Play in the Dark

Well, we have begun to post items for the PLAY IN THE DARK sale.

Halloween season is here.

I'll be adding more pieces tomorrow, and the next day,

and the next day,

and the next day,

and likely the next day too.

and so on.

We made lots of stuff, it seems.

You'll see.

and mostly, HAPPY OCTOBER EVERYONE!

PS: Check out the RIP II Challenge. It's perfect for the season.

Orange? T'is the season.

Oh yes. I did it. I made Orange Poppets.

Summer is over. Yay!

Baby has arrived safely. Yay!

Now?

Your artist is ready for her favorite season of the year. Here comes Autumn. Here comes Halloween.

And, for a little while, Little Orange Poppets.

We are happy.

Baby Logan and California Skies

Video is a new feature on Blogger. Let me know if this file works for you. It seems to be doing fine on this end. Our day yesterday looked a lot like this:

Simple Saturday. Thought you might enjoy photos of our first visit with Logan and some of the views along the way. Usually, the southern California skies look like a blue -painted canvas. But not today.

It was a good day. The views were accompanied by Pink Floyd and Bad Religion.

I'll save these photos for Logan.

It'll be like time travel.

For me, it already is.

Where am I?????

Surreal. And more surreal. The light is different. It's in the 60's outside, breezy and cloudy with a high expected of 82. Is 'it' over? Do we little rats dare peek out heads out of our hiding places?

Yesterday morning Logan arrived. Alison went into labor at about 2am. Classically, Justin was sick with a cold and had just fallen asleep after a hefty dose of Nyquil when it all started. And after a long and tiring night, they were awarded their son, and my grandson.

Is this real? It ocurred to me in the shower (things are always clearer to me in water, go figure) that yes, it is. I don't look like a grandmother. Don't feel like a grandmother. But yes, a grandchild is here.

Hello mortality!

It seems to me that people react to this news in one of several ways: They run. Really fast. Trying to beat "it" to some imagined point in the future. Some level of success or wealth or other. It's where balding men buy convertibles and have affairs with students. Or women go back to college or color their hair ...or buy convertibles and have affairs with students.

Some people, who were already running, stop. They realize the future they imagined is now the present, and they begin to live in it.

And some, who already had a grip on things, just continue to live their lives.

I'm firmly entrenched into group 2. I've heard my brakes squealing for awhile now. Still, the concept of grandparenthood must contend with the concept of parenthood. I do, after all, have a 5 year old. Interesting, that.

It's not a collision so much as an intersection. An interection of sets, different realities, one blue, one red, making purple where they overlap.

We haven't been to visit the new baby yet because we've had a bug. Last night Orion's fever went up. His skin was hot and dry and I spent the night giving him Motrin and water and keeping a cool washcloth on his head. The fever broke at about 4 and I fell into a fitful sleep curled up on the end of his bed. In the morning, I woke to hear Pete on the phone with Orion's kindergarten. He'd driven Aubrey to school, taken a big bunch of Poppets to the post office and was loading the dishwasher, performing as the other half of the parenting machine we are.

So yesterday I helped Orion with his kindergarten homework. Talked to Alison on the phone. She was overcome with happiness and love for her new baby. I could hear him coo and cry in the background. I talked to my son Phillip in Georgia, who's dealing with the complexities of being twenty-something---college, work, relationships, questions, questions, questions. He wants to teach history. His years in Korea opened his eyes. That there is a whole world out there that's not America. That there is a bigger picture. A lot to take in. I try to give him reassurance, good advice.

I want to be in three places at once. The purple overlapping part is rich and full.

I'm not running. I don't realize when I stopped, exactly, just that at some point, I did. I'm looking forward to the work ahead. I can see now why they call one's fifties "the golden years." Don't get me wrong! I'm in no hurry to be in my fifties!! But I don't mind that I'm going there.

Because I look forward to the work.

Anyway. whew! Lots going on around here.

I'm going to list the last of the Purple Poppets, Black Poppets and Blue Poppets for this year. There won't be any more of these until next year, simply because time needs to be spent on other work.

Your artist can make anything, but she can't make everything, not in the time allowed. And I want to keep surprising you.

New baby. New weather. New work. Everything changes.

Where am I?

I'm right here. Thanks for checking in.

