well the dogs and i enjoyed our first evening of heat,,, peanut the dog parked his ass right in front of the heating vent and that way all the hot air coming out smelled like ''old chihuahua'' bless his heart i didnt want to move him, so i sprayed him w/ febreeze,, didnt like it but  he didnt move either,, i was going to spray him w/ addidis cologne, but  that would just be mean,, i dont want to smell like that,,, in case the person who gave me the cologne is reading this, im just kidding,, seriously

i started work on carving a lighthouse vase,, i figured to double the saleability of it i would put a different lighthouse on each side,, the st augustine lighthouse on one side and the ponce inlet on the other,, and the whole thing got confusing so i switched to carving a oranges and blossoms vase, but i tried to make it different by putting animals in the orange tree,, a family of possums and a coupla cardinals, and an owl , and some zebra butterflies and of course an alligator,, which made the carving too complicated,, so i went back to the lighthouse vase and then back to the oranges,, it took all day and im not sure either one got finished,,

well last weekend at the market was fun and successful, this weekend was the complete opposite,, there was an old guy that wandered by and sat down  next to me watching me throw pots and telling me about his son the wonderful potter and he was just a chatting away and i was being friendly and all of a sudden he launches into a racist political rant,,, i did a scooby-doo ''wah?'' doubletake and told him to get his sorry old grandpa ass the hell out of my booth AND he didnt move, he started arguing w/ me,, so i left,, it was just plain shocking,,,, and a while later, again i was sitting there throwing pots minding my own bizzness and some lady stops and starts telling all about her horrible life,, as if im a psychiatrist or something,,, i told her the wheel was making me dizzy and again i left,,, after that i was afraid to talk to anybody,, and it wasnt even a full moon,,

well i splurged and spent my hard earned pottery money on getting my heater fixed finally,, being in florida i keep thinking  ''well im freezing my ass of now but in a coupla days it'll be warm again'' so i never get it fixed,,  but  poor old peanut the dog has been shivering for a coupla weeks now [hairless chihuahua, 15 yrs old] so i broke down and got-r-fixed,, while i was on the phone w/ repairguy yogi the dog got in a fight w/ a possum in the back yard,, so i had to break that up,, yogi, in the past, has also fought a racoon, an otter and a big ass newfoundland dog,, yogi is an ankle-biting yorkie,, but most brave
im working on lamps right now, with thrown clay lamp shades,, ive done them before and  they never work out , but i figured if i made smaller lamps and shades i might have better luck,, i hope to hell they turn out,, itll all be hand painted w/ gators and palm trees,,
ok gotta go, im meeting my folks at the moose lodge,, tonight is spagetti dinner night and i'll eat anything i dont have to cook

heres a picture of a gator swamp scene im painting,, its taking for freakin ever to paint it,, i guess putting horizontal shaped gators on a vertical vase wasnt such a good idea to start w/,,,i paint for a minute and kvetch about it for five,,, i did get 8 pots glazed and in the kiln for firing, so i did put in a good days work

yesterday i went down to the Backus Museum to deliver my pots for the show there,, [opening is december 5th from 7 to 9, in fort pierce florida]
mr. bob drove me down there [i could never drive for 3 hours, nervous driving anxiety syndrome, self diagonised] so we took the back roads down there,, let me tell ya theres plenty of nothing once you get outside orlando,, pine trees ,palmettoes and crows,, we went thru holopaw and thru yee haw junction [where the old trading post is still there since 1880, now a suspicious motel and resturant] when we got to fort pierce we found a cool old diner [al's diner?] its the oldest resturant in lucie county, they even still have the aquarium [if a resturant sells seafood in florida i think it should be mandatory that they have an aqurium to greet you as you come in the front door,, BUT no lobsters in it, thats not right]  we had fried fish sandwichs and sweet tea and then off to the museum,, the museum gals liked my pots and the folks visiting the musem then liked them too

