Poppets Invade Charles Vess

Recently DanGuy took his Poppets on a field trip to visit Charles Vess at his studios, who was indeed kind and cool enough to let the little guys run wild around the place. I can see from the photos that they had a great time, and that one day Charles and I might enjoy comparing skull collections.

What a fun day these Poppets had!

How The Secret changed my life.

right.

I made it through twenty pages before I began to see the visuals. I imagined a paper mache sculpture of a sheep made from its pages...on fire. I imagined the book sinking slowly into dark waters...on fire. I imagined Poppets surrounding the book...lighting it on fire.

If I wasn't bothered enough by the book, I had but to go to the website to look deeper into The Secret's hole. Had I wanted to look even deeper, I could've paid the fee to become an Abundant Member. No need. It is even more excluding than the book.

I decided not to waste the time. I have other things to do.

So right, at first I was angry. Angry at Byrne for duping people, angry at people for paying $20 for a book that tells them that whatever they want will come to them if they simply wish for it.

Fine. I want to be twenty, and a ballet dancer. In which direction should I stand as I command the universe? North, I think. Santa might hear me too, and throw in a tutu and some shoes, size six.
I realize I'm not unique. There are over 1500 reviews of this book up on Amazon alone. Lots of those are angry reviews.

After a little while, I decided it wasn't worth being angry about. I'd try being amused.

I read a few more pages. Was it possible that Byrne was joking? Laughing with others who recognize this old sham? That seems too mean-spirited to be funny, like playing keep away with a child too small to ever hope to reach the ball.

Surely that's not the case. Is it?

I moved on. Tolerance sounds good. If this book makes people feel better, then let them believe it. There's nothing wrong with positive thinking in itself. Is it possible that Byrne believes she's doing something to help people? After all, few people consider themselves to be evil, or even harmful. But, if so, why present something she made up as an ancient secret?

And, Byrne has the right to make money. This is a capitalist society. Ideally, everyone gains from this sort of exchange. So I ask myself who it is that Byrne is harming? I know who she's hurting. You do too. She's hurting the people who buy into The Secret, if only by misdirecting them and delaying actions that might actually help them attain their goals.

Then, there's the fear of one's own thoughts. I think my favorite was here:

Nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts.
--page 28, which also suggests that events in history where masses of lives were lost were attracted by the thoughts of those people.

Yes, you brought that car accident upon yourself with your thoughts. (I'm not kidding, it's on page 27.)

Possibly a disclaimer would help. "For entertainment purposes only."

Why is it okay for Byrne to present The Secret as though she believes it? How is it even possible for people to accept this made up, unsubstantiated method as "real" or "truth?"

Well, wake up, silly woman (me.) Some people believe soap operas are real too. Do those people deserve what they get?

By the same token do those who buy into Byrnes program deserve to be duped? After all, not all of the reviews I read were against the book. Some were from people who were keeping The Secret by their beds, buying copies for friends and family. Well -meaning people looking for answers.

Whatever...it's not like I never bought sea monkeys

Finally, I elected not to care, or at least, not to care much. Once I got there, I recognized a pattern. A gamut of reactions very similar to my reaction to the film "What the Bleep Do We Know?", the crock of shit that The Secret replaced, at the top of my list of crockery. I do, at least for "Bleep" have the fond memory of Pete and me guffawing throughout the movie. Thought we'd be asked to leave, actually.

So, how did The Secret change my life?

It cured me from the desire to "save" people from it, and whatever version of The Secret comes up next. It's not possible for "Wake Up" to be heard over the roar of such. Is it my responsibility to pull back the curtain? Is it anyone's?

For a few moments, it seemed anything I could say would be in vain.

Those were not particularly happy moments. So, as with other such quandaries, I applied my favorite rubric: The Truth is in the Middle.

The middle between begging people to wake up and dismissing them as too stupid to live might be to continue to work without losing any sleep over whether anyone 'hears.' It seems that when creating art in any form, finally one has to just do the work he loves without beating himself up worrying over how it's received.

As far as The Secret is concerned, I'll resist shaking shoulders and crying, "Wake up!"

