#145

Hello, everyone.
Here’s our week’s work…


It’s hard to tell what month it is living in our house. You might guess that it’s October with all of the Halloween art around here. Then by the time it gets to be October, I’m sure it will look more like Christmas. And when you see the guillotine being built…you guessed it…Bastille Day!
The last time I mentioned Bastille day in the newsletter, a family friend replied saying that he’d like to see us create and auction off a Marie Antoinette doll with a removable head. I think it’s a first rate idea, but I’ve had a hard time convincing Jo. She’s a bit more cautious than me about offending people (which isn’t saying much.)
In an effort to figure out where all of our money goes, we kept a spending journal last week, writing down every last cent that we spent. Since food is one of the few expenses that we can really control, we set a strict budget for ourselves. Without going into all the boring details, I discovered that the four modest splurges we made that week on fast food made up 33% of what we spent on food for the week. The lesson here is, it’s cheaper to assemble your own Happy Meals. And when you do that, the toys improve quite a bit too. While munching on some home-made fries, our son was shocked to discover the Marie Antoinette toy at the bottom of the bag, complete with a guillotine ketchup dispenser.
-Dylan

#144

Hello, friends.
Here’s the art. We hope you like it.


Jo’s in an online group for artists called EHAG (Eclectic Halloween Artists’ Group.) They recently posed a challenge to their members to create Carnival Halloween themed art. So we have two pieces up for auction now on this theme: The Strongman and Barnum Bones (the unicycle riding skeleton.) I had a great time making the unicycle. I’m really fond of mechanical looking things.
Yesterday was a busy day for us and our kids. Our son had his first soccer game, which kept him running on his already sore legs. He’s used to baseball, which involves a lot more waiting around than actual sprinting. Our daughter had a performance last night with her jazz band, The Lincoln Pops. She’s definitely a character, playing bass in this band full of senior citizens. When they introduced her, she gave a wave to the audience that can only be described as an animatronic princess in a parade. This may be the best thing about working from home, we don’t have to miss these moments with our kids.

-Dylan

#143

Hello again.
Here’s the art, as usual…

I know we usually don’t say what we’re working on, but I’m too excited about this one to keep it quiet. It’s a Barack Obama portrait doll! Like all of our dolls, it will really just be meant for display. . .but you could play with it, I suppose, if you were so inclined. You might consider making him sink 3 point shots on the basketball court, or fist bump the other dolls in your collection. Hopefully, it will be more relevant in ten years than our Dukakis doll ever was.
We just had company here at the house the last couple of days, and I’m worn out from playing tennis with our friend’s eight year old, Emily. I may be somewhat liberal in calling it “tennis.” We hit a ball back and forth at the end of our dead end street. If it bounced less than three times between hits, we were doing pretty good, and if we managed to find the ball in the weeds between plays, we were doing excellent. If my knees would stop hurting soon, that would be more than I could wish for.

-Dylan

#142

Hello, dear friends.
Here’s the art, as promised.

Jo and I both have our little side projects that we tinker with from time to time. When Jo is feeling restless and tired of painting, she usually reorganizes something. It could be the photo albums… it could be her art supplies. She once rearranged the living room just for the sake of a change, and in a half dream state, I tried to sit on a couch that was no longer there.
My side project is a music video that I have been working on for a couple of years now. No, I haven’t shot any footage yet. I’ve just been building all the necessary props and players, such as a miniature drum set out of wood and license plates, a couple of rock-n-roll puppets (if there is such a thing), and guitars for them to play. I’ve recently picked the project back up and started building the set in the garage. It’s meant to look like my band (represented by a puppet band) is playing at the Rolling Stones Rock-n-Roll Circus. If you haven’t seen that TV special The Stones made in the 60’s, you should check it out. It’s got some incredible performances by Jethro Tull, The Who, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, and more. You can see pieces on YouTube if you can’t find it on DVD.
Maybe puppets and rock-n-roll don’t mix. But then again, maybe they do. When I was in the fourth grade, my favorite band was The Beatles. But before that, it was the Muppet band.
“Like wow.”

-Dylan