Strange Attraction stirrings...

While I photo'd the bronzes, I snapped this pencil drawing. It's one of the illustrations from Strange Attraction. They (whom I won't name until I have contracts in hand) are making noises about bringing out the trade paperback edition of the anthology this coming October. I'd like to see that happen, as all the pencil illustrations would be there, which were only in the limited edition hardcover, and some new photos, which weren't in any of the editions and a new John Grant story would be in there. I'm not holding my breath, but I might cross my fingers. Maybe. If I'm not using them at the moment. Then, when am I ever NOT using my fingers? We'll see. This drawing is for a really, really fine Charles DeLint story called "Many Worlds are Born Tonight." I was thinking of posting some excerpts from the anthology on days when I'm too bogged down in studio work to post. I'll try it, and you'll tell me if you want more or to please, please stop.

Baby steps. These are the bronzes I picked up from the foundry. I've wanted to do these for over a year.  

Much ado in the Studio

Greetings all.

I've not posted in a few days because I've been working many hours in the studio.

The Harlan Ellison rat has been somewhat problematic. I wanted to show Harlan's spectacular white hair AND have him dressed as Zorro. What I learned is that Zorro doesn't work without his hat---on his head. Harlan kept coming out looking like Poncho, or a Ninja Turtle. And those are just, well, wrong. For awhile he looked a bit like the late Robert Preston. Sigh. I finally got it all worked out and he is about to be molded. Tonight, in fact, if I can outlast the Orion unit. I'm very pleased and I think Harlan will be too. Will send you a sneak preview soon.

I wanted to thank Steve and "K" for your comments on the angels. K's "not a shred of sentimentality" tells me I'm exactly where I wanted to be on this one. Precisely spoken and quite encouraging.
I've started framing up a new one---very large. Now I'm debating whether to make this one a male figure. I've been wanting to do one. I miss the fine detail of figurative sculpting and would be able to show a lot more of his body. Was thinking of making him bare chested. I don't know if I'm ready yet. Not sure I can afford to put that much time into one sculpture just yet, no matter how much I want to. I'm thinking if I sell another angel or large piece soon, then I can 'go for it'.

The more I think of it the more the idea of an angel book apeals to me. Steve asked 'why angels?" I'd like to tell you more about that one. Maybe the book is the place for those stories.
Some of those might need the blanket of 'once upon a time' around them. Some of them are hard. I've said before that I'm not religious and don't 'believe' in angels in a traditional sense. They have shown up occasionally. (heh--obviously!)

Here's some studio/technical weirdness for you:
I was watching this documentary about Big Foot hoaxes. Really interesting and really funny, er, if you like that kind of thing. One of the weird things was the suggestion that a silicone mold could be soaked in paint thinner and it would increase in size up to 130% of it's original and keep detail. Being me, of course I tried it, with a piece of a mold I was going to discard that had detail. I cut a square and then cut that in two and put half in paint thinner overnight. It worked beautifully. The only drawback is that it doesn't last, so if you want to enlarge something you must make the new casting while the mold is swollen from (i'm guessing) absorbing the paint thinner. I have no idea how it would affect the mold long term. I'm filing this info away, to use for some later application not involving castings of anyone's feet, including a certain well-loved primitive who prowls the woods of the Northwest.

I'm preparing to leave for LepreCon on Friday morning with lots of work in tow, plenty to talk about and no venue. I may have to find an unoccupied street corner in downtown Carefree. They'd be ever so pleased...

I've just begun drawings for the final kinetic sculpture for the Dark Caravan series.
We're working on getting photos on the site now. In the meantime, they can be in the second volume of The Frank Collection----there is a link on the carnival page for that. This one is going to be featuring Jack, who has been the heart (albeit a black, black one) of Dark Caravan since its conception. He will be a working, moving fortune teller.

Okay. Without more coffee, this is all I have for now. I'll get some photos up for you soon.

G'night

Meander

Today was for picking up bronzes from the foundry. Pete offered to drive so I could work (think), but I was distracted. Have you ever noticed those non-descript ORKIN sedans----white, discreet logo, clean-cut driver.? Good conspiracy car. Hmmm. What do they know that we don’t? Oh yeah, the invasion. The bugs (scenes from Starship Troopers). Your friendly ORKIN man will be the only survivor…
Ok, forget that.

Listening to Lewis Black talk about how he is different from his stage ‘voice’ and why he still tours. Interesting, frank -sounding interview. Public radio.

