Archives for posts with tag: Characters

socialite film

Socialite is a puppet I don’t see very often. I suspect I am much too common for her. She likes to hobnob with the rich and powerful. There are not many of them in my circle of friends. Naturally, I was very surprised when Socialite came and told me about this wonderful short film she had seen called “Life of an artist.” She immediately launched into dissecting the story line: “It’s fantastic how the director captured the essence of torment. You see the artist’s rapid decline from self-confidence to a picture of misery. You must see this film”

“I know the film” I said.

“It’s sad how artists are reliant on viewers opinion, isn’t it?” she continued. “People just don’t understand good art anymore! They are ignorant folks. Did you see the two characters that just walked past the picture? What are they doing in an exhibition for goodness sake? They obviously have no idea how much pain goes into creating unique artworks!

“I don’t know. To me it looks very much like instant-gratification-artist. A one shot wonder! He had one good inspirational idea and he immediately took the result to the market in the hope of selling and making money. Artists need a bit more stamina, don’t you think?” I responded. “He can’t expect people to go all gooey over everything he hangs on the wall just because he wears a tunic like Paul Klee. Isn’t that a bit presumptuous?”

“I totally disagree. He did a lot of soul-searching before he had his inspiration. That’s very obvious in the sequence where he walks around the room. No, no, his inspiration did not come out of nowhere! I clearly see it was the audience that ground him down!”

“What I don’t understand, the two art-lovers at the end commended him for his work. But this wasn’t  good enough for him. He is obviously slanted towards the commercial. Honestly, what kind of reaction is that… pulling the work off the wall and tearing it up only because they don’t want to buy it! Isn’t it more important that they  liked it?”

“Tssst” Socialite threw her head over her shoulder. Obviously she was piqued. “What do you know about the delicate soul of an artist? I should have known one can’t discuss films with you!”

Mhm, could I be so wrong? What do you see in the film? In case you haven’t seen it, here is the link Life of an Artist

“I should do an interview with L’Artiste!” Socialite said. “He is the only one who can shed light on this matter. Do you have any questions I should ask him?”

bad concience and foxy

I don’t know what it is, except that maybe because it’s the end of summer, but the Dedes are in total disarray…

Remember when Devil threw a wobbly last week? Foxy Lady was obviously a bit aggressive towards him. She is a staunch feminist and can’t stand it when the other gender gets too cocky.

Bad Conscience was sidling around all weekend offering his services to both squabblers. That’s what he does… He goes around and looks for a disagreement of some sort somewhere. He offers his help and moves in with whoever lets him in. Once he has made himself comfortable in a corner of your house, preferably the darkest one, he forgets his promise to help and  just sits there and expects to be fed. He has lived with me for a while and, gee, it is difficult to move him on. You have to make a big effort to virtually throw him out. He is one of those who doesn’t know when he has outstayed his welcome. He never leaves of his own accord. Sorry, I am digressing. You certainly know the chap anyway.

Neither Devil nor Foxy Lady have taken Bad Conscience in yet. And I actually wanted to talk to them to see if I can help. But then L’Artiste popped in unexpectedly on Saturday morning. He was really, and I mean really, depressed! We had breakfast together and he moaned and groaned. In the end I said: “To be honest, we only have two options. Either we hang around and we are all depressed for the rest of the weekend or we do some new work. What’s it going to be?”

You know what he opted for. The result is in the previous post. It was an impromptu. L’Artiste just wanted to tell his story. In the end he admitted in secret (so please keep mum about it) that it felt so refreshingly good to have  a hearty cry. I picked up his tunic and will keep it for him until he is ready to put it on again.

mouse concernd

“So what do you think?” Mouse asked me.

“About what?” I asked surprised.

Devil

“Why, what’s with him?” It’s not easy for me, but I had to pretend I didn’t know anything. Unfortunately, if Mouse knows something, everybody else will know in a flash.

“Don’t tell me he hasn’t seen you. I know that you guys are very close.”

“No, honestly, I don’t know what you are talking about!”

Devil and Foxy Lady had a showdown on Thursday night when you were out. We were all there. I can tell you, it wasn’t pretty!” This was indeed new to me and it explains why Devil had such a bad night.

“He was a bit huffy when he left, so I thought he might have gone straight to you.”

“No, I didn’t see him. Maybe he is cooling down somewhere.”

Ah so, there seems to be more to the story than Devil had let on. I will have to see what comes to light over the weekend.

devil resign

This morning when it was still dawn, Devil came to see me. “I have had enough” he started, without beating about the bush. “I can’t do my job when the girls are always interfering. I am resigning!”

“Start again” I said. I wasn’t sure if I had heard him correctly. It was simply too much for me that early in the morning.

“If I hadn’t held my hand up in the first place we would still be flat newspapers, wouldn’t we! Nobody appreciates the work I have put into this whole thing” he continued, ignoring my words.

