Dear World,

Dear World Wide Web,

It’s been far too long since I’ve paid any attention to my website.

It’s been a long time of settling in to new work, new direction, and a new city.  I’m still feeling a bit of a creative lull since all of the upheaval of the last chapter, but I’m counting on it being the creative equivalent of a long, REM nap — the kind you wake up from, feeling like Jello and thinking, “Wow, I must have reeeeally needed that.”  (And a creative lull for me means that I’m only working on one project at a time, not 7.)

I’ve rented out my cozy Hamilton home and moved to the capital of this great country, Ottawa Ontario, Canada.  For the last six months I’ve been an Animation Supervisor for one of the very best kids’ shows on television today (Sure, I’m a little biased, but ratings don’t lie either!)
Wild Kratts is the animated series by Chris and Martin Kratt -”The Kratt Brothers”- who are more widely known for their success in creating, “Zoboomafoo”, “Kratt’s Creatures” and “Be The Creature”.  Their in-house presence in the studio really brings a great life to the work place, along with an amazing and wise-beyond-his-years director, Simon Paquette, and so many other open and caring crew members.  It’s a creative environment you don’t often come across in the work place — the the sort of personality that SHOULD be present in every art studio.  I’ve always said that the personality of leadership trickles down through any organization, and this place happens to be caring, wise, quick to laugh, and slow to anger.  That says a lot to me about the individuals.

On another note, we have studio pets:
Meet two of the three lobby Turtles, Tortuga and Tortilla:

I’m still working on getting together my new street performance project, Faunus, which, while becoming more and more realistic looking and coming together as a character, still has a long way to go in functional reverse-stilt construction.  I’ve had to pass that job on to a real stilt-maker.  While that gets dreamed up better, a fellow Animation Supervisor in the cubical next to mine, artist, Jason Hall, is working on real Warrior Princess armour for Faunus.  She is going to be a strong matriarch of wherever it is she comes from.

On the Franken Toy front, I’ve temporarily pulled the plug on them.  I have some serious carpal tunnel syndrom and complex tendinitis (also the reason I’ve switched gears in street performance, from chalk art to Faunus).  And although the toys have been my best viral works of art to date, I can’t justify the strain they put on me and on my chances of healing.
I may get back into them when I’m not already doing so much with my arms, but until then they’ll just be a lovely bunch of photographs for people to blog about.  And maybe the occasional personal gift.

That said, it is official that the Kratt Brothers love Franken Toys:

So much so that Chris (seen above with a gifted Wild Kratts Franken Creature) bought Robo Reggie for one of his sons.

So… I suppose that’s all I’ve got to post for today.  I’ve finally gotten another great job, I’ve managed to keep my house and my two cats, and in one month I’ll be moving into a cute, little apartment right in the heart of down town Ottawa where I look forward to being able to paint again.  I`ve still got goals and plans, but I refuse to have expectations.  Six months ago I did not see myself here.  But being here now - it`s a good thing.

PS: I`ve also started taking roller derby lessons with the Capital City Derby Dolls.  So don`t mess with me.  I`ll crap you up good!

Toys!

I’ve finally put photos of my toys on the site, HERE.

I’ve got many more in this old noggin of mine, so be sure to come back for updates in the future.  It might take me some time, as it’s easy to put toys on paper, but harder to sew them by hand!

How to Make a Frankin Toy

I have made somewhere over 50 (but probably less than 100) “Frankin-Toys” in the past 6 years. They make for a fun, guaranteed one-of-a-kind, inexpensive and thoughtful gift. And if you can sew at all, they can be extremely fun to create.

How to make a Frankin-Toy

1- purchase a heaping pile of second-hand toys. Name-brand preferred, but the most important quality in all of them should be their clearly distinguishable body parts. For example, teddy bears are generally only good for their heads. Once torn apart, a teddy bear’s leg or arm simply looks like a stump. But if that’s the sort of frankin-toy you’re going for – a stump monster – then by all means!

2- disassemble said toys

3- sew back together in amusing (yet preferably non-offensive) arrangement

4- assign silly name and give away as Christmas (and/or any-or-no occasion) gifts

Sadly, I’ve given away most of my toys without having taken pictures.  I can’t remember all the toys I’ve made.
If you’re one of the lucky jerks to have received a Frankin-Toy in the past, I’d love it if you took a snapshot and sent it to me!  I’ll post it on the site.  I miss my babies dearly. Each one is special.

“Bubble-ufagus”

Squeeze her fuzzy claws and she says things like,

“You’re beauuutiful” and, “Crayons make me happy!”

Big Bird gets eaten by a fish.  A moment of creative genius, I must say.

“The Bert Bullet”

WHAM! POW! Shot straight through the belly of a very indifferent flamingo!

“Tweety Junction”

“Frog Legs McToots”

The latest toys, Christmas 2008
I call them “Tigger Time, Times Two”  BFF’s.

They hop and twitch and giggle and sing. They even sense when they’ve fallen over, but the one on the left is no longer able to do somersaults since I “modified” him.