Pete is driving and working in his head too.

We pass this house, high up on the hill, with descending levels of decks. Maybe it’s a restaurant. Beautiful out here with the wildflowers and the weather, but not much of a view for dinner, the highway.
Unless it was a futuristic multi-level, clover-leafing monstrocity filled with cars traveling at crazy high speeds. At night it would be like watching strings of interconnected chaser lights. The accidents would be spectacular. Would they be rare? What would be the odds of one happening during dinner? There would be wagers….

Ok, not that either. But you see how this goes…

The bronzes are quite nice. It’s a good foundry. I’ll put in a link tomorrow. And take some photos for the website, which is about to explode. I have lots of work for Ravyn to put up. Lots. S’ok. I’m casting her horse sculptures. I’ll show you those too…
There's something else, but----tomorrow---
Orion is nearly asleep. I think I’ll sit with him until he goes…
I might just go as well.
G’night

Games with No Rules, or This Week's Sermon

I am a fan of letting little kids pick out their own clothes each day. With the exception of some special occasions (usually involving grandparents), where a Batman T and ballet tutu wouldn’t be acceptable, I’ve let them go for it. I watch Orion now, scanning his shirts and shorts, working things out. He has his own logic. I can only guess at it, having barely a toe in the bright, magic waters of his world. By the time he can explain his choice, that world will have begun to recede.

I am keenly aware that he is just at the edge what Wordsworth called 'heaven.'

Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close upon the growing boy.
William Wordsworth

Still, for me, no one ever described the effect of growing consciousness on the mind of a child better than William Blake in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.

Blake was so, so right and naturally mad, some would say, as a hatter (which if I’m not mistaken, refers to the fume-induced highs of hatters, furniture makers, pre-computer graphic artists and contemporary sculptors.)

I have been through this before, this stage of transition, with Phillip, Alison and Aubrey. I swam in different waters each time, but now I remember things were much the same as this. This time, I'm taking a closer look before it has gone.

Orion is on the cusp. I watch him. He plays with the joyful abandon that is only possible in games with no rules.

But, he is just becoming aware of rules, and history. He is gaining Experience.

Today, Captain Picard can kiss Marge Simpson, jump onto his dragon’s back and fly to Terrytown and meet Jay Jay and Mr. Incredible to watch Clone Wars.

Orion can look at things (and people) with no history attached, with no rules. He has the ability to view lots of things (and people) in a pristine near -vacuum void of prejudice, history, significance, consequence, concern or value.
Orion has an open mind.
Fucking wow…

Okay, so children (and a select number of adults) can’t function in this state. (That’s what they need parents for.)

Rules are okay. The universe is run that way. And experiences and knowledge are the basis of our lives. They are what make us families, allowing us to love people who would otherwise annoy us to murderous degrees.

But still, WOW.
I try it on, such as I can. It doesn't fit and it feels funny but sometimes when I play with Orion I can let go and see things fresh. When I work in the studio I try to let go and see things fresh.

I’m getting better at it, I think. It’s sort of like whistling. I keep trying and trying until I get a little sound. Then I know what it feels like so the next time is easier. Eventually, I might be able to whistle a little tune. of joyful abandon It could happen.

Just like whistling, it's impossible to tell someone else how to do this but if you've done it, you know it.

Orion is becoming aware of the ‘ordinary light of day.’ Pretty soon Sponge Bob and Darth Vader won’t be friends anymore and he’ll know that apples come from trees and bologna comes from…oh, hell.

Then it's off to different worlds, like Reading. That's a good one.
And, yes, he is becoming aware of rules. The letters of the alphabet are arranged in a certain way, red means STOP and in the house, you ask for a cup of juice but in the studio, you drink right from the carton in the fridge. Yeah, he busted me.

It’s the way of it. That’s okay. Still I hope never to lose the awareness of that limiteless ocean of free thought. Maybe one day I'll dive in again. Hopefully, not in 'the home' my older children enjoy taunting me about, but there is that possibility. Still, I'll be older, and if I'm smart, more able to afford the good shit.

Suddenly I’m in the mood to curl up with some William Blake, a glass of milk and some cheap vanilla wafers, which to me are inexplicably more tasty than ‘Nilla’ at least whilst reading mad poets.
But then, I’m snapped back to daylight by the rude buzzing of the clothes dryer.
Sigh. I’ll just chug some juice from the carton and keep moving.