“When I am gone they will go nowhere fast. That I am sure of. I ask you, who is holding everything together, eh? Who is doing all the work? Didn’t I run the Super Dede Competition before Christmas? Am I not always talking with you to move us forward? Did I not volunteer for the “Embrace Diversity” series first? They are such an ungrateful lot. I am resigning! They will realise very quickly what they’ve lost!”

“Just…”

“You know, I only have to spread the word that I am available. People would love to have me work for them. Most people could do with a bit more devil in them, wouldn’t you think? They just have to let me do my thing! ”

“Think…”

“Only three weeks ago someone asked me if I wanted to work for them but my allegiances were still with the Dedes then. I worked so hard when we were at the burrow and everybody was concerned about you. Snippedy was ready to leave then, but I spoke with an angel’s tongue to convince him we are all in it together. I just should have let it slide. I just can’t do it anymore.”

Devil!” I exclaimed and stamped my foot on the ground to get his attention. He looked at me stunned and I could finally get a word in. “I beg you, please don’t make any rash decisions. You obviously had a bad night.”

“I have indeed, but I have made up my mind.” He handed me an envelope. It said “Letter of Resignation” in big letters on the outside.

He was obviously not in the mood to listen today, so I took it but said: “Let’s talk about it on Monday.”

foxy standing

Sure enough… my unrelated image was a talking point last night. It sounded like there is heaps of stuff going on in the Dede world that I could report on. No need to digress. While they were away in the burrow they didn’t mind me keeping everything going by publishing other images. After all, they had deserted me. But now they are back and they want me to pay full attention to them.

“What are you thinking?” Devil asked me, hands on hips. “Can you tell me the name of the blog again? Or shall I spell it out to you?”

“Come on” Foxy Lady interrupted him. “It was interesting to hear about some history. After all, this is where we come from, isn’t it?” A murmur went through the room. Everybody was surprised she stood up to Devil. He calls himself the spokesperson for the Dedes, but it slowly dawned on me that he is just more vocal about his wishes and opinions than the others. He doesn’t necessarily represent everybody else’s view. Obviously Foxy Lady had finally had enough of his bullying tactics.

“Okay, then…” Devil said self-confidently. “Lets have a show of hands: who thinks it was out of line?”

“No, no. no!” Foxy Lady said before anybody could raise their hands. No one was in a hurry anyway. “You can’t ask for a show of hands! Not when you are in the room. It has to be a secret ballot.”

It was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. Only Devil was breathing fast and shallow and his face turned a smidgen redder. Foxy Lady outwardly looked very relaxed. Only the pitch of her voice gave away that she was well out of her comfort zone.  Good old Mouse came to the rescue by asking innocently: “Do we still have the old box with the slit in the top? Has anybody seen it since the move? And we need some paper.” She looked at me for help.

“I don’t know where the box is, but I can make a new one” I said and got up. “Maybe our readers have an opinion about this as well!”

devil and fairy

The other day, when I was taking the images for the “Embrace Diversity” series, all the Dedes were on their best behaviour. The idea was to photograph puppets that wouldn’t normally go together, like Rob the thief and Bobby the policeman. Surprisingly, when they forgot about their professions, they are actually not that different at all and they shared a good old yarn over a beer. Foxy Lady – who tangoed with Harvey, the rabbit – told me afterwards how much she enjoyed the dancing. She admitted she was brought up hating rabbits. That was just the way it was at home and she never questioned it. Not in her wildest dreams would she have thought Harvey could be so much fun.

I got six images I am really happy with and they are already on the tshirts now. The only pairing that didn’t work for me was Mrs Esta Blished, the fairy godmother, and Devil. These two where whispering to each other all afternoon. When I looked at the pictures later I wasn’t quite sure what was going on. When the image is cropped to their heads only they look okay. It just looks like Devil is letting Mrs Esta Blished in on a secret. But when you see the entire image, it looks more like he is hassling her. I better watch this. Despite being a devil, I  have never had any complaints about him so far. But then, it could as well mean that nobody dares to speak up. Until I know the whole story  I can’t really use this image.

devil and fairy2

designall2

Summer came to a screeching halt yesterday. It rained! It was about time… The usually lush, green countryside had taken on a very parched look.

Being indoor creatures through and through, the Dedes become more active the more miserable the weather outside is. Unlike me, they are actually looking forward to the long wet winter. They are now sticking their heads together and hatching plans about what they are going to do next.

Last night, Lou, the young puppy, popped by and asked casually, “So when is your exhibition then?”

“End of June,” I answered. “It is still a while to go.”

“I thought you wanted to finish your next book by then” he reminded me. “I haven’t seen you writing lately.”

“No” I confirmed. “But I am working on it!”

“Just asking” he said. “With all the kerfuffle about the zazzle store we don’t want you to lose sight of what we are about.”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with you being one of the main characters, does it?”

