Talking pudding and the like

So I have concluded that life is much better once you have danced. If your down, grab yourself a partner and shimmy like there is no tomorrow. Saw Flap! again last night and had a song dedicated to Maeve and I, which is entirely appropriate seeing we are getting married soon. Great song, great night, check Flap! out at the Fox for the next 2 Tuesdays before the disappear overseas. Boo.

Now working on a show for the Malthouse, making a talking pudding, a talking ham and some talking oysters. What they are for I don't know as the show is 'Through the looking Glass". Will be a mad week of crazy making. I think I may have to take a holiday afterwards, lucky I recently bought myself a tent! woo hoo! I spent a lovely weekend in Shepparton recently and it has given me a taste for more travelling. Also have bought a bike and the sense of freedom I get just from having it is amazing! I can ride around, true story! When I finally do move to fitzroy it will serve a much better purpose that it is currently serving. The poor thing gets a tour around Nam every now and then. Once I'm i the city, ah, the things it will see.

Next Wave is starting May 15! Very excited as I didn't get much opportunity to see anything last year. Get into it! there are some great things going to be on. If you want some real theatre experiences then I think this is the time to get involved.

Will be starting the next woodcarving course in 2 weeks and I cant wait. My hand is coming along tre slowly. Hopefully will be able to finish it in the next round of classes. Also have bought my own carving tools, hurrah, which upon getting them promptly cut myself. Genius. At least they're sharp. I will soon be making beautiful little thingys of my own. Bliss.

Whats the time? Roo time

Was that introduction lame enough for you?

Few days till the roo is due to be finished. Looking pretty good if I do say so myself, Jam's paintjob is just a little bit ohhh ahhhh. Very nice. I will post a pic as soon as I've actually taken one. Sweet.

So it has been a fairly mental 2 weeks, not too many nights off. Yes indeed I am a social butterfly. A few nights were spent drowning my sorrows. I reccomend not drinking pints if your feeling this way. Lots of good things happening around Melbourne though, so it shouldn't be too hard to keep myself busy. Woodcarving classes are well underway, my salad servers, the exercise we are doing to get a hang of carving, are the dodgiest things you ever did see, the only things that they are serving up are massive splinters.

Good exhibition at the Never Never Gallery and, as usual, Hosier Lane always has awesome things to offer -

Planning to see both Ross Noble and Suitcase Royale in the coming week at the comedy festival. To anyone looking for a good piece of comic ramshackle theatre, go see Suitcase Royale. I saw their last show and it was just fantastic.

Also thinking about what to do once the Possum Magic gig is up. Surely more work will come along but it's nice to think that I will spend hour upon hour productively doing my own work. Somehow, i think that this is not going to happen. Have been painting alot more though, i think because woodcarving has given me a new something to think about, so it makes me want to do even more. Did that make sense? Anyway, working on some little canvas'. I think things in miniature are much more exciting.

Also would really like to travel again. I have been missing the unexpected joys of being somewhere completely different. I think that Asia may be on the cards for next time, but I would like to go and spend some more quality time in Europe as well. Visit the millions of places I never got a look see in, and perhaps even do some work and live over there ('there' being a non specific country).

A big hello to Kristyna (check out her blog http://www.shotjournal.blogspot.com/) who all the VCA girls miss as well as our other DAMU friends. We all dream of staying in Prague again. Perhaps we can coerce the DAMU kids into coming to Australia? eh eh? Anyway, we say hello and to remember the hilairous night that was the closing of the Quadrennial and the Inaguaral Hair Cutting in the Dark Party, here is a photo of our hungover sorry asses the next day, just before we got on a train for Berlin. Sigh.

Nice to hear that a few people have been reading this blog lately, perhaps if you keep reading it will give me the motivation to keep updating. Oh, and you should leave comments too, then I know that you love me.

Countdown to Kangaroo

We have one week left to finish this Kangaroo and then we move onto some Wombat action. Deconstructing these puppets has been fun, but its nice to see them coming back into one piece.

Photo of the two puppets that I made for Mooba. "Friend" and "Mernda". It was crazy how much the kids loved the frog. Ah, small children.