Rats, Chicken Soup, Poppet Planet Spins Along

I've had several questions recently about Rats, especially whether new ones are planned. The answer is yes, I do have plans for new rats. Of course I do! Last year I decided to commit a year to getting Poppet Planet going. That was the beginning of October. Here we are, nearly a year later, and Poppet Planet seems to be spinning along on its axis. We still have lots of work to do on the website---at this point, it's basically still a framework. But it's a working framework. Poppets are making their ways around the world. This week I sent Poppets off to Japan, Australia, the UK and Portugal. Each goes out with its own tiny magic, and the message inherent in Poppets; to open our eyes and look with broader vision, to see that we are more alike than different and that we're all in this together.



Because of that, I know the year has been well spent and I must thank you, for mentioning Poppets on your blogs, to your friends and for your own Poppet vision. So, thank you.

This fall we will expand our workspace and I will begin training a studio assistant who will enable me to spend more time creating new originals.



So yes, there will be new Rats. And new Poppets and new Art. And I will be able to finish up projects started previously that have been put on hold, like Tiny Stories and Poppet books.



Which brings me to another bunch of questions about The Poppet Project. I'm not sure even what The Poppet Project is, except that it's been mentioned in the forums. There's no time available to work on it now though several suggestions have been made which I'm considering. I will say that when I do chose a project it will be such that anyone who wants to participate, can.





Other than that, I'm sending poppets out every day. I'm approximately 2 days behind schedule as I spent the weekend recovering from a nasty bug that followed Orion home from school last week. He was sick for about two hours, having the fast system of a 5 year old. The bug, however, mowed the rest of us down with what seemed like glee and we were down for days.



Yes, the joys of school. I'd forgotten this part.



Anyway, after lots of orange juice, chicken soup, and the first season of Lost kindly lent me by our friend Clyde Erwin, I should be catching up again. Pete and Aubrey have recovered as well.





It's Monday morning. Ben will be here soon. He is sealing the glass front on the fortune teller and finishing up some boxes he made for Play in the Dark. We are talking about ways to make the Brainy Toy art pieces, well, do things. Like walk. I for one, would love to see little brains walking. You?

In the meantime, there will be Rats at the Play in the Dark sale. Some pretty special Halloween-y ones. Along with extra spooky Poppets too.

Have a good Monday!

Liquid Speed, Ludicrous Bullets and Tiny Screams

On Zeitgeist. Wow. The silence is deafening. It's funny, the subjects I'm sure will stir up a flurry of discussion sometimes fall flat. As with the Zeitgeist movie, which created a storm of discussion in this house. We're still picking up the debris--unanswered questions hanging here and there. We pick them up and turn them over, show them to each other and put them down again, not knowing yet where to put them. If you don't want to watch the whole movie at once, it's divided into small bits on YouTube. Here's the first part....



But I am curious, (as you well know) so must ask. Is the silence because you didn't watch the movie? Because you did and thought it paranoid fear-mongering? Because you thought it was dumb? Because you watched it and have so many questions you don't know where to start?
I welcome all thoughts. I welcome thinking.

I'm as curious about the motives of the film's creator as the film itself. I'm curious about what its creation reflects about our culture's current state of mind?



On that note...



The other night at bedtime I caught the new Mountain Dew energy drink commercial with the Halo 3 tie-in. ( yes, I do occasionally watch G-4--I like Ninja Warrior!) The commercial depicts various young men screaming at their television sets. Why? Because they are losing to the guy (yeah you've got it) who is drinking the MD and winning.
For best results the commercial advises to "chug it " to win.



I couldn't get to sleep because it really pissed me off.



I remind myself of the decision I made to 'care less' after discovering The Secret. If I care less, I sleep better, after all.

Pepsi stoops to a whole new level of irresponsibility by actually telling people that getting hyped up on sugar and caffeine will improve their gaming abilities. They fail to mention the health and societal costs.

Why? Does Pepsi need the money?

I know it's not new. "Do the Dew" has been around for ages. Before that Coke was Coca Cola, the 'pause that refreshes.' Our culture has been pushing speed for generations. Once it was speed for work. Now it's speed for play. Is one any better than the other?

This latest Mountain Dew campaign pushes my personal limits. I'm sick to death of what we're doing. What we're not doing. Self indulgent, selfish, stupid, uneducated, utterly dependent on our government, our credit cards, our toys, our drugs, our computers.

Where are we headed?

Possibly I'm doubly angry after having wasted two hours watching "Shoot 'Em Up." I got suckered in by the previews. I've liked past work by Paul Giamatti and Clive Owen. Thought it would be a fun action movie. A mental break.

Walked out muttering about how C. M. Kornbluth was a prophet. About how we've created a society of morons.

Well. I didn't create it. Why do I feel a sense of responsibilty at all? Because I'm an idealist? Because I still hold on to the shiny idea that we're all in this together?

My hands are getting slippery. What will help me hold on?

