During his summer-camp days in Maine, a young Pablo Picasso showed an innate knack for poison-ivy treatment but scored low marks in popsicle sticks and finger paints. One-up pint-sized Picasso with today's Groupon for pottery painting at Color Me Mine in Fremont. Choose between two options:

• $19 for $40 toward a pottery-painting session, including studio fees, designing materials, glazing and firing
• $38 for one VIP pass, including waived studio fees for one year, 10% off all regularly priced pottery, and access to VIP-only specials and events (a $100 value)

Color Me Mine puts paintbrushes and pottery in the mitts of customers old and young. Budding Toyozo Arakawas will follow six easy steps to craft beautifully painted ceramics, first choosing a ceramic piece (most cost between $10 and $25) from Color Me Mine's selection of hundreds of seasonally changing items such as water jugs, cookie jars, and decorative plates. After charting out the desired design from individual imagination or Color Me Mine's traceable templates, painters will select an underglaze from Color Me Mine's cast of more than 60 non-toxic colors, then apply paint with the focus of a peregrine falcon occupied by a Rockwellian spirit. Color Me Mine handles all glazing and kiln-firing work, allowing clients to take home their final products within a week.

Regardless of age or ability, customers will find Color Me Mine's ceramic painting experience a rewarding dive into the creative process of an art form that dates back to the ziggurat-dwelling days of Mesopotamia.