Doodle of the week

I finally scanned a couple of doodles I've had in my sketchbook for a while. They both seemed to need something, which is why they've been untouched and unfinished for so long. I'm thinking they just needed to perk, because as soon as I opened both files- I knew they needed each other.

Above is their consummation, with a little help from Photoshop and their mother, looking on with affection.

Everybody wants a great body

Here are a couple of views of the next body, one of the first batch of magic that Paula quilted and designed. It is already as full of personality and attitude, as it is headless and limbless. All the wonderful little fussy details are perfect, so deciding who she will be is the easy part. Waiting to get my hands on her has been the tough part. I've had her for quite awhile, she's been sitting on my mantle amongest all the extra and unassembled body parts.

So, I've decided to break my own rules and jump ahead. I should be pushing on to finish: "One day there will be a port into our heads or navels so that we can download the latest update to sanity."

But I just need to start something new.

It's either that or buy another pair of cowboy boots.

I'm of Two Minds...

Finishing is as terrible as it is rewarding. It's tedious, stressful, and very, very satisfying all at the same time.

These girls are a milestone and a collective voice that says "Here we are and this what it is like to be half of an inspired pair. Aren't we just amazingly cool and beautiful in our not so subtle confusion?"

The dog who fell to earth

Yesterday afternoon I stepped out onto my porch to see if I could survive for more than a couple of minutes without catching fire. We all have our ways of keeping cool. Apparently, Gator thinks that China is cooler and that if she digs long enough and deep enough, she'll get there.

It just looked like she just rocketed in but did not burn up on reentry.

We are calling this.... wait for it....

The Gator Crater.

She lives

Well, the image is a little soft but the mood is right. It's been a long time coming but there is finally light. No name yet, because she has not definitively told either Paula or I what that might be, but she lives- And short of a few more tweaks and a final and formal permanent assembly she is finished.

"Two minds" which you might remember from former posts, is permanently assembled, but also lacks the final

touches. We are close to having these two new friends stand on their own and speak for themselves.

Paula and I took a hiatus to rest, recover and renew after the plan for a group show blew up and took with them some unexpected pieces of us. We have been busy polishing them to their former luster and look forward to blowing up and blowing away the rest of the obstacles and challenges.

I still love robots

Nothing really edges out the first loves, visually, verbally or literally. I love robots, puns and my first grade teacher.

I've been working on this off and on for a few years, sometimes for a creative stretch and a little fun to break up my day job.

It's almost a growth chart. I swear I still learn something everyday about Photoshop and Illustrator. It's like my brain, I only know how to use about ten percent.

Rust

As I half listened to my daily portion of "Morning edition" on my drive in last week, a name caught my attention, then a voice. The name was Ted Rust. The voice, Veda Reed's.

I had read Ted Rust's obituary on that Sunday morning with a mixture of lost opportunity and hero worship. I rubbed shoulders with him briefly a few years ago, and will miss his influence and fingerprints.

As for Veda, still a heroine, still a great influence from my graduate study years and present way of seeing, some of which I am still processing and probably will be for a long, long time.