“Oh am I?” He tried hard to sound surprised, but he is the worst liar under the sun. And he immediately came to the real issue. “Any chance of having a sneak preview?”

“No way!” I exclaimed. “If I let you have a look the others will follow and want to have a read as well. Then everybody will tell me their opinion. That would be a recipe for disaster. I would never finish in time!”

There are certain things you just have to do on your own!

I took the opportunity to thank him for being on his best behaviour when we were in the studio taking photos for the “Embrace Diversity” series. Skeleton Edeltraut was terribly worried and it took me a while to convince her she has nothing to fear. Lou was just lovely that day and visually they are a very nice couple. I would never say this out aloud though.

esta blished

I am finally ready to tell the story of Fairy Godmother. It is a long story and I have to briefly recap the whole Dede story.

You might know the Dedes have been around for just over a year. I started doing them in December 2011 and they immediately took on a life of their own. Within a week I had created 15 characters. They instantly set forth and forced me to drop everything else I was doing at the time and take pictures of them. When the images turned out well, they went on to demand a story about our relationship. So I sat down and wrote the book “Hermit’s Web or the few friends I need I hand-craft myself”. Their initial success made them so vain that having the book distributed to my close friends wasn’t good enough for them any longer. They wanted to take on the world…

Unfortunately they can’t do it themselves. They have to work with me. And I am the one who is holding it all up, so they tell me. If they had chosen a different artist, if they had landed in someone else’s studio, they would be out there enjoying fame and fortune (or at least, that is what they are constantly telling me). I can assure you they are not always plain fun. They are needy, demanding and ungrateful at times. They are holding me hostage  – but that is a different story. I wanted to let you in on the appearance of Fairy Godmother.

The Dedes, – when the book was published – heard or read somewhere that New Zealand was Guest of Honor at the tremendously important book fair in Frankfurt. Of course their demands didn’t stop with the publication of the book. The next thing was they wanted to go to this big fair. My plea that we were a little late didn’t cut it with them. “That is what we want, make it happen.” they said.

I was extremely fortunate to find someone who still had space on their booth and was willing to take the Dede book to Frankfurt after I had described it as an art book over the phone. I was so overjoyed about the good news that I immediately had to sit down and create the Fairy Godmother for good luck. The head wasn’t even dry when the lady, an academic, rang me back to tell me that my book wasn’t an art book. She said the book was rather childish. Whimsical I prefer to call it, but the word eluded me at the time. I was speechless. Here we are again: what is art?

Anyway, the book went to Frankfurt in the end. When I put the skin on the Dede Fairy Godmother I named her Mrs Esta Blished. Look at her. She turned out to be a tired old Fairy Godmother, who is busy protecting her own achievements. Her wand  is gathering dust in the attic. Personally I think she is a beauty, but she might not appeal to other people. Just like art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

devil extreme closeup

I have been working hard on finishing a design for the puppet’s Zazzle store. So far I have created a series of six mugs depicting individual puppets. The “Embrace Diversity” series needs to germinate a little longer. Last night I showed the design of the mug to the puppets for sign-off, but they were all very quiet. Devil, the spokesperson, shed light on the situation. He said some of them had aired their concern, saying a Zazzle store devalues their standing as artworks and they are currently discussing the pros and cons amongst themselves. So they would like to postpone the first products for a little bit. This burst my bubble and I know when we slow down now it will never happen. Just like the Procrastinator puppet who is supposed to have been created with the first lot.

Of course most of the puppets agree they have to contribute to the household kitty. Only a few believe the whole thing is silly and play the artwork card. They are artworks for art sake! Unfortunately, as is most often the case, the few that disagree are the most vocal ones.

I asked them what they came up with in their one week of retreat and they looked sheepishly to one side. So I guess there was nothing workable.

“It is always so easy to be against things,” I said very frustrated, “but coming up with a constructive idea is a totally different story.”

I took my proofsheet and a pen and asked all the puppets depicted on the mugs to sign a model-release form. So it is all water-tight and I will put their mugs up today.

tangoI went really wild yesterday and took lots of images. Now I have to sift through them all to find out which ones are our heros.

Though all the Dedes were watching, some of them are still not convinced it is the right idea. Pirate likes the idea, but is miffed, as he wanted to be my manager and suggested exactly the same thing in January. Back then I wasn’t keen on the idea at all. But now circumstances have changed and one has to adapt, right?

For the “Embrace Diversity” series I asked Harvey and Foxy Lady to pose together. Everybody knows hares and foxes usually avoid each other. Much to my surprise they immediately started to tango and what a lovely couple they were. Everybody clapped at their performance. Only Pavlova, who stood right next to me, wasn’t impressed. “I will call you a pimp from now on”, she said under her breath so only I could hear. “I can assure you, I certainly won’t take part in such silliness!”

It’s easy for you, I thought, you have a job in the lab.