Instead, I'll say, "Good luck with that," and mean it.

Your artist is going swimming.

g'night and thanks for checking in

Simple bits

Mostly it's the heat. It pervades every aspect of our lives this season, including time.

For instance, where do the weeks go?

They disappear in a fuzzy sort of slow -motion blur, leaving me with glimpses, like the ones you get through cars of a passing train.

Orion evading camera capture while simultaneously creating room chaos.

Orion, Ben, Matthew and Aubrey on her birthday. And cake.

Alison, and her baby, who exists in his own world. We can only speculate on that one, but the guesses are intriguing. He lives in a consciousness we can only imagine. I wonder how he's enjoying the Comic Con...

Pete tosses Orion and hangs more shades. I make art and take photos. The temperatures are 98 degress F at night. Fans are always blowing.

On Tuesday the pool guy didn't show. By Thursday our backyard had become Green Slime Pond. Yesterday it was transformed into a noxious bleach-smelling horror. Today it looks more inviting, but we won't trust it until Monday.
In this heat and humidity, things go bad very quickly. So we stay inside and play games and watch the debates on C-Span, or go downtown and walk through the misters on Palm Canyon.

I'm reading lots of Larry Niven. Exploring images for Strange Light.

Orion in his own world too. I sometimes believe I can see into it, but probably I can no more understand his vision than that of Alison's baby.

But again the glimpses. I like the glimpses.

And I do like my cameras.



Summer seems to be about moving too slowly, thinking too much. It's a fugue state and as such, is better accepted and cooperated with than fought against. It's a reminder that time is not a constant.

It, like a bout of the blues, like the flu, goes on and on until we think it will never end. Just as we accept it as permanent, the winds change, a fresh breeze blows through and we wake in time to harvest all the ideas soaked up during blistering days and midnights underwater.

I can think of it as a sort of incubation. That might work. I'll let you know.

Hope your summer is going well.

Interview, Water view, Blue View, Poppet View

Fantasy Magazine has posted an interview I did with them in the spring. I talk a bit about growing up in South Carolina (I'm the one in the blanket.) Interview

Southern Gothic indeed.

They tell me the version in the print magazine has lots of great art photos. And that my copies are on the way.

I've been spending as much time as possible in the water these days. Orion is happy enough about that. I'm learning how to use the Frogeye. Well, I'm learning enough to know it's possible to get a good photo from this camera and that I need to work on doing that.

I like this one of Orion because it looks as though he's emerging from some sort of crazy portal--Stargate-ish. And this one of Sophia, because she looks like an imp casting a spell. I'll keep working at it.

I haven't cast one of these fellows in quite some time. Originally, I named him after a phrase I heard a therapist use.

"Little Blue Habits Have Very Long Tails"

The little monster represented (at least in my mind) how we humans tend to hide our frustrations behind smiles. And that these tendencies are learned waaaaaayyy back. (long tail)

He's giving the finger with his right hand.

Later I changed it to "Have a Nice Day." That seemed to work too, and fit better on art show forms.

Either way, he reminds me that it's better to say what we mean...and mean what we say.


I'll be adding some more Poppets and Ratbag rats to the auctions this week. Mostly I'll be working on the fortune teller and other projects.

If you haven't looked in awhile, there are some really good POT photos up now. Thanks to all of you who are posting these images. Some are fun and some are powerful reminders to look and see. Poppetvision is a good thing.

Time to put sleepy little boys to bed. Time for this artist to swim in dark water, quietly, to let new visions in---and to not totally creep myself out.

g'night

New Poppets, those Vikings! and Apronless Madness

I've decided not to have another gallery sale until the Halloween season. I need to catch up on other projects though, of course, some of those have Poppets.

In the meantime, I'll be making a few Poppets available every week, especially from the Alice in Wonderland and Midsummer Night's Dream series.

Poppet plays "Caterpillar Amanita"

I chose this mushroom because I (like many others) love the way it looks. But in researching it---which is part of the fun of making art---I learned some interesting things. Read what Tom Volk has to say about this little mushroom and those darned Viking beserkers!

