Today my husband and I drove 3 hours across the Panhandle to a gallery that now carries my work. Art Praha is a wonderful collection of international art - I'm thrilled to be in their space. Check them out if you can - right in the heart of historic downtown Pensacola. (But, unlike us, try to avoid driving back in the pouring rain!!)

Well, UPS did me wrong. They broke my piece en route to Seattle. I have to say, it was packed within an inch of its life - in Bulleye boxes, no less! Somehow, all that foam and packing gets sheets of glass from Oregon to Florida...you'd think it could get one little vessel to Seattle. Thankfully, the folks at my local hardware store, Bell & Bates, who do my shipping, reminded me to insure it!

Pilchuk...the holy grail of glass school experiences...off near Seattle, Washington, founded by 3 glass pioneers (including Dale Chihuly)...Every year, Pilchuk has a fund-raising auction. Glassies all over the place (planet, for all I know) send in work that must be juried into the auction. You got it, you have to be juried in to essentially give away your work. But it's for Pilchuk, so everyone wants to do it. Last time, about 5 (?) years ago, I sent in a wall piece. Apparently, wall pieces are not the thing for the auction, so they sent it back. (And it went to a lovely Baltimore home!) So I'm trying again, with a vessel this time. It's a pain, shipping glass. Double-boxes, foam, anything you can think of to convince the UPS guy not to use it for his or her own private World Cup. Good luck, package. Good luck, Pilchuk.

Working with glass is hot. Florida is hot. Working with glass in Florida is...hotter still. It's a good thing I mastered sweating early on. Growing up in Florida (barefoot in the grass, sandspurs and all) I sweated while other girls glowed, shimmered, perspired. Not me! I don't do anything halfway. So yes, glass is wonderful and beautiful and glamorous and...sweaty. Come on, summer rains. Cool me off!

Can't believe I forgot this part. The Gadsden Show, Transparent Spectrum, opens June 11 and runs through August 14. Here's the blurb: Don Taylor and Cheryl Sattler are artists whose work features light and movement in two very different mediums. Don Taylor’s work most often represents local Florida scenes as well as his travels throughout the world. Taylor combines realism and impressionism in his watercolor paintings and “attempts to apply the illusion of detail in many works so that viewers can use their imagination to complete the image”. Cheryl Sattler has been working with glass since 1999, and her work has two distinct themes: freedom and family ties, and the tension between these two ideas.

See more at www.gadsdenarts.org

Nothing comes out of the kiln perfect. Nothing. The vessels I am getting ready for my show - a two-person show with a watercolor guy from Panama City - are needle-sharp when I take them out of the molds. They are scabby and rough, and need a diamond polish. (They always said diamonds are a girl's best friend...!) When I hold them, I often forget my gloves and end up with little cuts all over my hands. I'm always bleeding in the studio. It's a good thing blood burns off in the kiln! Now, if I could only get Band-Aid or Polysporin to sponsor me! Actually, I have a whole list: IKEA, since half my studio came from there; and Home Depot, since I get a ton of tools from there. That's just a start. I wonder how you go about getting a company to sponsor you as an artist, anyway. Where's my fairy godmother when I need her?

I'll be ready for the show, but just barely, as always. What the heck. What else have I got to do for fun?