Will I simply decide to let go?

Maybe I was wrong about poppets. I created these little iconic observers, quietly watching everything.

Possibly I should've created them with their little eyes sqeezed shut and tiny mouths wide open, screaming.

Would anyone hear them?

wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up......

Simple humans, Zeitgeist and Playing

This weekend my daughter Alison visited. I was ever so happy to see her arrive and very sad to see her go. Afterwards I very thoroughly cleaned the kitchen, a coping technique I've used so often its edges are smooth. It's a method of tricking my mind into feeling in control, when really it wants to rail against things I can't control---like the geography that separates me from those I love.
It's a common practice that links me to millions of other humans who employ the same sort of behavior. After all, when it comes right down to it, we're awfully alike in lots of ways.
I might feel alienated at times, that's true. My philosophies and lifestyle tend to distance me a bit from 'normal' society. Still, I find some comfort in considering those things we humans share in common, like the connections to our children, or those things we as a culture share, like when I catch myself humming "spider-pig...spider-pig."

I watched Zeitqeist, The Movie a few days ago. That same point---that people have more in common than they tend to believe--was one of the aspects of the movie I appreciated.

It's a controversial film. You could call it the 'conspiracy theory film of all time' if you wanted. I wondered, watching it, whether my favorite rubric (the truth is in the middle) would apply.

I discovered that it didn't so well on individual points. On some subjects, we have to choose our sides. But overall, 'a grain of salt' seems appropriate.

The production values are very good. Almost too good. At times, I felt the music and images were manipulative. It's not an amateur film. Still, there are no credits to be found for producer or director. I emailed the address on the site to ask why the anonymity. I can theorize, but would like to know. After all, who financed this thing seems very relevant. I certainly pay attention to who the sponsors are for newscasts ever since news broadcasts became entertainment.
Still, unlike other such projects, this one is available free of charge. The DVD can be purchased for $5 ($2) shipping. I got a courteous enough auto response that promised a reply as soon as possible. I'll keep you posted.

I suppose what I might say about Zeitgeist is that you must watch with an open mind. You know---Poppet-Like.
Don't blindly accept or discount.

It's for thinking about. And researching. I can't find a thing wrong with that.

If you'd like to start a discussion about the film, ping Carl on The Machine. I certainly would like to hear opinions about it, and have a few comments of my own.


I'm glad you like the black Poppets! I knew I'd be offering them for Halloween, and thought to ease up the shipping load for October by letting some people go ahead and get theirs now. They went much faster than I expected, so if you didn't get one, don't worry. I'll do my best to get some more up before the holiday.

Orion and I have been playing Mario Car this weekend. I think I may be getting a thumb blister. Sheesh. Even now, typing this, I have the slightly dizzying sensation that I'm still flying around curves. I keep thinking I'm a grown up, then we play and I behave in ways much too silly for someone of my , ahem, age and dignity. Still, if I can make Orion roll on the floor laughing, how bad can it be?

One day, in the far distant future, when I'm old and useless and have no responsibilities, I dream the kindness of my children will provide me with chewable food, good drugs and a kick-ass gaming system.

I wish everyone a good week to come.

g'night

Now and Later

Yes. It's hot still. But in our black, black hearts we know it will end soon. October is on its way.

October will save us. It always does.

So. NOW

And Later:

Last of Summer Poppets, Big Foot Sighting

September's Caterpillar

Today I began to put the last of Summer's work up. Tomorrow I'll finish it up.

whew.

It's still maddenly hot, but we're starting to believe it will eventually cool down.



Today was Pete's birthday. We kept it simple, with a few friends dropping by, some cake (pirate, per Ben) ice cream and swimming.

He says his best present was Orion coming home saying that he loved school.

I think so too.

It's not uncommon to find Pete comtemplating the universe in his sandwich. But indeed uncommon to catch him on video. This rare glimpse of the elusive giant is from our friend, Kai who is the Secret Squirrel of cell phone photography. Happy Birthday Pete.

Get up and do it again, Amen.

It's about 95 F outside tonight, which is actually an improvement. We're in day six of this heat wave. Rolling blackouts, flash flood warnings and the ever present oppressive heat. There's no escaping it. Work and school dictate we stay right here.





The rubber around the sliding glass doors has begun to sag and melt.





Otherwise, a normal sort of day. People going about their business. For us, it was dropping Aubrey off for her first day, then attempting to sit on impossibly tiny chairs for kindergarten orientation.





Pete says possibly having parents sit on those chairs is an intimidation technique developed by teachers. He didn't attempt to sit. Not because of spurious psychological ploys of kindergarten teachers so much as an understanding of the laws of physics.