Poppet plays "Doormouse with Blackbird Tea"

There's no mention of blackbird tea in Alice in Wonderland. But Poppets are creative little things, and will create their costumes according to their own inspirations.

And you know how Poppets love the skies.

Poppets on Ebay will get you there (possibly.) If not, my name will find them.

I've been feeling bad for weeks and weeks. I kept thinking it was the heat.

The heat's certainly not helping.

Then a couple of days ago I realized I wasn't wearing my apron. What?? When did I stop wearing it? Why? I'm not sure. Possibly because the heat drove me out of the studio and onto a table in the den, limiting me to working on smaller pieces that are less messy. Possibly because subconsiously I link the apron to the studio space.

I put it on yesterday. It felt good. I felt like me. I have two aprons actually, nearly identical, practically every inch filled with several years of paint and I-don't-want-to-guess-what else.
I can tell them apart.

My aprons have been my uniform for nearly a decade. My self-image tends to wear an apron (and holds a cup of coffee.) And now I'm convinced that the apron is the source of my super powers.

Well. That explains That.

I'm interested to see how the next few weeks go.

Sheesh. What was I thinking?

g'night

Little things from under the weather

My normal server is down, so I can't make Blogger match the captions to the photos. I imagine you can figure them out for yourselves.


Sophia and Orion.










About the most important thing I did on Saturday was to teach Orion and his friend Sophia that milk makes wonderfully elastic bubbles, and lots of them.
(Sophia's dad thanked me, of course.)



Kung Fu Hustle.

Kung Fu Mahjong, not so much.

but definitely Kung Fu Hustle.


Robert has a new Poppet-y tattoo. More photos and info can be seen here.


A Poppet contemplated Lake Tahoe during Pete's travels.


I'm a bit under the weather with some sort of cold-y virus-y miserable thing that jumped onto Pete, then Orion and then me. Judging by their speedy recoveries, it appears to be mean, but very short-lived. They were already back underwater today.

Rest, fluids, and the entire second season of Dead Like Me seems to be getting me through it fine.

The heat is wearing on us. We expect this every year, but this summer seems particularly bad. The brighter it gets outside, the colder and blacker become my soul. Ahhh. Summer Hate. At 7:30 this evening, the decking outside was still too hot to stand on. I'm working, tortoise-like, steadily, quietly. Slowly is better than nothing. It goes back to that whole 'chipping wisdom' concept. I force myself to do some bit of work every single day on the fortune teller and, well, I begin to see the end of the end.

Time for pj's and cold medicine.

g'night

Poppets in Baltimore long to see Stardust

Neil emailed to remind me that I have friends in the Baltimore area. Yes, I do!
And you would likely enjoy an exclusive viewing of Stardust. Yes, you would!

Me too.

Gather together! Take your Poppets to see Stardust! And send me photos!


You can get your MOVIE PASSES FOR STARDUST HERE.

Sunshine, Twinkies, Something about goals

I went for a much--dreaded root canal today. I'm fuzzy from pain meds---though I was happy to have them when sleeping nerves awoke.
I claimed the root canal as an excuse to eat a huge plastic container of leftover mashed potatoes, reheated in the microwave with an insane amount of butter.
It's no excuse really, but I ate them anyway. A few extra laps tomorrow, or not. Screw it.


Pete pointed me to a trailer for Sunshine. It looks interesting enough that we'll see it next week. I'll be interested to hear what Carl has to say about it and will likely pull him into a forums discussion about it.

Alison was here for a visit last weekend. It's always great to have her home. I made the mistake of taking her along with me to the market. Never take a hungry, pregnant woman to the grocery store. She left us a pantry full of Twinkies, pork rinds, chips, cookies and...sheesh. She also left me her copy of Water for Elephants, which is intriguing enough to make me want to plow right through it, but so beautifully written I find myself slowing down to read sections again. I look at her belly with deep love, of course, but also with the smug satisfaction of knowing that this is yet another reader in the making. Score one more for our side!
A note about snacks: Nothing has irritated more lately than Go Tarts. C'mon!