Free your minds, little dogies….free your minds.

G’night

Relic V

It's Thursday and here is the finished Relic V. She survived the flames, but I came very close to turning the extinguisher on this one. I suppose I should mention that she will be with me at Leprecon, May 6 - 8, in Carefree (yes) AZ. I wasn't sure until recently that I'd be able to attend, so didn't schedule any programming. I will be in the art show though, so if you're there, please come by and say hello.

A better look at her face. I was looking through some of the photos I have been archiving for books. I'm actually considering doing an all angel book. I have plenty. Images with writings. 

Just for fun, comparing this to the black and white stage earlier.

Luck Be Nimble

Luck Be Nimble... Mr Hyde never showed, but the nasty little virus that got Orion on Sunday joined the studio. Being the artistically driven, strong adults we are, we naturally dropped like flies and whined like babies. Now the worst is over and though I don't feel much like writing, I will sit here with my Gatorade and send you lots of photos.

Fate Be Quick 

Angel's new clothes.  

Angel 

Dancing Jester

It was while I was working on this figure that I first realized a bit of Anansi Boys was seeping through. It wasn't anything particular, any single character, but just the overall 'feel'. I went back and looked at the little puppets and how I'd changed the spiders and there it was. Now, the influence was evident. Cool! I love it when this happens.

Dancing Jester Close 

Another Spider 

Mr., in white. 

Tiny Puppets aka fodder 

Gears 

Small Trickster 

Grafitti 

Tuesday Morning

It's Tuesday morning. Orion is better. He progressed from Jello to Spaghettios, from Star Wars to Clone wars. It is a short trip for him, as he already loves Samuri Jack. Little ones tend to watch us, and do as we do. We must be mindful...
He's back in daycare and I'm off to the studio. I'll be finishing photography of the Neil piece and the angel and the writings. I don't know yet if Hyde will show up. If so, who knows what else may come about. Music for today's insanity will be mostly Tool, I think... See you later.

Sunday

No sermon today, unless I change my mind... there is always that possibility.

Orion is under the weather. He has one of those toddler things that starts with a spectacular display of projectile vomiting. (It is an astounding site you can't imagine unless you've had experience with such.) It can go on to become something else, or mysteriously vanish. We'll see.

So the day is touch and go, so it were. As he rests here with his head propped up on pillows and his feet propped on me, eating ice chips and watching Sponge Bob, I will scroll back through the journal and take time to answer your comments. (Nick, Carl, Pam, MissBliss, anonymous.Marrije and the other anonymous---I can tell you apart, you know---If I missed something or didn't go back far enough, ping me and I'll answer. Oh yes, and Jordan's Mom.

---back in a bit

Aside Again, Naturally

This is carnage left from yesterday's casting. As usual, I chiseled off the big chunks and ran the disk sander over what was left enough to flatten so the work table remains, well, flat. This corner caught my attention. Sigh, here we go again...

Aside Again, Naturally

I didn't look at it for long to know I wanted to add a bit of paint. There were way too many shapes and textures begging for it. Again, I consider my caffeine usage. I consider my mental state. (I know for certain that at least 2 of my readers are psychologists. Keep reading, there may be a paper in here somewhere.) I finally decide not to think about it. At least, not for the moment.

Aside Again, Naturally

I don't mind that this interrupts me for an hour today. In the long run, side trips allow me to do a lot of different things. As for this one, I like it. What I really, really want to do though, is a whole wall like it. Or a wall filled with thousands of puppets, or puzzle pieces. Eventually. For now, I'll keep doing what I do.

Ravyn sent in a comment about the photo of myself I posted yesterday. She compares me to the figures in my work. I know this is not an uncommon thing for artists (we make what we know) and I've heard people make similar comments at art shows. Mostly, they've been about "Don't Ask Jack" (I am told I'm capable of quite the evil grin.) but no one has been as convincing as Ravyn is today, with pictures. It's sort of odd, like hearing one's own voice recording, but I see it, a little.

G'night

Friday - Self

As promised, while I took bunches of photos in studio today, I got one of me.

Friday - sneak preview of the Neil sculpture in progress

Today was a full day in the studio. I took some photos along the way, starting with this first little sneak preview of the changes for "Luck Be Nimble, Fate Be Quick" that belongs to Neil. I hope to be all finished by Sunday. Anyway, hope you enjoy this look at my studio day.

