Day #92: Feeding the Soul of the Artist

Perhaps I have been under a rock, but I recently read (and re-read) "Art and Fear." This is an amazing read! I had read some excerpts from the book, but now I've read the whole thing. Twice. I highlighted, underlined, and scribbled in the edges. I want to take passages and blanket my studio wall for inspiration. It was like deeply nourishing food that tasted like chocolate. Make sense?

Recently, artist Patrick Dougherty visited Richmond's Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Patrick builds giant, outdoor installations of native plants -- mostly saplings. I was fortunate enough to attend his artist talk, which echoed so many of my underlined passages from "Art and Fear." I was pretty jazzed up about that! A few days later, I had the pleasure to volunteer for a few hours as he built (with the helping hands of many, many volunteers) "Diamond in the Rough." 


I really enjoy his work (end result), but I equally enjoy his process. The level of community involvement required is a work of art on an entirely different level.

As an artist, I sometimes feel like I am working in a vacuum. It's me and a roomfull of raw material that I am responsible for transforming into my work. Yes, yes, at least I have puppets to keep me company, right? (And Pandora...let's not forget Pandora!) Sometimes I even have assistants come in. Sometimes my kids join me (then I can guarantee nothing much will get done). But it's really still all up to me.

Sometimes you can be your own best friend. Other times you can be your own humongous roadblock.

I feel fortunate that there is a component of my work that involves going out into the world and physically sharing my work. That is my real end product. Yes, I can make puppets, but they need to perform or what's the point?

My point today is that getting the nourishment and support you need is part of the work of the artist. Things that feed my inner artist: time talking with other artists (thank you), walks, exercise, libraries, nature, climbing trees, yoga, Carmina Burana, reading to my children, chopping vegetables (really, it's true!)...

Day #91: A Real Lemon

Really!

I was squeezing lemons. Who knew?

Yep. When life hands you lemons...make puppets!

Day #90: R&D

I've been looking through books on wildflowers and native plants for the region in which my new show (in progress), Little by Little, is set. It's tricky because there are so many choices! The Appalachian region is teeming with life and full of micro-ecosystems.

While wandering in the woods, these were everywhere. I like the shape of the leaves -- great for giving something an interesting shape to give it a uniqueness that works for the new show.

 I'm look for flora with visual appeal and textural variation -- and it has to be accurate. We were camping last weekend and just happened to be near the AT. I had my books, walked around, and found an interesting specimen: the may apple.

The leaves act like umbrellas for the single flower.

These plants carpet the floors of many a forest. They come in single leaf or double leaf. The double-leafed varieties will bear fruit. First a flower, then the "apple."

Pretty neat!

You can see the "apple" forming in the center!

I've been looking for fabrics/techniques to re-create these for one of the scenes that just happens to be perfectly times with when these interesting wildflowers are flowering....fabric stores are just as dangerous as bookstores. (OK, even more so!)

Day #89: Carrot-top!

I'm used to finding oddly shaped carrots at the Farmer's Market. Not this one! Straight from the Trader Joe's bag...it's Carrot Guy!

Had to add that kale "bonnet" to give it a bit of, um, decency.

Love it when they come out of the packaging just like this. Puppet-made!

Day #88: On a wing and a prayer...

I worked on the owl wings some more today along with a sample for the backdrop. The wings are tricky -- I mean, they have to fly (always neat), but I want them to look featherish without using feathers. I am hoping this wool will do the trick.

Inside part of the wing in progress. I had to fold the edges of the darker side to get the clean edge.

This is what the other side looks like now with the edges folded.

One finished wing, the other still in progress.

And a sample for an idea of how to handle the background...stay tuned!

Day #87: Winging It!

Our new show features a Great Horned Owl as one of the major characters. I've looked at bazillions of images -- they are pretty amazing birds. They have great expression and loads of texture and color. I feel lucky that they were the best choice for the show as an owl local to the region in which the show is set.

The wings are a key feature in this puppet, of course. They need to be expressive (like the hands of an Italian!). To begin our process, we looked at wing structure and made a mini-wing out of paper.

Rey drew this. Didn't she do a great job?

We looked at lots of youtube footage featuring birds in flight. We also watched "Guardians of Ga'Hoole." OK, so we used the project to justify our watching of the film -- but it's great for looking at owls. (And I totally loved the credits!)

I am making this puppet using wool and wet-felting it. This is the primary wool roving that will be featured in our creature:

Jacob roving dyed with natural dyes. Purchased last year with this owl in mind at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Fest!

Then I began laying out the fibers...Pandora was playing an '80's station...

See -- there Iam!

These will be big wings -- but the fibers will shrink a bit, so not quite this big.

Melanie is working on some raccoon parts in the background. Pool noodles are awesome. It's great that they are a TOOL.

We scaled up a bit to compensate for the fiber shrinkage...let's hope our guesstimates are accurate!

Ready for the next step...tomorrow!

And tomorrow...we will wet the whole thing out, flip it, lay out side two and begin ROLLING! (I have a pool noodle, and I know how to use it. Watch out!)

Day #86: Puppet Pondering

Well, we returned safely from the wilds of West Virginia and western Virginia (not to be confusing). We had performances in Charles Town, WV and then camped near Brucetown, VA.

I spent a lot of time in the woods and learned about lots of things...which I photographed. I, unfortunately, could not locate the camera with the photos. I just found out that it's because the camera was never unpacked from the truck.

Oh.

I guess that would explain that.

So I have been riddled with guilt and angst about not posting on the blog. I must confess that I have had a tough time coming up with puppets that I could execute in one day that were interesting to me. It was fun and mentally challenging, but it has become draining. But I want to honor the spirit of the blog by continuing to work at it and complete my days of posting.

Today I visited with my friend and fellow puppet-builder and puppeteer, Terry Snyder. We both talked about our processes and how fun it was to see how other people worked. The process involved in the act of creation. How you take "stuff," work with it, work with it, work with it, until it becomes way more than "stuff."


Then I remembered Rule #6 for Puppet-A-Day....that I could change the rules at any time. So...here we go!

There will still be puppets -- have no worries! My focus is going to be changing to more stuff about process. Documenting in more detail the puppets featured in the show that I am building. I've actually photographed much of this process that I have not posted on the blog (because I saw it as unrelated). Well, now I see it as very related. Now I can have a day devoted to owl wings -- a day for the face -- a day for the body -- a day for the rod -- a day for troubleshooting -- a day for the mechanism -- you get the picture. I think this will actually be potentially useful for other puppeteers. And I like the idea of documenting stuff.

Most of all, it is imminently "do-able."

I will still intersperse some wacky stuff in here (for fun), but I will mostly post up "a day in the studio life of a working puppeteer and puppeteer."

And, yes, I count this as a "day." After all, part of the process is thinking about your process!

P.S. If I double up on my posts for the rest of May, I will catch up. Wish me luck!