Yesterday I sat with my feet in the water, no swimming, just thinking in the way that people do sometimes when they're alone and things are quiet and right for stepping back for a broader look. Not always a great plan. Still, we all have our demons and demons demand attention from time to time. Artists and other humans have to look at where they were, where they are, and where they want to go. Over time, during these sorts of sessions, I've learned about how we tend to drag our habits (good and bad) with us through the years while focusing on this goal or that which we believe will lead us to that state of 'happy every after." (Hey, thanks Disney.) But this just isn't true. It's not a good idea to expect that reaching goals will automatically change the basics of how we operate. If someone is a poor money manager during his 'salad days', he will still be a poor money manager when he has lots more money to poorly manage. Getting a novel published, earning a wall of awards or losing ten pounds is no cure for insecurity.
Not that making money or getting novels published or getting in shape aren't all terrific things to do. Or that they're not rewarding. Of course they are. But the mentality that expects these sorts of accomplishments to be instant cure-alls doesn't help anyone except those trying to sell us the latest diet pill, shoe, phone or cosmetic.
It seems like a better idea to work toward the things we want for what they are and to figure out what makes us happy in the present, and what doesn't. It seems to me that those things aren't always what we think they are. It seems to me that the answers can really surprise us.

At least that's what I thought about out there, while it got dark, with my feet in the water.

I think I'll have a Pop Tart.

g'night

Monday. Hot.

Yes. It's Palm Springs in July and yes, I did fry an egg outside. I was a little disappointed to see I'd cut off the bottom of the sign, but didn't even consider reshooting, as I nearly fried myself and my equipment in the making of this video clip. Thanks to Ravyn for the animation!












It's hot up in Quincy too, where our Cool Guy Poppet is enjoying music and hanging out with lots and lots...and lots of people at the Sierra Music Festival. I wish him (and Pete!) a great time and a safe trip home.





















Yesterday we swam for a bit, Ben and Orion and I, then finally just sort of gathered around the cooler water coming out of the pool fill. Pretty soon we found ourselves unconsciously reaching our hands out to it, like campers around a fire and, ironically, talking about how California is burning. Well, Ben and me. Not so much Orion, who stayed submerged except to get air.



I'm sending out the last of the poppets from the Summer Solstace sale. Thanks to everyone. I'm looking forward to new POT photos and LOLpoppets too.
I think, to keep the Alice in Wonderland and Midsummer Night's Dream series from overtaking the gallery sales, I'll start putting some of those up in between events. I'm also going to do my best to make a few things, like Little Red Poppets, Little Blue Poppets, Little Pink always available.

That said, I'm getting to work.

Have a good Monday!

Rattiness, Harlan, Ponies and Palms

I must apologize to those of you who collect RatBag rats. Indeed I have neglected our ratty fellows whilst Poppets commanded my attentions.

So, having found a cache of Chester, I've made those available on ebay for $18. I found a few singles and twos of other rats, and will get those up as I get them photographed, including a couple of Neil rats.

Speaking of rats (as in Harlan Ellison Rats) here is a link about the documentary on Harlan sent to me by David Loftus (who wrote the article.)
If you've never read Harlan Ellison, please do. You can't possibly know what you're missing until you do. Your brain will thank you. Your heart will thank you. Your soul will thank you. You'll thank me for sending you.

You'll want to talk about it on the forums. It was pointed out to me this morning that lots of people think the Poppet Planet Forums are only for artists. What?? No way. If you've ever read a book, or seen a movie, or eaten cake, or if you got out of bed this morning there's a topic for you and people who'll want to talk with you about it. Yes there are artists, but don't let that scare you. Most of them don't bite unless provoked, and there are people there with lots of other interests too. We'd love to have you join us.

***

Ravyn's newest tiny fantasy painted horses are available for one more day. I'm enjoying watching her stretch her creative wings.

***

I've recently ordered a number of books from Alibris and was very pleased with the books and the service.

***

Now, I must send more Poppets to those who await them. Later, I will begin an attempt to root by 'air layering', the offshoots of the huge ponytail palm that will eventually attack the rain gutters. It's such a cool 'tree' that I just can't just cut them away. I've never tried this one before, which makes it interesting, but subject to spectacular failure as well. I'll let you know.

have a good Friday!

