King of Cookies, design for Threadless

Please vote for my Threadless shirt artwork for the Sesame Street Design Challenge:

King of Cookies.

To vote for it and any of the other awesome designs by my fellow artists you can either create a Threadless account or use the Threadless Facebook application and use your Facebook log in (don't uncheck the boxes on that or it won't work). Thank you :)

Cookie Monster and Tom Waits mashed up.

This is very clever. He/she must have watched a LOT of footage to get the perfect clips. I love the way they've used Cookie's characteristic finger in the air and face palm to convey the importance of his words, and feeling of helplessness in the context of the song. Cookie Monster never seemed more profound. I hadn't fully appreciated his ability to emote until now.

Kudos to Henson and Oz for creating a character that connects so well with people of all ages. He is my favourite SS character.

The La Choy dragon.

Via Laughing Squid

Childhood favourite Sesame Street segments

Still my favourites as well :)


The Yip Yip Martians meet a telephone (blue Martian puppeteered by Jim Henson)


Grover's Health Minute - Teeth


Grover the Waiter - Big Hamburger


Born to Add


The Beetles, Letter B

Most memorable animations:


Me and My M.


The Ladybugs' Picnic


Number 12 from the Pinball counting song, sung by The Pointer Sisters

I could go surfing You tube all day looking for more but I'll leave it at that!

Cookie sings Rammstein

This reduced me to helpless laughter! How fortunate that Cookie had that row of numbers and not one of the others.

Favourite Muppet Show skits

I was chatting with a younger staff member today (actually all of my staff are younger than me except one!) about my favourite Muppet Show skits. These are classic, as entertaining and funny today as they were when they were first screened in the 1970s, and still funny even when you've seen them a few times before.


The Snowths and Mahna Mahna. Snowths puppeteered by Frank Oz, Mahna Mahna voiced by Jim Henson.



Java aka the dancing slinkies skit



Swedish Chef and spaghetti . Chef's head and voice puppeteered by Jim Henson, his hands by Frank Oz). Also check out the doughnut skit.



Marvin Suggs (puppeteered by Frank Oz) and his Muppaphones

Labyrinth Ball 2008, photos

Last month we attended the Guild of the Golden Owl, annual Labyrinth Masquerade Ball. A huge improvement on last year in just the venue alone which was perfect for such an event. The Regal Ballroom is a gorgeous, classy, heritage ballroom, dressed in gold, cream and red with a soaring ceiling, and obligatory candelabras and crystal chandeliers.




More so than last year, people made quite an effort with their costumes. We hired ours. I was going to wear a huge white wig ala Marie Antoinette - it's something I've wanted to do since seeing the movie with Kirsten Dunst - which is why I went for a very plain mask. However I couldn't get the wig to cooperate with my mask on the night! I wasn't aiming to win the Best Dressed prize* although the wig might have helped get me nominated. I did get plenty of compliments nonetheless which was nice.




Musical chairs this year was bigger. There was no way I was going to play it in that skirt!

My dapper partner had been willing to wear his own snowy, faux, bouffant to match mine and had shaved off his side burns in preparation. I think he looked better without the wig anyway!





There wasn't as much Bowie played or Labyrinth soundtrack, and not all of the music was to my liking. Nonetheless I danced, and my skirt swished about in a bouncy way :)

The crew had put quite an effort together with the decor, staging an art show at the event, getting full colour flyers out. The nibblies were good too. Overall a fine night out I would recommend to anyone who loves the movie/relishes dressing up. I'm already thinking about what I'll do for my outfit next year!

*Thoughts on how to win the Best Dressed Prize at costume event
As someone who has awarded my own party guests with Best Dressed prizes I can tell you that making your own outfit goes a long way.
Attention to detail and a well coordinated outfit from head to toe shows you have put thought and effort into it.
If dressed as a character your cause may be supported by acting like the character.***
For a big event like this one you need to stand out from the crowd so avoid dark colours.
However:
you can accent dark colours with bold colour/sparkly**/furry trims etc;
you can compensate for an all dark outfit by going large.
Big hair/wig, head dress**, skirts, wings***, coat, and mask are some of the ways you can stick out a bit both literally as visually.

