Archives for posts with tag: arts

It was Philosopher‘s birthday yesterday. He loves chocolate-hazelnut cakes. I used my grandmother’s never-fail recipe and made one to take round to his place in the afternoon. He lives in this derelict boat at the bottom of my garden. Mostly he keeps to himself pondering about the world and the great beyond, except for when he goes for walks with me on Wednesdays. Only Detail visits him on a regular basis.

I wanted to take Deutsch Fraulein with me as I know he has a crush on her. He certainly would have loved that, but Deutsch Fraulein was nowhere to be found. So I went by myself and as it turns out it was a good move, as I could talk to him about Lou. Philosopher should be able to help. After all, he is in the same boat as Lou, but handles his desires more maturely it seems.

He offered to take Lou fishing one weekend and speak to him – man to man. Good on him. I only hope they are not going in the boat he is living in, it’s certainly not sea-worthy! But I kept that to myself.

I’ve just noticed, I haven’t seen Lou all weekend.

The conversation I was supposed to have with Lou was on my mind all day yesterday. I could hardly concentrate on my work. On my way back I stopped at the wine shop and bought a bottle of red. I thought I’d have it while cooking dinner, so it will be easier for me to talk later.

I had forgotten that whenever I open a bottle of red, The Professor pops up out of nowhere and of course with Pig in tow (they are an item – totally inseparable. If you ask me, it is a case of co-dependency. But who asks me!).

These guys certainly saved Lou from his talk. They usually don’t stop at a single bottle and I had to dip into the good stuff I keep in the kitchen rack for special occasions. I left them to it and went to bed around 11pm. I don’t know what they were doing all night, but they were still hanging around when I got up this morning. The Professor gets very melancholic when he drinks and he loves to solve the problems of the world in this state. He can really talk, particularly round and round in ever decreasing circles. Pig doesn’t say much at the best of times, just holds on to his wine glass. It was all a bit too much for me last night.

This morning they both were very quiet and they moved on relatively swiftly after I made them a good strong coffee (and left me with the mess!). I haven’t seen Lou yet.

While Lou was dancing around the house, feeling happy for a change, I took time to set up the studio and took mug shots of all the puppets that are currently in the house.  I think there are so many now, that it is difficult to keep track of them all.

They weren’t all at home, some of them are currently on show. So it is not a complete gallery. I will amend as soon as these characters come back. I renamed the Cast page into Mug shots and added a one line character description for each. Have a look….

PS: I have renamed the page yet again… Into Characters!

Someone remarked the other day, they were surprised my puppets are just heads, they have no bodies.

This is an artistic statement: I am convinced that communication is largely a discussion in one’s own mind. Even if I sound like a real weirdo here, I have my doubts that one ever can get across precisely what one thinks. One can but try. The perception of the message depends also on the life experience and current situation of the receiver (on which we have no influence). I am pretty sure we all know how easy it is in particular to mis-interpret brief messages written on the computer.

With the puppets at least everybody knows they are totally imaginary. And this is the reason why they are only heads. It’s all in there….

By the way, they do have dresses for when they are performing. I have five simple black robes with hands, which they share around. So they are true friends, sharing their wardrobe.

Yesterday I finished the Fairy Godmother. While I was watching  TV, I played with her for a while, to figure out her traits. No matter how I turn her, she looks very benevolent. A good thing for a Fairy Godmother, right? However, I wanted my one to be a retired Fairy Godmother by the name of Mrs Esta Blished, but this just didn’t work out. I can’t see Esta in the finished work at all. So Mrs Blished will have to be another puppet. I definitely want her too.

This morning, when I opened the curtains in the living room, the Fairy Godmother was still lying there and she looked as if she has just awoken from sleep herself. I couldn’t resist taking her photo as she was.

I have to set a record straight: Chance is not Lady Fortune. Chance is a dear friend of mine, but I am not acquainted to Lady Fortune. Apologies… this is not entirely correct: I knew her way back at school, when she still was Miss Fortune. I haven’t kept in touch with her. Why should I, I couldn’t stand her then and I wasn’t the only one wary of her, nobody liked her.  She, on the other hand, was attracted to a few of us and followed us around like a bad smell. We just couldn’t shake her off. Only when we left school our path parted.