Fourth. Desert. Play.

Obviously your artist is taking a day off to play. I begin, sort of, to learn to play LOLpoppets. There are now a dozen or so various photos on the LOLpoppets on flickr page and Spare Parts.

(More will likely appear once readers return to the workplace...)

Orion and I are celebrating today simply with Pizza and Gamecube and soon, night swimming and underwater photograpy.

Underwater lomography actually, with a "frogeye" (a gift from Mimi, whom we seem to have adopted (ok, drafted) ) as the studio's resident HAC (hot asian chick.)

I have no idea what sorts of images we'll get.

It's just the two of us, as often is. Pete is in Northern California for the High Sierra Music Festival---he took a Hippie Poppet and a LRP for POT. I'm looking forward to the pics. Aubrey will be 16 this month, so is anywhere BUT here these days though there is the occasional sighting. Ben has been gone for nearly two months, moving into his house---which is a very cool old Palm Springs house---but should be back soon.

So now we are donning "glow" bracelets, and goggles, mostly just for fun. Later, Oreos and ice cream, and fireworks viewed from the hill.

Happy Fourth of July

CHEAZ

You can thank Dan Guy. He started it. Over at Spare Parts. And Rebecca, of course, jumped right in and nearly made me spew my coffee.

Thanks guys.

I'm in.

Let's play!

UPDATE: The forum is becoming a tutorial for creating LOLpoppets.

And, there's a flickr page set up for posting your own LOLpoppets.

It's Both, and Neither

We swam at dusk, when the bats were just waking and the pool light only muddied the water.

"Is it Tomorrow?" Orion asked.

"It's Twilight, " I told him. "It's sort of an interesting time, because it's not night and it's not day."

I looked past him at the giant balls floating on the water. Their colors are faded in this light. They tell me I can be poppet-sized. They want me to be.

I have an idea for a story.

Just Be. I say in my head. Just Be. Sometimes easier said than done.

It's the runaway train of connections, composition, dialog, layers. I've written before that I'm never blocked creatively. There is that. But the price is the lack of just being. That doesn't come easily. And, of course, I wish it did. So, I struggle. Drugs don't help. Breathing exercises exasperate.

Swimming helps. Like a tinfoil hat against the aliens. Underwater is for just being. And snow, and surf, clear starry skies and methods of mental discipline still under development.

We submerge together and play-fight with plastic swords. It's not half as easy as it sounds, but looks twice as cool as you'd imagine.

I asked Orion why he wants to do this. He says because it's sword fighting and it's underwater.

"Is it Tomorrow?" he asks again. (He wants to hear again about Twilight.)

I tell him that it's Twilight.

It's not night. It's not day. But it is night and it is day. It's both, and neither.

I can see him mulling it over.

"Time for cannonballs!" he says. I agreed.

Do I really get paid for thinking?

On the Poppet Planet forums, someone asked me how long it takes to paint Poppets. " How long...?" is the question asked more often than any other when I exhibit art. I must confess, after about thirty of these I'm fairly likely to put on a Zen face and answer, "moo." (Mu)

Not so much that it's a dumb question, but that it's a question without an answer. Sure, it doesn't rate with "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" Still, it requires travel.

In other words, the answer is complex.

The techniques I use are based on layers of color, ( which I hope to demonstrate on the forums eventually) and were developed over many years. Because of that, I'm capable of working quickly.

Given a Poppet and paints, could I paint a Little Red Poppet in five minutes? Yes. and No.

Yes, in a "vacuum" with no curing or drying times, no preparation. But, with a system in place,(e.g., a paid staff) could I paint 100 Poppets at an average of 5 minutes each? Possibly. Would I want to?

I'm gonna say no, or at least, not today.

Some pieces take longer than others. Titania took what seemed like forever, because she was the first in a series (Midsummer Night's Dream.)

Let me explain why this matters.

Creating a series is a rather big undertaking. First, because it carries several obligations to my collectors.

