heres a picture of the sculpture i did,, monkeys on an alligator,, i didnt know what to to w/ them to make them cute and decided on the ''see no evil-hear no evil-speak no evil'' it turned out cute and its on the shelf at the market,,

anyways a lady stopped to look at it and exclaimed ''ain't that the truth!''
anytime people are sitting a big pile of trouble,, thats the way they act,, can't see, hear or speak no evil!!,,, so i guess im kinda profound in an unexpected way,,

i got in touch w/ an old pal from art school, Sandy.  Sandy actually graduated from ringling school of art, we were best of friends,,, i told her to do some beautiful paintings of Sarasota and bring em in and see if they sell,, we will see what she paints,, theres some great places in Sarasota that most folks never notice,, of course by now it could all be condos and CVS stores,,

in the new house news,,,
teenagers tried to break in sunday night and broke a few windows,, so we were out there w/ the sheriff and the realtor,, she gave us the keys and permission to turn on the electric to secure the house,, the next day bob and i were out there duct taping windows and bob towed over his broke down pickup to park in the driveway along w/ some lawn chairs,, we cranked up the country music inside, and tossed a few beer cans around the lawn chairs and TA DA!!!
it looks like white trash are living there,, beer cans are how we ''mark'' our territory
usually its ''miluakee's best'' cans but we used ''miller lite'' cos theyre fancier and thats what bob was drinking,, if that doesnt scare away the bad guys,, i'll we'll have to stay there w/ a shot gun

we also got the fountain out front working and we stood there watching it cascade down the stream to the pond on the other side of the yard,, its  very entertaining,
seems now theres a back up offer on the house,, so now im worried about everything, but obviously we are the deserving ones,, the other buyers sure as hell didnt notice the attempted breakin,, they were probably at the olive garden planning on what color carpet to put in and aluminum siding,,make it look all tuscanyish,,

im taking my folks out to see it this afternoon, this will be fun,, my mom is already having a fit over it,, ANOTHER rundown old house!?!

i have the kiln firing,, in it is a small seminole indian lamp, a big orange picker vase, seminoles in it w/ a canoe full of oranges,, and more seahorses for my ''aqua net'' lampshade and a coupla mini pots to paint on,, and a hurricane oil lamp and matching shade,,[no telling how thats gonna work out]
thats all,, i better go get cleaned up and hair combed fore my mom gets here

youre not going to believe this,,, but bob and i bought this house,, its a long story of how we did it, but its the new home of ''florida faience pottery studio''  [soon]

i can't wait for everybody to see it,, you just can't believe how funky/beautiful it is,, it was built by a true artist,, we are working on having it added to the national registry of historical houses, this house is so one of a kind,, it could never be rebuilt,

now i have to sell my house,, if ya'll know anybody looking for a craftsman style 2 story, 3 bedroom 3 baths, built in 26,, its huge,, 2 dining rooms, fireplace  all on a huge junglized lot [the jungle is to shield me from the neighbors] and it has a carrige house out back,, a 2 car garage downstairs and my studio,[2 rooms and a bath] and upstairs is a 2 bedroom apartment and its in a good neighborhood by the schools and up the hill from a small lake,, which is fun to jog around,, and a secret garden gazebo
so if you know anybody???

this whole week has been megastress over buying this house,, i have to give all the credit to Bob,, he wheeled and dealed  and if he wasn't such a good  smart man who is so passionate about this house it never would have happened

and a special thanks to Grace,,, Grace actually wrote a book about sam stoltz the architect,, bob helped her track down all the houses that sam built,, and sadly bob noticed that 2 little cottages in the area have been torn down,, she was a godsend in making this happen

anyways all most excting, 

ive got the africa pot in the glaze fire and i hope it turns out good as it was way too much work glazing all the ears and horns and hoofs and of course all the critters have spots and stripes,,, never again
oh yeah this picture of the house shows the flying buttress on the left side,, notice the little archway leading to a garden area,,, so cool

heres a picture of my dream house thats for sale,, im so in love, a real true lifetime kinda love,, as you can see theres a cocina waterfall on the right side  and frescos of herons and flamingos sculpted into the stucco on the front and you can see the pecky cypress entrance,, its all spectacular inside and out,, , its on 2 acres  and has a huge workshop out back for my studio and a chicken coop and a huge stone fireplace and the toilet sits on a throne and the guest room has a secret escape door [for having affairs i suppose] and for you architects,, theres even a flying butress wall!! it just doesnt get any cooler than that,,

HOWEVER,, i really dont have the money, and i will  sell my house which is worth as much as they are asking for
,, and its all very confusing dealing w/ this sort of stuff,,, did i mention that there are lots more frescos sculpted on the inside walls?!  and it has a balcony overlooking the main hall,,[for grand entrances at parties]

i figure i have a one perccent chance of acutally ever living there,,, but a fella has to have his dreams doesnt he?

