I am wondering what went through the mind of this crab, when I took her picture. I only discovered when I looked at the image on the computer, that I was being watched.
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Watched
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Last weekend I finished my first puppet show clip. It’s only like a minute or so long. I am going to put it on Youtube this weekend. This is another first for me. The book publishing part was easy, as I dealt with the related issues all my working life. I am a paper person… But, boy, had I fun making this clip. And I have plenty of ideas for more!
This painting is called “Who is scared of the bogeyman”.
I noticed I have a three tier approach to my artworks. I am hesitant to show my paintings publicly, as I use the painting process to solve problems. The act of painting decelerates my speed. The resulting images are often quite scary. I personally don’t mind their scariness, but each and every image reminds me of the issue I dealt with at the time.
My photography and composite imaging is different. I use it to explore moods as well as my surrounding and I don’t have a problem showing the pictures, as long as I am reasonably happy with the outcome.
My puppets on the other hand, have a life of their own and I can’t shut up about them (: Even though they are very much part of me, they also reveal the least about myself. Throughout history, puppets were allowed to say what they wanted. I like that! I can always blame the character. I love their fun and their cheekiness. My paintings are no fun.
It’s late again and I am still at work. I have to think of my dad, who passed away a long time ago. He had this saying: “In the evening the lazy ones get busy”. How true!
However, evening is the quiet time, when nobody interrupts you and you get much more done than during the day. I have finished 3 of my 4 tasks. The one I haven’t finished (actually I haven’t even started) is the GST returns for the tax man. Why am I not surprised. Unfortunately that is the one task I really should have done and it means I have to come back tomorrow and do it. buggeridoo!
I was hoping, once the launch is over, I can slow down a bit. But I can’t. I have no idea what drives me at the moment and where the energy is coming from. I have two new photographic projects, I would like to embark on, though the puppets are still requiring all of my attention. I am currently putting a proposal together for an exhibition in a gallery and I am also about to send a couple of books to the mothership (that is the newspaper the puppets are made of). I will labour over that particular letter for a while, as I will have to write it in German. Even though German is my mother tongue, it won’t come easy as I haven’t written a letter in my native language for yonkers. I don’t even know the proper format anymore.
I still have to update our website, but I think I will capitulate here. Down the corridor is a company that does web sites and they will be able to solve the technical problems much quicker and more elegantly than I ever could. This will free me up to do things I really like to do. Time is an extremely precious commodity… But what am I telling you (:
I’ve noticed, that my posts don’t get many likes at the moment… Sorry if I bore you, what I am writing here is more like a diary, basically for me to remember in a year’s time what it was like. I am also writing for my students as they will have to put themselves on the line once they will have completed their studies. I hope sharing what I go through will help. As one artist friend of mine told me: “When you go out there and exhibit, you are nailing your heart to the wall.” I don’t know if these were his own words, but they stuck!
So, the book is launched. I had my five minutes of fame, and now I am left with the minor problem of selling the print run. At the moment you can’t get the book anywhere else than in my office. And boy, every poor person who comes through the door, is greeted by three puppets and a grinning me. If they want it or not, they have to listen to my story and nobody leaves the room without having bought a book. It won’t be long and I will have exhausted all the people I know and I will slide back into my hermit state, because everybody is avoiding me (just kidding).
Being a real artist, of course I have procrastinated the selling task. I always said, once I have the books in my hot little hands, I will put them up on fishpond.co.nz (that is sort of the New Zealand answer to Amazon) and also on our own website. I dutifully read up about how to put a paypal button on a website and I am in the process of updating the website generally. Paypal says it takes 15 minutes to set up the button… Yeah right! I haven’t figured out yet, how you can charge different shipping costs for people here and overseas. But maybe I am just too tired now. Tomorrow is a public holiday in New Zealand and I will try with a fresh mind then. Thankfully, I have to sell books and not cream cakes. So it doesn’t matter if they are not sold by the weekend.
I have sent the 2 required copies to Legal Deposit Office of the National Library yesterday, that means that the book is now officially published in New Zealand. That’s at least something!