When I start a series, (like the Wonderland Poppets) I'm committing to create as many as it takes for collectors to complete their sets. At some point, when I stop making them (and I definitely will) I'll give collectors who already have partial sets the opportunity to complete.

Now, that said, I also must make each character unique in some way. I must rethink the character each time I make one, so there's some facet that's not present in any of the others. Sometimes easy---sometimes not so very.

In addition, I must choose and commit to a painting style and color palette for each series. Which brings me back to why Titania took so long. I had to find a palette that worked well for this series' theme and that would set it apart from other series. I established patterns and colors for Titania that could be modified to work for the others in the group. Then, I have to stick with it throughout the series. Not always easy for the traveling sort of mind.

And finally, records must be kept of how many of each character was created, when, and where it went when it left the studio.

So, when I calculate the time it took to paint Titania, if I'm to be accurate (You can take the girl out of the laboratory....) I must consider work experience, product development, research, time spent thinking about the work and finally, execution (which includes curing and drying times.

It's why sometimes I really enjoy going 'off track' and making strange little single Poppets that don't quite fit anywhere except that they're Poppets.

Original works (the gallery pieces) are very different from collectible works and carry a whole different set of considerations.

I'd say, with the exception of a few experiences, the majority of time spent for every work I make(including and especially the gallery pieces) is the thinking about what, why and then, how.

In other words, the creative process, like time, is not a constant.

If you'd like to delve into this aspect of creating art, or have any questions, come to the forums and we'll dig deeper.

It's full blown desert hot here today. Time to hit the water.
Time to replace all our lightbulbs with CFL's.


* * * ravyn here * * *

Sweet little Faerydusted1 has nominated this blog for a Blogger's Choice Award, in four categories including:



Thanks, FD1 !! And the rest of you, vote early and vote often! **winks**

I Know You're In There

I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE

Stargazer Girl was quite the good sport about playing our protagonist.

She can be found in the Midsummer Sale, along with lots of one of a kind Poppets. Red and Blue ones too.

More pieces will be added today.

But first, coffee......iced.

Dreams of Poppets and Midsummer's Nick Bottoms

SATURDAY UPDATE- Will be listing pieces today and tomorrow, so check in for new stuff!

I didn't dream the same dream again. Only twice this one. I did dream of a strange house, that was or was not ours. We couldn't decide. Really, it seems to be the same dream, just different symbols. And, I finally dreamt of Poppets. I was paving my grandmother's boat dock with them. Red ones. My grandmother has been gone for many years, and when she was alive, she didn't have a boat. But she would've loved Poppets.

So....

I awoke early, about 7:15, to a computer that had crashed in the night and would require a four-hour reboot. Gurtie was yowling at me as I fumbled at opening her food and the house painters, who had somehow gotten mixed- up orders and were here four days early, were knocking on the door. Still in my pj's I opened it, discovering I'd managed to get cat food juice in my hair and that I was still holding the kettle, as though that would somehow keep me connected to the hope and possibility of coffee. I noticed the neighbor's cat pooping in my caladiums, and Fed X bringing boxes I'd put.....where?

It's a GOOD DAY.

It's a good day when nothing bad happens. All this stuff is just stuff. After all, if it's not one thing, it's another.

It's a good idea to understand the difference between a good day and a bad day.

So, once again the art and life are mixed up in these rooms and halls. I seem to be getting no better at at preventing this chaos, but better at not letting it make me crazy. Possibly I'm working that sort of stress out in my dreams now, with strange cocktail parties and paving things with Poppets.

That said, I did make some Summer Solstice Poppets. The work ended up not so much being about the sun, but about A Midsummer Night's Dream. And, not because of Shakespeare--though I highly recommend reading the play if you haven' t--but because I listened to Mendelssohn. Once I did, there was nothing more to do than to let Poppets play Oberon, Titania, Puck and Nick Bottoms too.

Poppets like Mendelssohn, it seems.

Anyway. I'll get them listed tomorrow, along with more Little Blue Poppets and Little Red Poppets, of course. Likely I'll be adding more pieces for a day or two as we get them photographed. I hope you like them. Check back in. Links will be up.