Kanga is on his way to being done. One week to go!

Went to see "Sammy J" last night at the comedy festival, go see it! Hilarious hilarious hilarious. Fantastic puppetry and a really crazy show.

Possum Magic

So Possum Magic is well and truly underway. It's pretty massive but we seem to be doing alright. At the moment we are two days ahead and the producer is very happy with the work that we are doing. We had a showing of the sculpts the other day and there were very minor criticisms, super easy to change. He also said that he wished that he had brought all the puppets to us. hurrah!

Spidey and the Frog looked great in their show at Moomba. Apparently the show was really well recieved all round. I'll post some photos of them as soon as my computer starts to work again. god damn it.

Melbourne is so goddamn hot at the moment. It's making it incredibly hard to work. I just can't concentrate on anything with 30 degree heat pounding at me. Gah! I need to move to some cooler tempretures. Or at least holiday in some. I have decided that after Possum Magic is over that I am going on a soul search, whatever and wherever that is. Sigh. I just feel that I"m missing something right now.

Move move move!

So I have had a massive day, 2 meetings, checking out a few things that I always mean to see but never do, dinner and drinks afterwards. phew! But worth it. I now have a job restoring the puppets for Possum Magic, a show that I saw a few times as a kid, and more than likely, these are those exact same puppets. But actual work and money for a few weeks, lovely!

Here are a few things to check out around Melbourne:

1. Coop at 45 Downstairs, on until this Sunday. A wonderful visual theatre piece that has some simply amazing sound design and wonderful puppet manipulation. The overall spectacle of this show was absolutely priceless. Plus its at a really nice new space. Check Half Tix for cheaper tickets though.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts-reviews/coop/2008/02/14/1202760449343.html

2. Never Never Gallery in Hosier Lane. Only open from 12 - 6 Wed - Sat. But get your butt down there and see some really interesting work. Usually stuff you would see on the streets but somehow its ended up in a gallery.

3. Craft Victoria. The exhibition that is on at the moment is great! The jewellery art is so hilairous and beautiful at the same time. There are cast silver pieces of pigeon poo. Love it! As well as some seriously well endowed dolls, funny but gross at the same time.

4. Sustainable Living Festival. On this weekend only I think. There is heaps of good stuff to check out and this Sat there is a clothes swap. Also there is a really cool bike shop there that is selling great bikes for about $550. Which is awesome for a new bike with all the perks. Get into it! Ride your bike around Melbourne and you won't have to deal with all the tools on public transport.

Hurrah!

Frog Construction 101 pt 2

So here is the finshed product. Still due for a pain touch up but he's pretty much done!

Victorias Growling Grass Frog

Frog Construction 101

Here are a few snapshots of the frog that I have been making. It has turned out pretty well, although I do need to do a touch up paintjob. Definitely a big learning experience but I was so pleased that it was all done with my hands.

The frame work and mouth control

After having made a pattern, screwed it up, remade the pattern and a million alterations

With legs and arms just before they were attached.

Finished product photos to come as soon as I find my bloody camera. Gah!

Also, walking down Brunswick St today I noticed an ace drawing on a board screwed to a stop sign, i wrote down the website and had a look when I got home and found out about this amazing place that I never knew was right there! Gah! I have been so blind! When I came home from Berlin I was raving about a building we had found there that had a concept very similar to this one. That the artists live in the building whilst they create their work. Its something that I think is absolutely fantastic. First chance I get i'm checking this place out. http://www.wardlow.com.au/index.html

Frog Nation

So I've got one more day to finish Mr. Frog and this is how he looked earlier today. I think he will be fine.

I've realised that it is usually a good idea to think things through before you start them...like every single part of something. Otherwise you really just end up fucking yourself over and causing more trouble. I'm glad that this is something i've done completely by myself because I can clearly see what I do and don't focus on when I make. Gah..if only thinking something through was something that I focused on. I'm always much too excited to get to the finishing part.

Haven't had a proper crafternoon for 2 weeks now. Got to make the next one good. Have only been working on the frog lately. Nothing non frog related has been happening. I did find my moose cut outs the other day though. I think thats what I need to be finishing.