Devil
Here is the foreword of Hermit’s Web. Just to give an idea of my writing and what to expect when reading the book…
Artist’s preface
My friends and I go back a long, long way. All of them were bright young things once, making headlines. They sure were looked at in their heyday, and admired for their knowledge. I for one thoroughly enjoyed their companionship. Sadly, as they grew older they lost their attractiveness. You know how it goes: even great stories become old news as one makes new friends with new stories and new insights. So I shuffled them off to a rest home, where they desperately awaited my visit.
Isn’t it sad? All they had left was a life in anticipation of something that might never happen. Of course I was so busy, that once they were shuffled out of sight, my visit stayed pretty much a promise. Every time I walked past that place, I had a bad conscience and thought, I really have to look up my old friends. Needless to say, it rarely happened. Too many other things demanded my attention.
To cut a long story short, my friends experienced it first hand: our world, is a world of youth. Once you are past your prime, people lose interest fairly swiftly.
Then one day, I heard of plans to demolish the rest home. I was told all my old friends would have to go. I decided instantly to go down memory lane one more time. The next rainy day, I went to pay the old dears a visit. As soon as I sat down, Chance (normally not one to push in front and speak up) said: “If we want to have a new lease on life, we have to re-invent ourselves. Our situation won’t improve by just sitting around.” I am not sure whether they already knew about the demolition plans, or if it was an act of desperation, tired of waiting for some sort of attention. Anyway, the Devil, sitting next to Chance, and of course having no fear, held his hand up immediately. He said to me: “I know, I can do it with your help.” Admittedly I was flattered by the Devil asking me for help. How could I say no to him? So I gave it a go. The others watched suspiciously, but Devil turned out wonderfully and was invited out to dinner that very same night. In fact, he never returned to the rest home. Needless to say, the next day they all wanted to have a go. Now there is a long waiting list.
Of course we are not living in a fairy-tale world, are we? There is danger in re-invention. In the process their brains shrivel dramatically. They might still have a glimpse of who they were before, but more often than not, they become a totally new personality. But one thing they all have in common: they couldn’t give a toss about what’s going on in the big wide world. But why should they? They have been cast aside before.
I just love to watch them and think of my part. With all their imperfections, they are great fun to have around.
Translation for the less imaginative of my friends:
Of course I was talking about the pile of old newspaper in the spare room, and the dreadfully wet summer Christmas of 2011/2012, when I created all the hand puppets featured in this book. But this wouldn’t have taken up two pages.
I just looked through the launch images my friend Renee had sent me.
I think this is a beautiful one of Hermit. It was taken right after the puppet show and the actors are pretty tired. Ducky, (the one in the foreground) wasn’t part of the actual show, but he has always something to say and wants to be centre stage. Pig (lying on the table) drank the entire bottle of snaps by itself and is now out of it. Pirate (at the top) casts his good eye around for the next opportunity to make money. And Mouse (on the left) is just exhausted from running around all evening (tongue hanging out). Witch, Devil (very obscured) and Deutsch Fraulein are protecting Hermit from being recognised (:
Of course everybody knows by now Hermit is actually a Hermitess. It is the age of equal opportunity after all…
When I was tidying up in the Gallery yesterday, I overheard a conversation between Devil’s Advocate and Sunny Boy. Sunny was very excited how well everything went on Thursday night and said confidently we all could go on holiday now – The Gold Coast would be nice, thank you! He even suggested, I should pay for the entire troupe, as I must have made loads of money by selling the book. But Devil’s advocate has a good head on his shoulders and put Sunny right… He said: “This was only the beginning. The majority of work is still to come”. Ah, Sunny is such a dreamer…
So, it is all set up for the big night at the Gallery. Here L’artiste, Detail and Skeleton are having a chat about what to expect. They don’t seem to be particularly happy campers. I will report tomorrow how they liked it.
I still have to do some name plates for the puppets, but most importantly, the wine is in the fridge… I even rehearsed my puppet show this morning at breakfast with two spectators. They had some really good input. My biggest problem will be to make sure, I am not laughing the loudest about my own jokes.
dedepuppets 