Bit of Fortune

A little sneak preview:

Inertia



Today, just two days from the opening of the Winter Sale, we work on the kinetic fortune teller.

Ben tinkers with the engineering that opens and closes Jack's eyes, I on the wheel that turns behind him.

The wheel has twelve spaces for fortunes, a random one of which will eventually stop at a big red arrow.

Why is it random? One could apply Chaos Theory, which isn't like time travel at all.

We're eating vegitable soup and talking about fortune cookies, then fortunes, then fate, then the Fates, then fortune cookie stories.

We start to make up fortunes and Fates and realize if Pete were here we could take this discussion to a higher level of comedy and madness. We decide to save it for later.


It's cold outside. And windy and energizing.
Change is good for creativity, and for the human. The cold desert is a different animal, no matter that it looks only subtly different than in its summer coat.

I painted carousel figures for two collectors who have been astoundingly gracious.





P.O.T. :This image from Rebecca during last week's snowstorm in Seattle.







I hear it's going to snow in the Chicago area sooner than later. Stay warm out there.

If ever there was a blustery day, this is it. Behind me, through the window, the sails we put up in the summer to protect us from the sun are dancing. I always loved that image of white fabric blowing in the breeze. Even laundry on a line. I've held a painting in mind like that for a long time---been thinkiing of using the image for one of the 'Strange' chapbooks.

But for now I'm painting poppets. I'm also painting poppets on things. The time just seems right for poppets.

Why?

Well, Lisa, I don't rightly know. Likely it's the kind of question that will answer itself in the future.

But for now, why doesn't matter one bit.


Our friend Lawrence is leaving for a mountain climb in Equador next week. He is taking a poppet with him.

That seems right too and not even silly at all.

It's most definitely a blustery day. I think I shall dress Orion and we'll go out in it.

Be back later...

Little Pink's Mask

I'd thought to have a sort of winter queen poppet for the holidays, so last week I started painting some poppets, looking for the 'right' design.

Now it's this week, and I'm finished painting poppets which are each different from the other.

So there are several wearing gowns fit for a regal queenly sort of poppet.

Then, partly in response to being called "Scrooge McBitter", painted some holiday sorts of poppets.

After that, I realized I really did want to explore colors and designs one poppet at a time and really didn't want to paint any that were exactly like any others. Not this time.


Note: not to worry, there will be plenty of Little Red Poppets.

Last night Pete and I and dozens of Little Red Poppets began watching An Inconvenient Truth. Some of the poppets hid themselves away. Some went to the studio refrigerator in search of courage. The rest are gathering under my desk, deciding what constructive thing they might do about any of this.

I decided I'll do whatever they decide and, in the meantime, learn to enjoy whatever moment I'm in. This is a tall order for someone like me, but I think I can master it if properly motivated.

Visions of glacier ice dropping into the ocean is plenty.

The last color I explored was Ballet pink. The tube says 'rose', but I know ballet pink when I see it. And explore it I did, finding some new poppet places to go back to later.

By the time I was finished with pink I had twenty five unique poppets for the holidays. I'll get them all listed on December 2nd, for a nearly all-poppet winter gift sale.

Just Wordless...nearly

I have no words of wisdom tonight, fool that I am.

I’ve been making poppets though. Lots of poppets. And toy...things.

I can always make toys, it seems.

There I am in one future, with a long gray ponytail (and a long gray beard?) and quite possibly a hump. Making toys. Toys that do things.

Maybe. Best to keep my thoughts to this day, for now.

I did (with the help of a new friend) find a toy maker who can help me make 18” plush poppet dolls. These will be fun and cuddly and slightly creepy in the right light.

I like that, I think.

I need chocolate.

War of the Monsters

The War of the Monsters booms and crashes behind me. Ben and Orion duke it out.

Sometimes you’ve gotta forget about the alphabet, left and right, where your shoes go and what absolutely must not be flushed down the toilet. Sometimes you must become a giant robot that can jump over buildings and shoot fireballs.

That suddenly seems more important than what I was planning to write.

All the art is finally back and put away, a path is cleared to the studio and I’m ever so ready to work. The rest of the year, and then some, will be likely be mostly brains and/or bowls.

I don’t know why. But I know.

Maybe you can figure that one out. Every time I think about it my toe hurts.

I'm told we work things out in the work. I believe this to be true.

There will also be poppets. There may always be poppets, of some kind or another, even though other phases come and go. Poppets have been with me so far, unaffected by geography, real or imagined. By now, it seems reasonable to think they will never disappear completely.

I’m not yet sure where that sits with me.

Boom! You threw a building at me?! Roar!

Wordless on Winter

Possibly it's the current marathon reading of Chomsky's work that has me so language-conscious. Orion, seeing what Winter left for him on Friday morning, speaks with his whole self.

His language is unmistakable and pure and iconic.



It's universal and needs no translation.



This is the stuff that centers me, if I'm lucky enough, or smart enough to get it.



And finally, I made this one for you. I'm thinking it might be time to get back to the studio.

g'night

Off Again

Orion and I are off tomorrow, in search of colder air and adventures. It will be his first trip on an airplane.

We may wave from there, if time and technology allows.

He is sleeping. I must find his mittens.


g'night

Home again

I'm incredibly glad I attended the World Fantasy Convention for the same reasons as last time I did. I'm incredibly exhausted as well.

Watching The The Science of Sleep proved the theory that it would be worth it to find it somewhere on a large screen.

I listened to Muse (Black Holes..) tonight, which I'm not sure of and to Zero 7 (Garden) which I'm very sure of, even though it's different from their other collections.

I'm reading the Chomsky-Foucault debate on Human Nature, which is not a beach read, but seems to work well on planes.

The studio fridge has water, beer, milk, gatorade, apples (good, good Ben) and a huge bowl of left-over real mashed potatoes with gravy. Did I mention that Ben is not good? They are delicious.

The photo is of a work in progress.

Tomorrow is Nov 7. I once thought I lived in a democratic society, but I was only sleeping.

im in UR blog, shoutin' out at UR peepz

yeah, i couldn't resist one more hijacking while Lisa is gone <maniacal laughter>

i'm reposting this from my friends Ego Likeness. Steven and Donna are both talented musicians and artists, with a knack for finding the very cool, weird, inspiring, and silly, which they post on their blog. Like this thing that still makes me laugh:

WARNING: unauthorized blog hijacking ahead!

hehe, ravyn here....... this time it's really me <cackle>

While Lisa is at the World Fantasy Con, i've decided to hijack her blog, hehe. As the saying goes,"When the cat's away, the mice all act like rats!"

One of my friends posted this lovely gem on his LiveJournal this morning, and it just so happened to appear on my friends list directly above Neil Gaiman's latest post, appropriately entitled "Evil and Goats".



Thanks, Hugh, for letting me spread the goat love..... (whoa that sounds baaaaaaaaaaaaad!)

(and yes, Lisa will probably kill me when she reads this)