At a recent show, I had a customer ask me if I made pitchers. I have made teapots, but never any pitchers. So I put on my thinking cap and came up with a design. And found out that pitchers are a lot of fun to make!

​I used some of my handmade stamps to decorate the surface with turtles and ocean waves. 

  I always find it challenging to apply to a show with a theme. In this case, I had to create pieces that evoked peacocks. I find these birds so interesting! Originating in India, they have been brought to the USA by collectors and added to neighborhoods and gardens, such as the Arboretum. Only the males posses the unique fan tail and when unfurled, use it to attract mates.

  This is one of my pieces that was accepted to the Pasadena Society of Artists Peacock Show at the L.A. County Arboretum.

  I chose to concentrate on the distinctive feathers and color palette of a peacock's train. In this piece, I used the surface decoration style of mishima and drew a stencil-like bit of the feather. The background glaze colors mimic the real life colors of an actual peacock.

My second Earth Globe was a success! It is bigger than Earth #1, and is about 7" round. I will be entering it in upcoming gallery shows. If you are interested in it, please contact me.

I'm excited to be progressing with my 2nd Earth Globe project. This one is larger than the first I attempted. That allows for more detail with the carving out of continents. All land masses have been carved out and removed. What is left are the oceans which support the entire globe, in more than one way!

I am in the process of brushing wax on the entire inside of the globe so that glaze will not attach to it. You can see what I'm talking about if you look back in my blog archives for 'My Blue Marble", the first globe.

And since I still think of Sept as the beginning of a new period of the year, I have a new studio apron to welcome in the fall. Sewn by yours truly!

During one of our recent hot spells, I decided to experiment with nerikomi designs on my structural style of vases. 
I love how the various brown, red and white clays contribute to the floral and grassy design. This is very labor intensive. But I got into the zen of it, working in my cool house and ignoring the frying pan heat outside.

For the summer, I've decided to switch to a lighter color palette with my glazes.