Theories aside, I do love the smell of crayons in the morning.




The routine will take some getting used to.

















Later I found myself floating in the pool for awhile, staring up at the unblinking white sky above, accepting that it's too hot, literally, to do much else.














I did finish a few new pieces to put up at a kinder hour tomorrow. I'll get several more Purple Poppets up as well. After that, the gallery will be pretty quiet until October. Here's a peek at Blue Oberon and Titania.











I had chocolate milk for dinner. And now, I think my day is done.



Tomorrow, we get up and do it all again.

Between the comings and goings, the steps of everyday we teach and learn.
All we Pretenders.

g'night

In here, somewhere

It may seem that I've vanished, but I have not. I haven't blogged for a week, which might actually be a record. This has been a very busy household, with guests and preparations for school, as much work as I could fit in and over it all, lots of not-deserty clouds, not-deserty humidity and very deserty, crushing temperatures.

Orion starts kindergarten tomorrow. Soon after I'll be back in the studio, and back here (more often.)

I used to stress over pauses. I don't anymore. The work will be what it is, and generally the stuff that happens in between finds its way in there too.

Thank you, as always, for checking in.

Moon Shadows, Brother Saviors and Everything Changes.

Mostly behind the scenes sort of work going on now. Orion starts kindergarten next week.

I know. I can hardly believe it myself.

Everything changes.


So with a tinge of melancholy for the end of his stay-at-home years, I prepare for the changes in my own time and space by preparing space for the deluge of art I know will come soon.
I don't need to see the light at the end of a tunnel to know it's there.

And I don't have to hear the whistle to know the light is a train.

So I dust and paint, clean windows, put up new shelves and pegboard.

Everyone I've talked to in the past couple of days is in some weird sort of fugue. Not desperately unhappy, just restless and dissatisfied. As I'm not really interested in trading my friends for new ones, (and hopefully, vice versa) I suppose we'll just slog through it together.

Yesterday I had a flash of inspiration for a new piece and immediately spent some time working on it and ordering the other parts I'll need to finish. It always starts this way, (the deluge)with a flash here and there. Like labor pains, coming faster and faster, lasting longer each time, until I produce something I'm happy with. Or something I fall in love with and don't want to part with for a minute, though I know it must be released into the world...or kindergarten.

Sheesh.

How is it that artists and writers can work so urgently in the present, yet at the same time always hold hope that our best work is in our futures?


This morning Pete woke me at 3:30 so we could see the lunar eclipse. It was eerie and beautiful. One night, when I was a wee tot and the moon was full, my mother (who was talented and smart and quite lune-y) whistpered in my ear that it was following me. I tried running from it and, damn, it did follow! I ran and ran and ran until I couldn't anymore. I can't begin to tell you how much that creeped me out. I sat in the grass and cried. I hid inside. I didn't sleep well for days. Then my brother, nerd that he is (which saved my butt more than once) explained about the illusion. And a bit about our mother.

(Hmm. I think I should phone my brother soon. )

But this morning I enjoyed the site with the wonder, thrill and affection felt by millions of other humans who watched too.

If you're interested, go to Shadow and Substance, where there's a fairly cool animation of the eclipse, which (after seeing the real thing) looks remarkably realistic.

After the eclipse, I slept, but not so well. Lots of weird dreams---and I awoke sort of tired, as though I'd been running...

If you haven't looked at the moon in awhile. Do. It's good for you. If you're slogging through, chin up. Everything changes.

g'night

Strange, Blue.....and Purple

Ain't no cure for the summertime blues.




Damn. Is it still summer? Yes. The last leg of it, the end vaguely in site, tiny and way off in the distance. I've survived so far without any real harm, with stories for later and with a bit of a scrubbing and cleaning of my summer-reluctant third eye. Ouch.

Did I mention, ouch?



Yes, I will tell the stories, likely on the forums, but not today.



Still, Ravyn and I got things sort of lined up for Halloween while she was here, and I made some strange poppets which I will post links to tomorrow at a more respectable hour.

In the meantime, for night owls and those on other continents, a photo of one Strange and Spotted Poppet.

And, at the risk of suggesting that I do indeed listen to Poppet requests:




Little Purple Poppets

The late Harry Chapin (Flowers are Red) sang, "There are so many colors in the rainbow and I see every one."
His song is about crayons, sort of, but mostly about how children see things and how they are sometimes taught not to see by people with narrow vision.

It's a sweet, sad song.



Tonight, I'm not swimming. I am sleeping.

g'night

Out of the frying pan and into the singularity

Welcom to Tatooine.

