Here We Go...

Play With Toys doesn't officially begin until tomorrow, but I've already begun to put auctions up if you want an early look.

Today has been cold and rainy all day. No school tomorrow, YAY! The pool looks forlorn, but Orion and I toasted marshmallows in the fireplace. It's cozy inside...

but not so great for taking photographs,

so

tomorrow I'll put up more auctions and very likely more on Sunday, including a BRAND NEW RATBAG RAT and even some HATS for your favorite Neil Rat.

And yes, even more Poppets.

In answer to the comment from Gerald Perry: I think you're referring to the kinetic sculpture called "No Refunds, No Returns," which is part of the Dark Caravan series. The series resides currently at a private residence in VA, but will be installed next year in the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.

---time for apple cider. I think there may be some snow on the mountains.

Happy Winter--ish!

Sometimes Poppets Wear Green

We won't see snow on the ground here in the desert, but maybe on the mountains soon. It's at least nippy enough for sweaters and to light the fireplace mornings and evenings.

I thought these little evergreen poppets might bring me a touch of the weather I'm missing. And they did! I gave them just a touch of snow.


Outside, there's fragrant smoke from other chimneys and the oranges are beginning to be, well, orange.

The Original Dancer, revisited.

This original sculpture is called "Love Be Nimble, Luck Be Quick." It's largish and kinetic (electrical) and lives in a niche in the stairwell at Neil Gaiman's house. It has lived in the niche for a long time now and may even be a bit dusty. But Neil tells me it still works creepily and that its story lives somewhere in his head.

Play With Toys will offer the first few releases of a limited edition of the original yellow jester from the sculpture. It's very much like the original jester, poor thing, that must eternally evade the lustful Frog, who attempts to snag him with an umbrella.

The edition includes the wire and cobalt cat's eye bead hanger-- a very small edition of fifty numbered sculptures.

We're putting in lots of hours, drinking lots of hot tea and yes, having some fun.

Wow. "Play With Toys" begins in a couple of days.

Surely we had fun. The days of November simply vanished.

It's like time travel.

Self-Explanatory

Bigger Inside than Out, Thankfully

I woke at 6:40 in a fluttery sort of panic, wondering why my alarm hadn't gone off and why I was sleeping in Orion's room. Then I remembered that there's no school today and that I'd come in when Orion had a nightmare.

I fell asleep again to dream about a clean city full of lights that reflected and refracted off wet buildings and huge drops of falling rain. Orion and I glided down broad empty avenues in joyful abandon, banking turns like surfers on boards, two Bandicoots racing through a world in my head, temporary and colorful as a soap bubble.

When I awoke again, it was to discover the mild cold of yesterday had grown mighty and invaded my chest which now seemed full of lead. I tried to locate a part of my body that didn't hurt. My hair, I think.

Cold medications, a long hot shower and tea with honey and lemon from a neighbor's tree will make me human enough to function. Because today is a day for gathering with loved ones, feasting, and remembering things that are good.

Of which there are many. Among them, for me, the certainty that we humans are larger inside than out. We have the ability to create worlds and change this one. That and the hope that one day we will move past our human infirmaries and our fears of one another and CLICK! All those lights will illuminate at once and we then will fly.

I wish you all a safe and very happy Thanksgiving weekend.

Poppets Like to Play

Yes. We are having fun.






Deslily has created a waving poppet on her blog and other photos. Her Poppet (named Kester) also encounters Gandalf. That one cracked me up. Thanks Deslily!






The studio is bustling with activity, the household is bustling with activity. We find ourselves in the season where days begin early and end late. Where parents hand off information like relay batons, dividing to conquer tasks and searching out holes in schedules to spend moments together. It's difficult work, but leaves us feeling alive and purposeful.


In my head, I'm forever finding ways to distill concepts into simple representations. Of course I am. My work is just that and it follows that I'd think that way. Hmm. Or did I think that way first and the work followed?


no matter


For instance, yesterday Orion brought me a seemingly impossibly tangled Slinky to fix. Truly it looked like a lost cause, but I managed it. (hint--requires concentration and patience)


In my mind , a person who can untangle a Slinky without damaging it will likely be able to manage a business successfully.

On the other hand, a few weeks ago he brought me one of those little parachute toys with the strings seemingly impossibly tangled.

Without a second thought, I cut the strings off and put new ones on.


Possibly it's not only the ability to untangle the Slinky. Possibly it's also knowing when to untangle and when to start over.

I'll think on it.

But now, it's time for coffee and sculpting.

Autumn's Monarchy and Poppets that Smell

Good.

...that smell good.

Poppets that smell good. Like Pumpkin Pie---or at least Autumny and Pumpkiny and maybe a little Poppety.

Anyway. They are nice on tables---we like them as place markers for really special dinners, nice in warm spots but mostly, we like them because we can't stop picking them up and smelling them.

Something about humans sniffing their Poppets is funny, and weird....but mostly sort of happy.

And weird.

Anyway, we've already made some available, so you can look weird too.

Oh, and the King and Queen stopped by too. Yes, we are beginning to have fun.

Mad and Grumpy Elves

Today, after forgetting for the third time what I'd gone to the shelves for, it dawned on me that I've been working Angie's hours with her, Ben's hours with him and my own.

sheesh
I am quite achy, and apparently, becoming, ahem, somewhat grumpy.


Tomorrow I plan to read, watch a DVD with Pete (Daywatch--no spoilers please) and play some games with Orion. Maybe I'll play with some clay while reacquainting myself with a certain sofa.

Sometimes working at home is a very good thing.


Still, the studio is bustling with new work. Ben and I are very happy to have Angie join us.

We have been three mad elves, making.

Though the nights are cool with dark starry skies, the weather is too warm for fall. The time change from the totally nonsensical 'daylight saving' summer hours adds it's own bit of chaos.
It's not a thing like time travel.

But none of that has slowed the madly making. It will be interesting indeed to see what comes about when the temps drop and we can work with the doors open.

******
I thought you might enjoy the work of Sue Boehme. I do. I have a small piece of her work that's a clay sculpture from what must be a very strange garden. I hope to have more in the future.




























***



Also, I am remembering to thank Ravyn for designing the bookmark given as part of the RIP Challenge.










Now, time to recharge.

g'night

Art and Comets

Today was a wonderfully productive day in the studio, spent doing work both challenging and satisfying.
In other words, we had way too much fun.

Tonight Pete and I took a look at the Holmes Comet. You can see more about it at Dr. Sky.

There is no substitute for looking into the night sky.

None whatsoever.

g'night

November 1

I like this photo of the door. When I first saw it, I got the impression of peering into some surreal daytime landscape in the distance.

Hope you had a good Halloween.

We did, though there was little time for decorating. I truly missed building something huge and knarly this year, but don't regret focusing my efforts into the work for Poppet Planet.

So...

While Two Dads took Orion and Sophia for Tricks or Treats, I ( having managed to wrench my knee) spent an unusually quiet evening with my feet up, reading in a house of jack o lanterns, ghouls and rats.

And thinking about new things to make. It seems I'll be able to now, because I've selected my assistant and after her first two days of working, I can already see more studio time for myself.

This is a very good thing.

So, between reading (a bit of Stephen King, a bit of a new and odd story in progress by Mr. Gaiman) I thought of new things to make and projects to finish up.

It's November 1. Poppet Planet is spinning happily on its axis.

Time to stretch my wings, I think.

It's November 1. Coffee is ready.

Here we go...