In the meantime, Ravyn has updated the Poppet Registry. And don't forget to visit the forums--there's always something interesting going on there. And our Cafe Press Shops are always open.

So, the pool is full of debris, all around us things are draped in plastic and Orion is asking, "What is all this mess?!" The gallery opens tomorrow and I'm soooo not ready. But here we are, the stars are shining and the midsummer air, even in the most mundane of messes, carries its soft magic. I have but to be quiet to hear it.

I know what a bad day is. And this day wasn't it. Hope yours was good too.

g'night

Gene Wolfe, Poppets Aware, Waking up Dreaming

This past weekend, Gene Wolfe was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

At right, Gene(accepting a Locus award for Neil Gaiman) and Connie Willis.

Then, David Hartwell (Wolfe's editor), Kathryn Cramer (wife of Hartwell), Gene Wolfe, Rosemary Wolfe, Teri (Wolfe) Goulding at the ceremony. These photos were sent by Jordan's Mom (via her extremely nice spouse, Joe). Thank you!

I have two things to say about Gene Wolfe:

The first is that I've read more of Gene Wolfe's work than any other author. (I read....a lot.)

The second is that I'd do absolutely anything Gene Wolfe asked.*

*with the exception of whatever ridiculous and humiliating thing he might conjure up after possibly having read this post.

If you haven't read Gene Wolfe, I would recommend starting with Storey's from the Old Hotel. The stories inside are tremendously varied and there's a good chance you'll email me later to tell me how grateful you are for sending you there.

If you want to try a bold tack, read The Shadow of the Torturer. If that one hooks you, I envy you, because you're in for a long ride from which you will emerge changed. I'll want to know if that happens.

More on Gene Wolfe.

Coincidentally, John Klima sent me this photo, which he titles "Poppet Contemplates Self."

I like it. It has Gene Wolfe. It has Poppets.

John is editor of Electric Velocipede. Check it out. I have issue #11, which I thought was good. John is looking for persons to help produce the EV. If you're interested, there's contact info on the site.

We swam in the evening when the light was fading and the bats were waking. We stayed in until a perfect crescent moon appeared and Venus, and suddenly a whole host of stars came out and our fingertips were prunes.

Here's the thing. It hardly rained at all this year. And, by July, we'll need another thermometer, one with more numbers.

We'll swim 'like it's going out of style.' It might.

I didn't sleep well. Two nights now. Dreams. I woke, thinking it was 9 a.m., but when I shambled out of the bedroom, it was nine p.m. and there was a party. The house was party-lighted and there was music and people milling around with their drinks and dressed for dinner. I could hear the ice in their glasses and bits of conversation as I wove my way through pairs and groups looking for Pete, or Orion, or Aubrey, or anyone who could tell me what in hell was going on. Some guests acknowledged me with smiles but without recognition. Most looked familiar. No one seemed to mind my pajamas. I began to lose that subconscious sort of acceptance, that sense of observation one has when dreaming, and real panic set in as I finally realized I was wide awake, twelve hours off and extremely confused. My heart pounded and I felt dizzy and short of breath and suddenly, I opened my eyes. It was 9 a.m. and the bedroom was filled with sunlight.

That was yesterday morning. This morning I had the same dream, with orange pajamas, not gray, and I awoke to Orion, who'd climbed into bed with me (Pete has an LA gig) and slept with his feet on my pillow in a familiar room once again filled with light. My heart was pounding.

Generally these types of dreams come in threes. Now I have Gene Wolfe on my mind, three could get really weird. Perhaps I should watch TV instead of reading myself to sleep. As if there's no potential for weirdness there...

Poppet Contemplates Self ............... Poppet Googles Self.

I may not sleep for days.

g'night?

Poppet Salad

Here is one of my favoite POT photos.

And here is an excerpt from today's email:

Later, with a little more personal time on my hands, I was able to use my scope to pore through the southern Milky Way, delving into infinite depths of light and dark rarely visible from the NE. The sight of all those silent stars peering back at me from such distances, with the rim of the Grand Canyon only a couple hundred feet away, is truly one of life's rewards.

At the moment, the temperature in Binghamton and on the Canyon rim is the same.

