The Frog-Headed Character is modeled on Prince, a Michigan frog that sat on my driveway shortly after we built our house near the Sleeping Bear Dunes, MI. I had left my car and began to snap Prince, coming closer and closer. He had just sat there looking at me. His red eyes are borrowed from a tropical frog.

The Frog-Headed  Character was an afterthought after I had sculpted the Beaked Character, thinking a soft-mouthed, laid-back companion was needed for her.

After Steve Kline had sculpted her shoulders, I added the head with beak and feathers. Back then, I had not felt ready to sculpt a human head. A bird head came to mind since I was  feeding crows and lots of other birds during the snowy Michigan winter.  However, the red beak was borrowed from the tropical toucan.  The polka dots on the human-like shoulders of the two new critters were Steve’s idea, so were the feathers on the back of her head – our collaboration.

My first ceramics were shown before

Amaco Celadon Glazes (before firing, a glaze may have a totally different color, making keeping notes imperative):

Pear, Wasabi, Obsidian, snapdragon