clint [an expert on old houses,, he has been fixing mine for 20 years] inspected the house was was dazzled by the workmanship, and couldnt find anything wrong w/ it, clint can always find something wrong w/ everything

this weekend was the antique fair,, sunday must have been kids day as i had kids sitting around my wheel all day long,, and they were all very polite and interested in what i was doing,, when they had to leave i gave them florida postcards w/ my autograph on them,, they were all tickled to get something free,, i secretly hoped their parents would buy something as i was babysitting them while they shopped,, oh well, i figure i inspired the next generations of potters.. im sure their art teachers will wonder why they know so much about making pottery,,

thats all for today,, when you say your prayers tonight mention me and how much i really want this house and what a hard working potter i am,, and if you do ya'll can come visit and we will have a big ass party!!!

its just too hot out, so ive given up on the pottery making for today,,
man ive been busy lately, i have the apartment roof finished up and the floors are done all i have to do is clean it up and ricktherenter will be moving in and i can sleep all day and live off  the rent money [call Mr. Roper]

pictured as you can tell is the amazing 10 handled vase!! it really is amazing!  it started w/ 10 handles and still has 10 handles, none of them broke off ! you cant get any more amazing than that,, and it looks good too,, definitly my favorite pot of the year so far

ive also been making wine holder pots,, that you can freeze the pot and then keep your wine cold while your fancy guests are enjoying their wine,, and you can serve cleap wine as nobody will notice due to it being in the wine holder,, the wine holder is in the freezer now, i will be testing it later and serving wine from it out at the fair this weekend,, so stop by and get a cup-o-wine on the house, while supplies last or i sell the wine holders

     im firing an alligator sculpture w/ the 3 see no evil monkeys riding on his back and a baby monkey on the tail, and i turned my macaw vase into a lamp, and made a coupla comission pieces,, would you believe i took a comission for an UMBRELLA STAND!!!!??? i can just never say no to a customer, and i really like these folks, so here we go again,, lets hope the 5th time is a charm

i saw online that the bravo channel is having a reality show artists competition,, i was really excited about being on tv and wanted to go to the auditions in miami,, but then after thinking about it i changed my mind,, first of all i cry at the drop of a hat,, and i wouldnt want to see that in reruns forever and then i would have to lose a few pounds and i dont want to have to give up my hot pockets and most of all me making pots is a slow boring process, not good for tv

its offical!    my pots will be appearing at the backus museum in fort pierce for 6 weeks over the holidays,, and i will be there on the free food and wine night [selling wine bottle  holders of course] and the next day for free leftover food and wine,, mark your calenders! though i cant remember when it is,
thats all for today,, i have to go leaf blower the sidewalks for the new renter

well my latest project is a collaboration between me and Donna Ladley,, shes the master craftsman of lampshades out at renningers,, her great grandmother inspired  her w/ a shade that she created and shes been creating lampshades for over 40 years,, [she was just a toddler]

we decided to team up and create lamps and shades,, i do the bases and she does the shades

the first attempt was her giving me a killer silk painted florida shade,, and im overwelhmed at trying to tie my pottery bases into her shade,, i had no idea what to make to  show off such a grand lamp shade,,, the base is firing as we speak, but i suffered greatly trying to get everything to match,, and i still dont know how bad [or good]  it turned out,, then donna says to me this weekend that i should just make the lamp and she can create a killer shade for it,,  thats makes so much more sense,, now im excited,,, i have a orchid base in the works and im turning my hand painted flamingo vase into a lamp as well and  next may be a cypress tree or gators,, im most curious to try painting the silk as well ,,as it is done w/ an airbrush and i do have one and know how to use it!!!

my mom won the fourth of july gift basket at the moose lodge raffle!!!!! theres so much crap in the basket that it filled up the entire trunk of their buick,, flags, pot holders, peanuts, nascar models,, BUT the best part is there was at least a dozen bottles of booze,, all the wierd stuff that the moose got free and couldnt sell,, my mom gave me 2 bottles of iranian voldka and gave mandy some canadian tequila!!!
so i had a really fun 4th of july and a crappy 5th of july morning,,
,

im making my first ''face jug'' ever,,, face jugs are practically mandatory to make for all southern potters, ive  never had an orginal take on the concept and have held off on doing it,, but my friend Dick Owens one of the all time great face jug collectors is retiring from the pottery selling biz, anybody that collects face jugs knows Dick!!
so im making him one as a fond farewell,,, [if dick is reading this,, im just kidding im not making you anything]

im also making a carved ''ladies quilting in the oranges groves'' pot for the national ladies quilters organization silent auction,, the auction isnt til  next march but the ladies want it now, as they know im always ''a day late and a dollar short'' mark your calendar to go to the international ladies quilters extravaganza  next march and bid on my pot,, so they can raise lots of money to help the poorer quilters,, hard times and we gotta help out,, i love quilts!

ive finished carving the ten handled pot and ive got another dozen  pots  to carve and decorate tommorow and then wednesday its back on the roof to finish up tarring,, please let it be cool and breezy on wednesday