Friday - burning the angel

Burning the current angel. I love this part. The whooshing of the exhaust fans and the bubbling and cracking on the surface. Fun stuff. I see so much more in these pieces than I can possibly convey. My grandmother used to say this weird thing: "Little Habits have long, long tails". It's the basis for the little blue monster featured on the, er, "Corporate" page of my website. Only now do I truly understand how far back things can go. Sculpting angels and setting them afire has become a regular part of my schedule. I don't mind terribly.

Friday - Hyde has arrived

The 'meat' of a new something (sermon?) forming, as usual, at a most inconvenient time when I'm busy doing three other things. Mr Hyde is definitely in control of the studio today.

Friday - sneak preview of the Neil sculpture

Sneak preview of the updated jester/rat guy. Still a couple of washes away from done.

Friday - favorite photo of the day, I think

I start to bring the textures out with dry-brushing. Imagine about 80 degrees F, Bad Religion playing (rather loudly) two fans blowing and you're right here with me. I'm thinking about these angels. Why I do them and what I experience during the making. I wonder if any of that comes through. I'm the only one who can attach the source vision to each one, or the experience of the process. I keep thinking I might do one on site at a convention, or document one on film. Still, I don't know what that would do.

Friday - more sneak preview

More Neil sculpture preview .

Friday - yet another sneak

Another sneak preview. I'm going with white for this guy. Will tell you why when I'm done.

Friday - full dry-brushed angel

Now, as they say in the South, we are cookin' with gas. So tell me. If the intensity I feel, connected to my past memory of this image, isn't evident to the viewer, does it manifest itself in some other way? I mean, does the viewer feel any undefined emotion which he/she self-defines?

Friday - more of it

The Sermon Grows ---- inspired by about 30 minutes of two-fisted spray painting. No, not the fumes, thank you.

Friday - casting

Things get messy. When casting in warm temps, working time can be reduced to seconds. This sometimes results in unwelcomed comedy.

Friday

If you dribble hot glue over very cold water, interesting effects happen. If you dribble hot glue over shapes in ice, weirder things happen.

Friday

Look at Studio Tools (substitute the noun or verb of your choice here) in unconventional ways.
Sometimes, you will surprise yourself.
G'night

True colors. (see below) 

Aside

Here's one just for readers of this journal. It started earnestly enough as a selection of implements on a wheel and evolved into a small part of a larger project that took up about two hours and at some time in the future, will take days...

I call it "Time to Consider Decaf"

DENIAL

I worked on puppets for a piece in my head. I sat at the band sander and ground their little faces off, one after the other. The noise of the sander and the mask drown out sound but draw in memories. I am suddenly in possession of a day spent with my brother in his laboratory, when he was working on his doctorate at Clemson U. I watched rain pound against the mottled old panes while behind me my brother cut off the heads of baby mice with scissors. Snip. Snip. Snip, through the rain. "God, Gene, doesn't that bother you?" They were so tiny and so...pink. "Of course it does,"he said, "but I need them to finish my thesis." He went on with his Doctorate and eventually created a remarkable place from a doomed one. Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy I'd forgotten completely about that day until just now, as I ground the faces off these little puppets. Gzzz, gzzz, gzzz.
I'm not sure why. But it's bothered me, just a little. I call the sculpture "Denial. "
I think about it a bit more, and begin hollowing out some of the faces.

Here they are, gathered and finished and primed. Waiting to see what they will be. I can look at them and clearly see the mice, remember the tall windows with rain streaming down and the snip, snip, of the scissors. Things always work themselves into the art. Always. I'm writing this between drying layers of paints on Neil's "Luck Be Nimble, Fate Be Quick". I'm having an interesting time with it. I realized just today, in these last stages that the experience of reading Anansi Boys has been a factor here, in a strange, sweet sort of way. I'll take some photos Friday and show you what I mean.

This is a difficult stage for me, because I love monochromatic works. One of these day's I'll stop here and only do a wash over it. But the color matters to this sculpture. DENIAL I see its progression from faces to expressionless blanks to empty black hollows. (I can see this regardless of the music I'm working to. Hmmm ... I must ask Dr. Abba, as he seems to be an expert on the subject o f c l o c k w o r k m e n. His site and work are very cool, and worth a visit just for the home page.)
Denial eats at us from the inside. Perhaps it's that simple.