Thinking back now, she must have been very lonely. She was an only child and inherited the title and a lot of money when her father died. Devil says he meets her from time to time at the pokies, and the punters there, really love to see her. It’s a bit sad, isn’t it? But I won’t go there.

At the greengrocer’s I bumped into Detail and her daughter Minor. These two never fail to amaze me. Detail is such a petite thing, always neatly dressed and every strand of hair in the right place. She looks like she just stepped out of a fashion magazine, even if she only pops down the driveway to the letterbox. Minor on the other hand is a little cloddish, with her worn out sneakers and baggy jumpers. I thought she is only fourteen, but Detail corrected me, Minor is three month short of seventeen. She is much larger and taller than her mother and even though she stoops, her mother still has to look up to her.

Of course Detail wanted to know what Devil said to me the other day. It felt like I was at the inquisition. The three of us were standing in the middle of the aisle at the busiest time at the grocery shop. Don’t you hate these people? I felt very awkward, but she insisted on hearing the entire story and just wouldn’t let me go. I would have liked to side with Minor on that one: “Wha’ ever”

No need to ask Detail for her opinion on anything, she always wants to have more info before she can make up her mind.

I’ve heard the weather is going to pack in. Therefore I’ve spent the morning recording puppet shows. We take them outside on the deck. I like the light there in the morning. First we had to wait for the fog to lift, by the time it was gone, the entire neighbourhood was out and about and hammering away or mowing the lawns.  I always deemed our neighbourhood extremely quiet, but gee, Saturday morning every man and his dog has some business outside. The birds were chirping away as well (I love the song of the tuis) and then Mr Whippy must have done a roaring trade in ice cream, his “Greensleeves” jingle went on like forever.  I thought summer is well and truly over,  obviously not for Mr Whippyyyyyyy.

Anyway, I think I have some snippets I can work with and it will give me something to do, should it rain tomorrow. We recorded Devil and Mouse, when Devil tells Mouse that Hermit has written a book. In the timeline it sits before the other film, where Mouse tells Pirate. But I thought Pirate’s response was a lovely snappy one, so I recorded it first. The conversation between  Devil and Mouse is a little bit longer. But finally, Devil got his wish, he is now going to be in a film as well…

On my way home last night I tried to figure out who I could talk to regarding Devil’s complaint from the day before. Believe me, I know my puppets well and I know what they are going to say. Chance would say: “Go for it”. Pirate would say “Whatever brings in the most dosh”. Mouse is ruled out as everybody would know I have a problem straight away…. I don’t particularly like that.

Anyway when I arrived home, Bad Conscience was already sitting on my couch. He must have let himself in with the key hidden under the planter box. Of all the puppets, Mouse aside, he is the worst to try and discuss issues with. You go round and round in little circles and never get anywhere. Maybe his blurry eyes prevent him from seeing things clearly. Ah well, we spent an evening in silence regurgitating old issues.

Last night Devil paid me a visit. He wanted to talk to me as the spokesperson of the dede puppets. They are all very concerned. I didn’t know the dede puppets had a spokesperson. Honestly I don’t think he was voted in. But he obviously thinks he is the Patron Saint of the dede puppets, as he is the oldest. (Patron Saint… it’s a bit rich isn’t it?)

Anyway, he said they are all concerned about where the dede puppet blog is going. He reminded me I had promised to set it up for the dedes as a forum. He, Devil,  now accuses me of hijacking it for my other artwork. He actually said, “What’s so beautiful about a Giant Weta, all  the dede puppets have nicer eyes…” He quoted the one post where I said it is all about eyes at the moment.

Okay, point taken. Devil himself has gorgeous eyes… I still think (and I am not being defensive here) there should be a place for other photographs on the blog.

So, we had this long and heated discussion about whether I should be allowed to put other artwork up. In the end I had this feeling he was mainly miffed with me because the film features Pirate and Mouse. He insisted it was him who broke the news of the book to Mouse, so he should have been in the film. I promised him he will be in the next one. (We are moving towards winter and I will have more time to do this kind of stuff). I basically made this promise to get him off my back. It was past midnight when he finally disappeared.

It took more than an hour to get the smell of sulpher out of the house. This is the reason, why I normally like to catch up with Devil at the pub.

I think I will canvas the other dede puppets about what they think on the subject. I am still not sure whether he made a mountain out of a mole hill.