i asked around about where to stay, as i dont want to have to drive back home the night of the opening,, no place to cool to stay anywhere in fort pierce,, all over priced condo-y stuff ,, so off we went down the back roads to jenson beach, where we heard there cottages and fish camps,,,and lo and behold, modern american greed hasnt torn down all the mom and pop motels and cottages,, ive picked out the driftwood cottages and motel,, its turquoise and has cement seahorses on the walls next to each room and its very tidy looking, its been there since 1958,, jenson beach is really nice, i could live there, and i still havent seen the beach  there, there were giant fragapani trees blooming in folks yards and banyon trees too, most tropical
thats all folks

i got an email from the gent that i made the peacock vase for,, it seems i didnt sign or sticker the durn thing,,, it was such a difficult piece that when it was finished i put it out of reach and stayed away from it and kept everybody else away from it,, i could just imagine me snapping a beak off the bird while admiring it or showing it off,

my teacher always said [from the first day of pottery class ] ''god is in the details'' and this is one detail i missed,,

you should have seen me wrapping the vase when the new peacock vase owner was leaving,,, i bubble wrapped that vase to death and packing taped it like a mummy

when i first started selling pots a nice old gal chastized me for signing the bottom of pots w/ such a sloppy signature,, she said why make such a beautiful pot and then just scribble on the bottom,, she collected golfer autographs and told me arnald palmer  has the most beautiful handwriting and tiger is a close second,, ever since then i do my best to write my name as nicely as possible,, but i am left handed and its the last thing i do before i dash off to the market,,,,

its cold as canada here today!!! the pooches and i have been freezing our buts off in the studio,, i finished up a coupla small alligator sculptures and some painted pots, the pots for carving havent dried a bit,,,AND i just got done bringing in all my orchids and my poinsettias [i havent babied those poinsettias all year to have them die right afor the holidays] and its supposed to get colder tonight
i think i'll just move my studio into the kitchen tomorrow and try not to make to big of a mess,,,,,,

sorry i havent been posting, but my dad was in the hospital very sickly for the week leading up to the renningers big extravaganza so i was overwelhmed ,, hes doing good now,,
i was very nervous about the extraganza, its the ''woodstock'' for collectors and a thousand dealers are there w/ treasures and tens of thousands of buyers,, and this year w/ the televised gloom and doom, i didnt know what to expect,, i couldnt sleep and plowed through bags and bags of frito corn chips leading up to it


AND it turned out to be my best show ever,, folks were knocking at my door to get in early and the crowds were great all weekend [i kept getting dizzy from all the people]
i had  the best pots ive ever made and gave everybody the best deals,,
my favorite part is meeting folks who like what i do [hey jay, thanks again] and seeing folks that i havent seen for a year,, i have to say a lot of old friends couldnt afford to buy, so i told them to just pick up all the pots and spin em around and take pictures of them, enjoy them anyways ,,,

i got to meet the author of the book ''floridas golden age of souvenirs'' larry roberts,, its a huge inspiration for me, the folks that made souvenirs were all working artists like myself, his name is Larry Roberts and he said thats he has heard a lot of good things about me,,i was as excited as a kid meeting mickey mantle [ i did get sandy kofax's autograph as a kid] and he bought a pot, which was,,,, most happy happiness

and we even had real live seminole indian ladies come in our gallery [they didnt like my pots ] and they were very imppressed w/ kay's pine needle baskets and walked away w/  their arms full

by sunday  [its three days] i was exhausted as all get out,, and sat at my wheel eating cake and throwing goofy little pots trying to stay awake and friendly ,, but i made it through and im happy as hell, its been a long discouraging summer and its finally over and im back to normal

of course w/ acres and acres of treasures to buy , i couldnt resist [i work hard and deserve my treats] i bought 5 christmas records, ANDi even found a '' colortone electric rotowheel''  in its original box!!! its the light that changes colors on aluminum christmas trees,, my tree has never had the light,, and as a kid i thought they were the most beautiful amazing things i had ever seen [ ironically i sold live christmas trees all through high school] now my christmas dream is complete,,, doris day on the record player singing ''toyland'' and my tree in its ever changing glow of light,, i plugged the light in and my dogs layed in front of it, so i guess they dig it too

