Archives for posts with tag: imagination

Yesterday was the big day. The official opening of the Dede studio space! And what a wonderful day it was. I am not one for big parties and hadn’t invited many. Even thought the Dedes want to pull a big crowd, I prefer it when everybody can talk to everybody and rather have a few little parties than one big one. Much to the dissappointment of the Dedes there was just a handful of us to watch them perform their Dada poems. Of course, there was a long discussion about the sense and non-sense of Dada poems and in the end we ran out of time. Therefore I can’t show you the film of the show yet :), but it is in the making. Watch this space.

action

I really should have had the camera out in the run up to the event. Then you could have seen Witch throwing her wooden spoon a couple of times while she was preparing the food for the guests, Nothing seemed to work for her. Thankfully, one of the Dede fans brought some tiny muffins that we were going to eat after the show. Guess what? By the time we wanted to have some they were all gone! We suspect Pig can’t read.

pig pigging out

lous plan1

Even Lou, the young puppy has a plan in mind. His plan doesn’t involve the rest of the Dedes though, only the one he is obsessed with.

He is still chasing the object of his desire, Skeleton Edeltraut. He won’t give up, not in a million years I guess. No matter how much the others try to convince him that he doesn’t have a chance. Everybody understands Edeltraut’s fears. What would happen to the pile of bones if the young puppy gets his mittens on her? We don’t want to find out. So, Edeltraut continues to run for her life whenever she sees him.

lous plan-2

pig prof bottle

Pig and Professor don’t have a plan, they only have a solution. Thinking about it, it is not even a solution. They made themselves comfortable in the liquor cabinet and asked me to fetch them when something finally happens in the Dede world.

Every time I have a moment I try to clear out a box or two. This morning I moved one to the side and nearly dropped it when I suddenly saw L’Artiste sitting there scribbling on a piece of paper. “What are you doing up so early and hiding behind a box?”

L’Artiste was equally surprised and quickly responded “Nothing!” He tried to look unsuspicious but he couldn’t hide the paper as he was sitting on it and I could see what he’d already written. It said “L’Artiste’s CV”, though the rest was blank.

lartiste CV

“What’s that all about?” I asked him.

“I have had enough of waiting around. I want a job” he admitted and added meekly  “and I am going to find it elsewhere since you don’t seem to be making any progress here.” He looked at me in anticipation of my response. I have to admit, I was taken aback. We are so close to getting cracking again. Why are the Dedes all of a sudden getting so impatient with me. I don’t have the energy to fight it and all I asked was what kind of job he is looking for.

“Don’t know. Anything really” he told me.

“What are your marketable skills then?”

“Don’t know… I am creative! I am pretty sure I’ll find something.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. Good on him for trying. It is definitely better than sitting around, but personally I was very disappointed that he didn’t have the stamina to wait just a tad longer.

“Best of luck” I said and continued clearing boxes. That left him speechless.

lartiste mitzi tennisfilm

I had to go out last night and when I came back L’Artiste and Mitzi had finally left their spot on the yoga mat. They had made their way to the table and the lap top. Mitzi  had swapped one cosy place for another and was curled up on the keyboard, not too far from where L’Artiste was sitting. But L’Artiste had changed big time. He had a definite aura of action about him.  When I went round to see what he was doing he immediately said “So what is wrong with that?” and pointed to the screen. I could see the half finished tennis film. “We have a good amount of footage here. We could finish this one in no time flat!” he continued excitedly.

I had to own up that I wasn’t entirely happy with the script. I had asked a friend to come up with something. I don’t think I conveyed very well what I was after and unfortunately what we ended up with wasn’t in line with the Dede spirit. It wasn’t just a little off, it was way off. That is why I put it on hold.

L’Artiste scratched his head for a moment and then said “I really think we should finish it. I am sure your friend will understand when he sees the final product, don’t you think?”

