Weekend and Billy Reed's

Went to lunch at Billy Reed's, which is a nearly undefinable mix of Transylvania, Old West, family restaurant and...really, I haven't figured it out yet and likely never will.  I suspect though, that it reminds me a little of my own carnival work, which makes it feel a little like home.

  After our wedding reception and before setting out for our honeymoon destination, Pete and I went to a local hotel  changed into jeans and T's, and....ahhhh....comfortable shoes, and went to Billy Reed's.  Don't get me wrong - we had a beautiful buffet at the reception, wonderful food and drink, dancing and (not kidding)  a roving mime compliments of the Mr. Neil Gaiman.
  But the bride and groom rarely get to eat, so we took ourselves to the pentacle of comfort food.

And that's what Billy Reed's is to me.  And so much more.  It's where I take people from out of town because it's fun and worth the experience.


But this weekend, Benton Warren and I went for lunch and to talk about art projects.  Poppet came along and a wonderful time was had by all. (The Swiss Chard was to die for.)  The portions are too big.  When it was time to stop, I didn't.  I just got more selective and ate gravy. 
  By the time we were done, we'd sketched out a plan for a new kinetic piece.  It's been over five years since Ben and I built anything together.  I'm so happy to be here.

Ballroom Floor
 

Ben and Me

Sepia fits, doesn't it?
 

Poppet digs sand dabs, mashed potatoes and gravy, swiss chard.  And gravy.
 

Fish and Turtles outside.
 

Jack is Back A Brief Look at "Fortune's Teller"

Fortune's Teller is finally leaving us tomorrow. We have scads of photos from along the way. And stories. Remember the sign on the studio door--the one that states "Nothing Can Go Wrong Now?" An absolutely absurd variety of things went wrong with this one. You can't write this stuff.Possibly one day I'll write about it. But not today. I need some time travel to balance my perspective on it. Right now all I want to do it get the thing safely where it's going with no more surprises.

I particularly like the still image of Jack. I'll likely add some text for a t-shirt image for myself. If you like it too, let me know and I'll make some available.

If you don't know who Jack is, you can read about him in Smoke and Mirrors. Fortune's Teller is partially created from the original casting mold for "Don't Ask Jack."



The "Dark Caravan" kinetic carnival began with Jack. It's fitting that the last piece of the carnival features his likeness. It's also fitting that Poppets have infiltrated the carnival, showing up increasingly in the later sculptures.

There are twelve fortunes on the wheel including, Dreams That Wake Hold Warning and A Glimpse Ahead Will Change Your Mind.

This time the wheel stopped at Don't Eat the Dumplings. Sounds silly yes, but I'm pretty sure he means it.

The music is "Sever," by Porcupine Tree on Signify.

Hope you enjoy it. G'night

Two, Two, Two Days In One

...or, what I did today.

(For those who get the title reference: Saturday mornings: Tarzan? or Stooges?)

Beginning with three alarms. Two kids to two schools. Pete, me, divide and conquer. Apparently, winter holiday is over.

With coffee-- made notes for a program lecture. Read two articles in Make magazine. Ordered a material sample from a company mentioned in Make.) Then answered emails/calls.

Angie and I started the studio day with a walk. So weird here, considering the weather all around us. Clouds are rare in the desert, so on days like today, I take photos. Tomorrow she can take a photo of me. I wonder what I'll say.

Photos above, but not likely in this order:

Clouds

More Clouds

This is Angie (who says 'nice clouds)

Snowy Mountains with Clouds

A Very Cooperative Bunny (not interested in clouds)

Some Rushing Water (Used to be clouds)

Aunt Beru's Place (looking east, where clouds are clearing.)

I have now typed 'clouds' often enough that it looks strange and misspelled.

After clouds:

I worked on the designs for Valentine gift boxes and tags. Set a time frame for direct gift shipping. Numerous other things on the Valentine checklist.

Ben and I worked out more of the mechanical details for the Strange Machine sculptures that will accompany the Neil Gaiman stories. Discussed wood and lighting choices. Set up a time frame for materials and building, which will be sooner than later, to give me enough time to install the art and painting. We drank too much coffee.

Made a decision about another glass case---what to do with it, when, and where to store it in the meantime. (several of these decisions have to be made to clear space, which we've clearly run out of.

While we talked, I cast three pairs of rats and Ben sorted table clutter into bins. The new tabletops will go in tomorrow morning.

We measured and moved and sorted and made satisfyingly noticeable progress in the reorganization of the studio. The chaos now at least looks like the chaos of sane people.

Ben made lunch for us. I can't remember what the dish is called. It had rice and vegetables, and a sausage made of rice and crawdads. It was delicious and had a nice texture, but I'm not sure how I feel about the crawdads. I like shrimp, and I know that where the 'bait line' intersects the food chain is relative and subjective. But after today, I'm fairly certain mine runs right there between shrimp and crawdads. Anthony Bourdain would likely be ashamed of my tiny-mindedness in the matter of crawdads.

The rest of the day was divided into illustration work for the first Poppet book and creating a framework so Angie can organize illustrations and reference photos for other book projects onto disk.

There's more. So much more. But I'm slipping into the 'it's time to stop and I need food' mode. I am definitely not planning to work this hard tomorrow. Sheesh!

While getting juice for Orion, I ate a slice of baloney without even thinking about it. Sheesh. I'm trying to not eat that stuff. Oscar Meyer, why must you torment me?

Anyway. That's sort of how the day went.

Possibly "What I Did Today" is actually worse than no blog at all, but that's all there is and there isn't any more.

g'night

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.

Shadows and Light

Orion was assigned a presentation about shadows.

So, we played in the dark, talked about light and how photographs are made.

He left for school with a photograph and new information pinging around in his head.

Soon enough he'll put it aside, then later on, he'll connect it to other information, constructing, piece by piece, his map of how things are.

*****

Today I received new stories from Peter Beagle, written around art images I sent him. I was both surprised and delighted at how he interpreted the art and where he went.

Strange Roads indeed.


*****

I'm reading bits of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, looking forward to more bits. Later I may envy you, wishing I could read it again, for the first time.

***

Orion and I won the Gran Prix of Mario Kart today. He in first place and I in second.

We rode in the parade. We danced...for real.

***

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has erected its first billboard in Madison, Wisconsin. If you live comfortably near Madison and have a Poppet and send me a Poppets On Tour photo of your Poppet with the billboard I will happily send you another poppet of the color of your choice.

No kidding!

*****

And a few days ago Derek Ash sent me two new Halloween poems. They are cool and sort of...poppety.

***

Today was the first day of a shipping marathon. Poppets are headed out in many directions to all sorts of new adventures.

**

Lots of creativity these days. Lots of making. Shadows and Light.