & good, but c’mon… not when there’s THIS kind of talent being hidden under there somewhere!!! Bring it out. Show it off. And now he is… welcome to “Art In The Garden” Martin. Cheers mate!!!

According to Martin…
“I am a self taught Artist. Born in England, I started work as an apprentice architectural model maker at 16, with now over thirty years experience. My profession has given me many exciting opportunities and experiences, including meeting many famous architects, working with crazy model makers, and the chance to travel. I spent five years living in Hong Kong, and I was there for the hand-over in 1997! Then I moved on to Chicago, where I still live.”

In addition to his fantastic paintings, Martin has continued working in clay. His wheelthrowing adventures have been derailed just a bit to experiment and pursue more sculptural endeavors. It’s been so much fun to watch Martin’s world grow, evolve and expand through clay. His surrealist worlds have leapt off the canvas and taken on lives of their own. This will be Martin’s very first “art fair”… so it will be interesting to see what he shows us in the Garden. I’m hoping that it’s a LOT of all things wonderful!!!

For more information or visual insights into the
“Wacky & Wonderful World of Martin Chadwick”… click here for his website.

Click here for updates, photos and to follow “Art In The Garden” on Facebook.

So we’re just under three weeks away… and I’m frantically getting ready for my next art fair. It’s a smaller & more intimate show with great art by some of My Talented Friends. It’s our second year in this quaint garden setting. We had a great show last year, so we’re hoping to make it even better this year! Just a few tents. Talented friends. Great art. None of the hassles of those big shows!

Mark your calendars for the second weekend of September.
Saturday, September 12th & Sunday, September 13th, 2015 : 10:00am-5:00pm

Then stop by the garden to see the artists, chat with my friends and see some great art.
All in a beautiful backyard setting… not a congested city park!

Click here for updates, photos and to follow “Art In The Garden” on Facebook.

While visiting Peoria for the weekend, our plans were changed slightly due to the heavy rains that came through this morning. We decided to do some sightseeing in the Peoria area. Which took us to the Giant Burr Oak tree.

And with the build-up and posted “pedigree” that this tree has…
I was excited & relieved that the tree did not disappoint. The giant burr oak tree is very large with beautifully dark glossy leaves. The oversized branches are growing every which way. Some of the larger ones are drooping so low that they are actually resting on the ground… or even better, propped up by constructed tripods.

Here you can see the constructed tripods propping up a branch…

And here you can see my Cousin Kim and my very first art fair friends Gerry & Rosene.
The master gardeners and longtime friends!!!

It’s always such a pleasure to hang out in a beautiful garden with good friends. Even better to get away from the City for a quick weekend getaway with my cousin Kim. We’re both working too hard and have six million things to do. So it was extra special this weekend to put “everything on hold” and just go away for a road trip! My talented friends Gerry & Rosene live on Central Illinois near Peoria. They were my very first at fair friends several years ago. I was just starting out at MY VERY FIRST art fair… okay, holiday craft show... and they were across the aisle. The were the seasoned veterans. I was the newbie providing “naive entertainment’ for them. They have since “retired” from crafting… and now they spend all their time creating & caring for the most wonderful garden ever. Such a treasure. Not only are the layered terraces & plants pretty amazing. But the creative whimsy and rusty metal accents still harken back to their crafting days. And who doesn’t like some well-utilized rust?!!!

So there it is… a quick tour of their award-winning garden. So many things to find & discover. So many incredible colors & textures. So many plants to tend to. As I’ve always said…. so much fun to have Talented Friends!!! And even more fun that they are so generous that they can be credited with helping my own gardens look pretty special too. The majority of my garden plants have traveled home from Peoria to take up residence in Chicago. Thank you Rosene & Gerry!!!

Just got home from a wonderful “post-Christmas” dinner at my favorite restaurant with my favorite metalsmith Sarah Chapman. We ate way too much food, way too much hot caramel sauce and had a wonderful time sharing stories, gifts and our plans for the New Year. I came home with a full tummy & two beautiful new mugs for my collection. Thank you again Sarah!!!

Mug by Kip O’Krongly

Mug by Deb Schwartzkopf