“I promise I will look at the script again and see what I can salvage. It has been sitting in the drawer for a while now. Maybe it improved while it sat there.”

farmerjohn_lilPiggy excursion

Farmer John complained last night that our house wasn’t very stimulating. There’s no pictures on the wall and no furniture in the room where they are staying, only a heap of discarded newspapers in one corner. How can a good farmer educate his piglet? A piglet who hasn’t even learned to read yet?  I guess he has a point. I have to offer them a bit more excitement as they are the only two lil’Dedes who stayed behind when the others went overseas to Waiheke Island. Even though we have no idea whether they are having fun over there, Farmer John just assumes that, having not heard anything, they must be having the time of their lives. And Lil’Piggy and him are loosing out!

As I had to go to Devonport today, I let them tag along to see the current exhibition at the Depot Artspace, where the big Dedes had such a good time. They absolutely loved it. Here Farmer John explains the painting “Indian Spices” by Paul Burke to his mate, who is such a grateful listener. The gallery manager, Cath O’Brien, took the picture and we were both surprised how well Farmer John interpreted what he saw. He sounded quite the expert. When it was time for me to go, they weren’t finished looking around and virtually begged me to be allowed to stay. I reminded them they are supposed to come with me to Waiheke for the artist’s talk on Saturday.  But no, they well and truly had their heart set on staying at the Depot. In the end I left them there. I believe they found a nice vantage point on a shelf.  I only hope they don’t want to go to India next…

farmerjohnandlilpiggy

Hurrah! We finally finished sanding the window frames in the new studio space! Farmer John and Lil’Piggy were the only two puppets around when we performed our victory dance and they joined right in. High Five and all. I can tell from Farmer John’s look that he thought it was about time (being a hands-on man himself, he wonders what took us so long), or is he secretly peeking at the scale on Lil’Piggy’s forehead to see if it is fattened up enough?

Anyway, the victory dance was a bit premature. We still have all the painting to do.

sander-2

The Dedes are starting to run out of patience. They still haven’t moved into their new studio space. We are still busy sanding down window frames. I want to have the space perfect before I allow them to settle. Surprisingly, it was all good for a while. They seemed to be content as they could see the light at the end of the tunnel – or so I thought. I just assumed the Dedes know me well enough to sense how stressed I am and that it is not a good time to talk to me. I really appreciated that they gave me the space I needed and that they refrained from pushing me. But this morning it finally occured to me they don’t really understand that things take time. No! they have simply given up on me. All the projects that we’ve started came to a screeching halt. They have given up asking me about the tennis film and recording the Dada recitals and all the other fun things we had planned and were so excited about. Instead, they are terribly annoyed that I spend every spare minute making new Lil’Dedes for the upcoming exhibition. Needless to say, there is no love lost between the big ones and the little ones. The big ones keep to themselves and it is now very obvious that they are currently avoiding me!

This morning Devil and L’Artiste decided they couldn’t wait any longer and took action to speed things up. They went into the new space and had a good look at the sander. They discussed it, scratched their heads and figured out it will take at least two Dedes to shift the heavy thing. By the time they had dragged it to the window they were totally exhausted and needed a break. They still haven’t figured out how to switch the thing on. To be honest, I hope they never ever will…

sander

I know, I’ve been rather slack lately about reporting what is happening in the Dede world. Nontheless, the Dedes are alive. I’ve got an email from Lil’Mouse who found a new home last week. He told me it is pretty cold where he is living now and everyone is wearing a tuxedo. So he went to a suit hire shop to get himself one too. He doesn’t want to stand out, he says. Can you spot him?

penguin2

He then went to a photographer to have his portrait taken, to send to his friends he left behind. I think the tux suits him perfectly. I guess he still has to wear sunglasses to avoid snow blindness.

penguine mouse

king and underlings

The King finally has some underlings he can command. So he is happy! Unfortunately, they don’t stay around for long. The cool Lil’Mouse with her sunglasses has already moved on and Lil’Devil will leave us this afternoon as well. I had to promise the King there will be more little mice and more little devils.  Ah well, I’ll put it on my list!