Nora is visiting. We went for a short walk in the desert.

It's hot in the desert.

So we went to Ben's house for swimming and dinner.

The skies were busy today, with clouds like spaceships. It wasn't like time travel at all, but was weirdly cool.

Under the surface, we ran into a tiny diver. I followed him around for awhile.

My favorite is this one. Looks as though he's headed into a singularity. Perhaps only the singularity in my head. Either way, it was a different way to spend an afternoon.

Eventually, he got bored with us and swam away.

Goodbye little Poppet!

A bit of Static and Blogger Girl Rat

This is one of the creepier photos I've taken recently. I may do something more with it later. This is the untouched version.

I got nothin' tonight. Seriously. I've been in a roar of mental static for about a week. Some of it has been interesting stuff. Some has been worth writing down.

Some of it weighs like stone.

This happens occasionally, especially at the end of summer. Not nearly enough time has been spent in the studio, where I could let some pressure off. I tell myself that one day I shall escape this desert heat.

I tell myself to can it. Whaaa. Soon we'll be back at work, not moving like we're made of lead and all this will just be another summer survived.

If my worst problem is thinking too much, how bad can things be?

Not very.

If I have ice for my drink, how bad can things be?

Not very.

I also get that this sort of increase in mental activity is part of a seasonal cycle that begins to feel familiar. Some artists might describe it as the call of the muse, some describe a nerve-stripping, flesh crawling demon, some as simply the onset of psychosis.

I myself sometimes refer to it as Hyde. These days, I don't see it as a fire to put out so much as a storm to wait out, in as much comfort as possible.

Doe the ability to move from a moment of paralizing vision to making a list or taking out the trash indicate sanity or insanity?

I don't know. But it beats crying, tearing out hair or cutting off an ear.

Must artists be 'tortured artists'? Probably not, even if some are.

But even then I'm fairly certain the art and the torture don't have to happen simultaneously.

I took a break during the hottest part of the day, lying under the ceiling fan with Pete and watching STNG while Orion played "Sly Cooper " elsewhere, under two other fans. The commercial break, of course, left me thinking. I noticed a site gag in the "Enzyte" commercial I'd missed in the other 162 times I've seen it.

It's become nearly impossible for me to watch a commercial without imagining conversations around conference tables.

It's what happens when you watch television with Poppets. They're like little third eyes.

Awareness of certain things---like conference tables--once seen, can never be unseen.

I'm okay with that.

Designated Poppet

Mostly what seems to be working during this last month of summer is dividing up the days into parts. Painting carousel, rats and other pieces that have been waiting in the studio for ages is a good thing. Now they won't be staring reproachfully at me from the shelves, and I get to re-discover details even I'd forgotten. I put some of them on ebay to look for new homes. Several people have emailed to tell me how glad they are to see Rats again. I tell them I agree.

The other parts consist of working on new pieces for Halloween, which is very much like playing, in my view. You see me working away at my bench. In my head I'm four, running full tilt through a field of daisies.

Evenings are for the Fortune Teller, who is technically done, except for sealing the glass front. Every day Orion and I get our fortunes told. Sometimes it's funny. Sometimes it's downright creepy. Sometimes we run away.

And then there's time spent in water, for the mental reset. I've had my own demons to deal with this summer, artistic and otherwise. I make notes of lots of it. If I can't make notes, I make toys, dammit. Eventually, I'll put the notes into some sort of presentable form. One day, I'll decipher the language of the toys, which seem to contain stories like, When to Let the Poppet Drive and Lost on the Road to Crazy.

A few words on words:

A customer recently thanked me for the 'lagniappe', which was an entirely new term for me:

I appreciate the new word.

Lagniappe derives from New World Spanish la ñapa, "the gift," and ultimately from Quechua yapay, "to give more." The word came into the rich Creole dialect mixture of New Orleans and there acquired a French spelling. It is still used in the Gulf states, especially southern Louisiana, to denote a little bonus that a friendly shopkeeper might add to a purchase. By extension, it may mean "an extra or unexpected gift or benefit."

I enjoyed this list from Mental Multivitamins of One Hundred Words A High School Student (and parent) should know.

And, some photography coolness:

Mimi Ko was featured on Hey Hot Shot this week. I'm extremely pleased to see her work acknowledged there.

If you're a photographer, Poppet-wise or other, you'll find the site interesting.

Night time is for much- needed rest, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert and something cold and chocolate.

I'm currently reading The Undiscovered Mind by John Horgan and for coffee breaks, re-watching the first season of Carnivale.

I am what I eat.

g'night

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!