the best treasure of all was a 1915 rookwood vase w/ a plam tree design,, ive been lusting over it all summer,, ive visited every week and put it on layaway this weekend and joyce [a pottery fiend/dealer] sold it to me,, god bless joyce, she loves pottery the way i do,,, i could never sell the rookwood vase [ i still owe joyce $70 but im good for it]

im all set to deliver my pots to the backus museum this week,, i stashed some great pots aside for them,, so im excited, the last opening i went to there, they had free cocktails and tons of food and some of the most exciting  florida art ive ever seen, so im glad to be apart of it,, the opening is december 5th, i hope i can find a cool old florida motel to spend the weekend there, i dont get down to south florida very often
and i didnt raise my prices for the museum, i dont want folks to pay more there
ok  im done

you know as much complaining i do about having to glaze, im the complete opposite when i fire pots and open the kiln,,, all the pieces and parts of my centerpiece turned out great,, no slumps, cracks, glaze skips, everything turned out as i planned it

its something that i would love to have on my dining room table [if i had one], of course i would make salt and pepper shakers and napkin rings and place card holders all very martha stewart,, [twisted martha]
all my hard work and complaining paid off, im even taking the table in the picture to display it on to the market

im also making a hand painted dragonfly vase,, its just a small one,experimental, but the painting turned out good and now its drying in the kiln and i'll have to get started on a bigger version of it,, its hard to think of new ways to do classic ideas, like the dragonfly,,ive done lots of them as they are very ''arts and crafts'', but its nice when i think of a new way to do them,
time for cocktails and records,, im listening to the soundtrack of ''summer and smoke'' listening to it is like the dogs and i are in a movie,, very grand

i took lil' nipper out of the kiln this morning and he looks cute as hell,, as you can see his arms are full of peanuts,, peanuts that i made from clay!! and i'll be damned if they don't really look like peanuts,, im so happy with the way he turned out, even the expression on his face,,
now i gotta think of another animal to make,, armadillo [upside down on the side of the road] or a bear? maybe a florida panther,, im carving a cow pot but cows have fat bodies and scrawny legs so im thinking that won't work,, maybe a self portrait??? me at the wheel,,, maybe not,,, something will come to me

''TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN,
PLEASE EXCUSE MARTIN FROM GLAZING DAY AS HE WOKE UP WITH A STOMACH ACHE AND IS UNABLE TO PARTICIPATE, THANK YOU
                                               MARTINS' MOM''

damn i  hate glazing pots,, i was in the studio at 7 am and it took me all morning 5 sets of candlesticks [the word ''martin'' in latin means complainer] but the rest of the day went faster and i even got done early,,
 i have to send an inventory list of the pots i will be showing at the backus museum via internet,, its all very confusing,,
ok time for cocktails and records

its been kinda cool and damp lately,, and none of my pots wants to dry,, so its been a week of waiting,, i could put a fan on them, but then they might crack,, im used to setting them out in the hot florida shade and having them dry in hours,, everything is started and nothing is getting finished,, patience,,,,
i got a comssion to do a pot about a florida cracker cow [the JT ranch] i have a picture of him and hes really cute, big eyes but really big horns,, so far its turning out good,, and im doing a mermaid wallpocket, the last one i did had a goofy expression on her face [glaze] and rippley boobs [glaze run] so im doing it again

going on tours of old homes is one of my favorite things,, this weekend i went on a tour of edgar banks's house on lake dalhoosie, i cool mediteratian mansion, of course i didnt have tickets and it was sold out, but i got in anyways AND i volunteered my home for their christmas  homes tour,, of course i dont have furniture for half the rooms and no insurance,,, bob says i should do it anyways, as nobody will trip and sue me and i can borrow furniture, or just put up a big ass christmas tree and nobody will notice the absence of seating
ok time to crack open my bottle of saphire gin and play the soundtrack to ''summer and smoke''