The above photo is by SciFiLaura and can be seen on POT flickr along with this one by faerydusted1.

The email is from Joe Bergeron who, gives us a closer look at the night skies.

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Hy Bender, whom you probably know best as the author of The Sandman Companion, will give you expert advice through his websites Hy On Your Book and Hy On your Script. He will analyze your project with humor and clarity to rival any Dummies Books (of which he's written five.) He tells me that the word "Poppet" in your email will get you an extremely reduced price for his services. Hy Bender tends to be partial to Poppets, which could work out well for writers who are too. Check it out, forward it to your writer groups. Thanks, Hy!

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Today I received this Paper Poppet Carousel by Robert Johnson Jr. It has a loop on top and when I turn it, the Little Poppets, all in different colors, spin around. This is a very cool thing. All the designs are Robert's drawings. Thank you. It's truly clever and sweet and Poppety.

Also in the box were patterns and the prototype for our Poppet Doll, which is designed by Robert and which we hope to release for the winter holidays. Here Orion demonstrates size and cuddle factor which seems to be quite high.

THERE BE BLUE POPPETS

Blue Poppets.

And Red Poppets too. (If these links are wonky--just do an ebay search for my name.) I'm thinking that offering these now, before the Solstice Sale, will allow me to make more Poppets available without making shipping day more insane. Seems like a good idea. And, for some reason, at the moment, so do Little Blue Poppets.

Oh...and Little Pink too.

Just keep swimming...enough with the multitasking...collaborating

My earliest introduction to the art of multitasking would have to be watching my mother prepare holiday dinners. Wow. That woman was efficient. A dozen or more dishes timed to emerge magically, arriving on the table at the same moment, each at the peak of its 'done-ness'.

Later it was in the laboratory, with labeled timers ticking all around for adding this reagent or that, starting a centrifuge or taking readings. With practice, it becomes almost automatic, even for this human.

In the studio at any given moment there can be glue setting, castings curing and paper mache drying, clothes in the washer, water boiling in the kettle and me dry-brushing a panel while working out a paragraph in my head.

But not always.

Some things must be done simply, with no distractions, and with every bit of my attention, like listening to Gorecki's 3rd, or watching the stars come out, or making a piece of art.

And some time must be devoted to just being . Swimming falls into that category.

Find what your just being things are, and take time to be. Trust me on this one.

There have been periods in my life when I didn't direct my attention to one thing.

This way is better. I got that from my mother too, though I "got it" years later. I can see her on the beach, sitting in the sand, looking out at the water and smiling. Sometimes, she just was.

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Writing this, I recall making the poppet diving videos with Orion and Ravyn. (and, of course, Poppets) We started it on a complete whim, with no planning or preparation, and it turned into this really fun collaboration (aka, really hard work with laughing.) We agreed we both learned a lot from the experience and decided to delve into it on the Poppet Planet forums so we could tell you more about it and talk about the whole concept of artistic collaboration----especially the spontaneous sort.

Hope you'll join us here for "Collaboration Happens."

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The Gallery will be open on June 23 for Summer Solstice. There will be more Alice in Wonderland Poppets and in the spirit of the season some visitors from "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

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And now, of course, swimming. Go and be.

g'night!

Air and Water = Bubbles and Poppets On Video

It's true, the only perfect thing is light, but air and water are way up there, at least on this planet, and for everything that lives here.





Once in awhile, schedules be damned, your artist takes a step sideways to make something from unfamiliar clay.

I believe these exercises expand us in unexpected ways.

We, like Poppets, are larger inside than out and, in those vast spaces, connected to one another.


Creative tangents appear suddenly and without warning; explore. Each invitation is unique and urgent and conditional: now or never

This time I jumped in and took Ravyn with me.

I took some footage of Poppet Diving and sent it to Ravyn, who was pulled in visually by the bubbles, and a spontaneous collaborative process began.

We ended up with two little slices of the creative life I write about here--- a closer look.

We had fun collaborating and hope you enjoy the images and music.

You saw Day on the previous blog entry.
Here is Windy Night Poppet Diving and (for dial-up) this version on YouTube.