The piece (like lots of my work) can be displayed flat or hung on the wall. You can see now, with the paint finished, the three different kinds of faces.  

As viewed on a wall, which is how I normally display them. Hmmm, I forgot to ask the Neil what he decided to do with "The Itsy Bit Inside". (That one I liked sitting on a table, crooked.)

Up close, they look like this.

To whomever submitted the SlaughterHouse journal to SciFi.Com: Very cool of you and thank you.

g'night

Thank you for Thinking

It took about ten years of sculpting and painting every day for me to figure out what my art was trying to say. Now, after years of studying artists, artists' brains and brains in general, I've come to understand that this is the usual amount of time it takes an artist to find his own 'voice'. Oh--- correction, ten years and about a hundred fucked-up side trips...

I love what I do for a living. It's hard, and I don't make nearly as much money as people seem to think. Everyone living in Palm Springs isn't rich. Some of us are just weird. But I am in love with making art and grateful for it. When I finally figured out what my work said visually, I decided to talk about it, and how it's made and where it comes from.

Since I started the journal on Jan 15 of this year, I've received many, many comments and emails that tell me people are reading and thinking. This tells me I'm on the right track, because the purpose of the journal, and SlaughterHouse and most of the work I do, is to encourage independent thinking.

That's it. I'm not writing these things to tell you how to live your lives. I'm writing to tell you about my experiences in and outside of my head and how they lead me to create the art. And to encourage us to think.

So---Thanks for all your emails and comments. Really, really.

Now, off to the studio. for some music, art and brain aerobics...

Lisa
watchlistenthinkforyourselves

Lisa's Sunday Sermon

If you ask me, Happiness is overrated.

I’m not referring to those naturally occurring moments of feeling happy. I’m talking about the grand LIE of being happy.

“I just want to be happy!” I personally would like to choke the next person I hear saying that. “Just” ? “All I want is a tiny little permanent state of bliss, is that so much to ask?”

BAAAAAAA. Whomp! Lambchops and mint. Delicious.

We have taken a natural human emotion and twisted and misconstrued it into a mythical, unattainable STATE OF BEING.

Happiness simply doesn’t exist in that form. Humans aren’t meant to exist in such a monochromatic state. We need the full spectrum.

We come to believe, at a very early age, (Thanks a fucking pantsful, Walt Disney!) that Happiness is a plane of existence we will eventually find ourselves in once we slay the dragon, find the perfect mate, become a beautiful swan, make a fortune, join that cult, write that book, divorce that bitch, lose those pounds, get that car or whatever- the- hell we believe will bring us to that blissful completeness.

There is a lot to be said for living our lives, accepting the mix of joy and misery and the contented, productive moments between.

Happiness is fleeting.
Know it when you’re in it, and it will always be a part of you.
Sadness is fleeting.
Know it when you’re in it, and it will always be a part of you.

Knowledge is permanent. Get some.


Here’s another favorite of mine:
“I’m terrified. Things are going so well I just know something is going to happen to mar my perfect day! (week, month, trip, etc)
Well, of course it will, you idiot. It already has.

Recognize good times when you’re in them, get through the bad times, learn something and get on with your life.

Who says the purpose of life is to BE HAPPY? It is a LIE!

The ‘pursuit of happiness’ is the eater and destroyer of life. Is it possible our forefathers knew this? Evil Bastards!!

Whether they did or not, it sure has us by the balls now. Wouldn’t you agree that “the pursuit of happiness’ is just this: a trap ?

We are hamsters on a wheel, chasing a myth, some of us until our last breath, at which we realize our mistake and there’s nothing left but to say, “Shit!”

I generally believe, if someone were to compile a list of final words, ‘shit’ would be way, way up there.
And just Who benefits from this PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS?

The Marketing Minions. Corporations. Our governments. Our churches. Panicked hamsters panting on their personal wheels generally don’t look behind the curtains.

We puppets, we sheep, run, run, run on the wheel. Nearly exhausted, we scamper on. If we work a little more overtime we can get the car, the facelift, the collectible DVD, the picture phone, whatever lame product the perfect, happy people in the commercials are drinking/eating/wearing/driving/fucking. We too will have arrived.
We will BE HAPPY. For EVER, Amen.

And, THAT’s how they snare us. Every sales pitch out there starts with convincing us that we are lacking something that, once acquired, will make us happy.

Look around you. Did that espresso machine do it for you? What about the exercise machine your laundry is hanging on?