**Best Dressed Lady wore mostly black overlaying red with a lovely sequinned head dress featuring red butterflies.
***Best Dressed Gent was a bird. He was flapping about and hugging people :)

Guild of the Golden Owl

As I wrote previously I would provide an update on the 2008 Melbourne, Labyrinth Ball. There is now an official website so you can find all you need to know there.
Guild of the Golden Owl, the official Melbourne, Labyrinth Masquerade Ball website

Was this Henson's inspiration?

I'm currently working on a sculpture that will incorporate a wooden chess set. I painted all of the white pieces red. In the process of doing this the bishops reminded me of a muppet from one of my favourite, classic Muppet Show skits (muppet wiki entry here).

It occurred to me that as an artist inspiration can come from all sorts of places and when you're least expecting it. You can see the man in the moon, creatures in floral textile patterns and wonderful landscapes in a polished stone. You delight in the little details not everyone sees.

Perhaps Jim Henson (R.I.P.) got his inspiration one day, playing chess? Or maybe he just drew and it arrived. I shall have to dig out my Jim Hensons' Muppet Doodlings book and see if there are any sketches for the muppet concerned.

In the meantime have a chuckle, courtesy of my elite photo editing skills ;)

2008 Labyrinth Masquerade Ball, Melbourne

Listening to Straight Lines by Silverchair

Information regarding this year's Labyrinth Masquerade Ball from the organiser:

'The date: will be Saturday the 12th of July.
The venue: The Regal Ballroom, 216 High st Northcote

Yes after a bit of a hunt for a different venues the organisers stumbled across this lovely place.

Some more things to add to the list;

Live entertainment.
Finger food
Fashion parade
Fantasy art exhibition
Decent bar prices
Similar games and competitions as last year

...and more

Tickets to this year event are still being discussed but at this stage its looking to be around $30 (rough estimate so far).'

I will update/edit this post as further details become available. See here for a couple of pics from last year. Going by the gorgeous venue alone and the effort previously made it promises to be even better!
[edit 15/05/08]
Guild of the Golden Owl, the official Melbourne, Labyrinth Masquerade Ball website

Ron Mueck - Artist of Humanity

Sitting in my local library today I found a contemporary, Australian art magazine featuring one of my favourite artists, Ron Mueck. Why is he a favourite? I greatly admire the technical skill and thought he puts into his work; his attention to detail, the expressive, strong, simplicity of the statements made, the hushed awe being in front of one of his pieces inspires.

This artist's striking sculptural work is sometimes described as hyper-realist and more commonly as photo-realist. His pieces are a statement about the human body, its vulnerability and our humanity. Using specialist model making techniques, Mueck's sculptures play with scale, featuring lovingly added detail and bodily blemishes/flaws. Originally from Melbourne, and now based in the UK, Mueck's internationally most recognisable piece would be his giant crouching Boy as seen at the Venice Biennale. Locally in Australia, the expressive, 2 metre tall Pregnant Woman would be the best known. It's owned by the National Gallery of Australia and was featured in his first Australian show at the MCA, Circular Quay in Sydney in 2003. I was lucky enough to see that show .



Boy
2001
Photograph by Pollyanna Sutton

Prior to becoming an artistic sculptor, Mueck produced models and puppets in advertising and film, starting out in Australian childrens' TV as a puppeteer. His most well known turn as a puppeteer is from Jim Henson's Labyrinth as the gentle giant Ludo, whom he also voiced. Check out Muppet Wiki for more info on his work with the Jim Henson Creature Shop.

The following clips provide insight into the production methods Mueck uses.
WARNING: These clips contain artistic nudity.

Labyrinth Masquerade Ball

Listening to Relativity by Grafton Primary

On Saturday we went to the first Melbourne, Labyrinth Masquerade Ball. There were party games, period style dancing, beautiful costumes, and much effort put in to looking fantastic by virtually all who attended. Hopefully they will have another one next year!







Website of the Day

Cute Overload for your daily dose of cuteness. Check out the dancing otter!

Now with more back slashes!

Listening to: ‘Peek-a-Boo’ by Siouxsie and the Banshees

This blog turned one year old back in November. Please wish it a belated Happy 1st Birthday. Here’s a couple of pics to mark the occasion. They are of the coconut shells mentioned in my first blog post.


Ludo



Astro Boy