There’s nothing wrong with Stuff. If there’s something out there that you think you’d enjoy having, that would make your life better, get it. Capitalism has its good points. Okay, one good point: We have lots of shiny CHOICES.

So Choose, but this time, with your eyes open, knowing that whatever you select will not bring you to a state of permanent happiness. Probably it's not worth blowing your rent money on.

There is a difference between Want and Need. A cute new pair of shoes can make us feel happy for a little while, and that’s okay. Said shoes will not bring us to a State of Lasting Bliss. That’s a fact.
KNOW this, and then choose.

Armed with this particular knowledge, we will be not be easy targets for marketing minions.

People who THINK FOR THEMSELVES rarely are.

GET OFF THE WHEEL. It eats up life.

If you must pursue something, go for knowledge. You don’t have to chase it. If you open your eyes, it will come to you. There is a never ending supply, plenty for everyone. It is free, non-exclusive, calorie-free and carries with it, very often, great joy.

Peace go with you, dear reader, and thank you.

One more parenting essential

Saturday was set aside for introducing Orion to Star Wars. He just turned three and it was TIME. Now he knows what a Wookee is, who Yoda is, and is getting a good start on some Vader-style breathing. We now have a sense of satisfaction, knowing we have completing yet another good parenting ritual.

What's under Neil's sculpture

Under the Neil sculpture is a wooden base with heavy wood dowel supports. The rest of the sculpture is a mix of paper mache, small figures with wire armature, even smaller figures (like the tiny puppets, which are resin) and leather. Thick paper mache is very, very strong, and when treated properly, can last ages. When I make a larger sculpture, I have to have a fair idea of the finished piece to make a good choice for armature. Depending on the type of piece, balance and weight distribution, I will use wood, steel pipe or pvc, or a mixture of the three.
The mechanics (I plan to post a short movie) are accomplished with motors and cams that create very simple up and down movements for the arms and back and forth for the heads. The secret to those is lots and lots of trial and error, quite a bit of cursing, and years of taking toys apart and looking inside.

Thanks for the question!

Technical questions and answers

Someone asked about the copper finish I'm using on the Neil sculpture. Yes, it is a solution of copper powder. The cool thing about it is that, because it's actually copper, it reacts to patina solutions just as copper does. There are several kinds out there, but I use chemicals from this company:Sophisticated Finishes called "Modern Options"

I'm going to be working on the piece next week. I'm working on another writing project this weekend so am keeping the journal simple. This is a good opportunity for you to ask any technical questions you have. I'd hesitated in the past because I don't know how many of my readers are artists and didn't want to monopolize the journal with stuff that would bore everyone else to the point of sticking their forks in their eyes. (Yes, I know we all eat and read.)

As soon as I can, I'll be posting this kind of nuts-and-bolts stuff on the SlaughterHouse page. But for now, anything you've wanted to ask me, or you've already asked me and I missed (please forgive) do so this weekend. My brain is yours to pick.

By the way, thanks for reading and for all the links. You guys rock.

At the risk of making one Mr. Gaiman quite nervous, I've decided to post some detailed 'work in progress' photos for his "Luck Be Nimble, Fate Be Quick" kinetic sculpture. Photos of the piece as it was when it arrived are in the archives. I'll look later and add a link for you. I'm making a number of changes to the sculpture and actually, having a good time doing it. Later on, when it's all finished, I'll do a "before and after" thing for you.
Here is a link to earlier photos:SlaughterHouse Studios: February 2005

I dry-brushed the base and pipes with silver leaf and the angels feathers and frog with white acrylic. These will hold the copper leaf and the white under the figures will show through the layers of color I'll add later. If I do it right and don't screw anything up, the colors will be more luminous because of it. 

"Little One". I'm adding her on the left side to balance the star of puppet figures I'm adding to the right. She also helps balance the dark edge/commentary the puppets add. 

"Little One" back view. I have made a mold for her and plan to cast some. I've done this in the past, casting reproductions of details from larger works. I'll be selling these for $30. Yes, it's my day job. If I don't sell pieces I can't afford to write a blog or make big kinetic pieces. They really are cute for gifts though, so check back on the gift pages and she should be there soon. 

Copper leaf over the black and silver dry-brush. Later, I'll add some translucent color to the frog and bring him back to life. I'll finish with some ink stain to bring out the texture of the puzzle pieces.