Squirrely Portraits

Dear Reader,

Yesterday we turned the Aliens' bed into a backdrop! It was a team effort, with the Aliens helping select the squirrels and the trees for the background - before school called - and after that ...



... reinforcements arrived, in the form or Justus and I, who carefully constructed the shots. Squirrels' portraits were then taken.

Once we've winnowed the shots to the best, we'll share with you, until then hang tight, knowing Squirrel King kits are nearing reality!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Who is The Squirrel King? ... part II

Dear Reader,

Time for another clue about the elusive title character of our series. Take a closer look at Vlad's portrait, there's a clue there.

What exactly it means ... and where we're going ... well all in good time :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Just Hanging Around

Dear Reader,

Sometimes in life we find ourselves just hanging around. It can be easy in such situations to forget that big leaps both result, and sometimes result in, hanging around.

In any event, I came across this image of Justus while recently reviewing footage we've already shot ... and somehow, especially because the edges of the frame give away the optical illusion, it kind of encapsulates everything that can be said about hanging around.

I hope it resonates for you too :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Shelves

Dear Reader,

It's been a while since we thought about Robin's shelves, which now live in my bedroom, but this flexible wooden shelf made me think of them. Fun to see twists on an old standard!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Slice of Life

Dear Reader,

Every now and then you see something in the physical world that makes you marvel. Li Hongbo's work is that for me.


Building sculptures from cross-sectional slices but retaining the ability to pull them apart ... simply marvelous!

It all feels very dreamscape-ish ... wonderfully so ... I may have to cogitate how to incorporate into The Squirrel King :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Work on the New Improved Title Card

Dear Reader,

Our first crack at a title card (which still sits on the right, here on the blog) has for some time been well received. Indeed were it not for the circumspect "g" which is sometimes overlooked, yielding "squirrel kin" instead of "squirrel king" we would happily have kept it forever - not that we have anything against "kin" itself.

As it happens though, we have, after much thought, decided to clarify our title; the important thing being that everyone should now recognize the "g" at the end, as exactly that.

In making the alteration we have seized the opportunity to add a little quilled paper to the collection of elements, something that seems fitting given some of our more recent production design!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

One Last Postcard From Down Under

Dear Reader,

One of the wonderful things about Australia is the bird-life, and during our winter break trip none were more impressed than the mini-squirrels.


The birds come in many and varied gorgeous colors and the most delightful of songs can be heard at all times, and beyond that, as the mini-squirrels learnt, they also come in all shapes and sizes!

Of course, visiting Sydney is not complete without a ferry ride across the harbor, and everyone thrills to the sight of the bridge!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Rejuvenation!

Dear Reader,

In life it is important to find ways to recharge your enthusiasm for everything.

I expect the specifics will vary over time and obviously from person to person, but for me right now, a nature hike with Alien One has been a wonderful source of revitalization.

I share with you today, a couple of pics from the last few weekends. Lovely images. Lovely times :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Pop-up Stop Motion Book

Dear Reader,

What a whimsical way to wander off into the weekend ...


A short stop motion film on the life-cycle of water :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS. Check out more of Helen Friel's paperworks here.

Leaves on Trees

Dear Reader,

The twisted paper trees that Alien One so lovingly taught us to make are finally getting leaves, well greenery anyway :)

And looking pretty spectacular if you ask me!

As you can see there's still plenty of foliage to go :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Elusive Catburglars

Dear Reader,

The Catburglar and his sidekick, Bob, are a wonderful story thread that runs through The Squirrel King. They appear with fish pedicurists, a sleek sportscar and here mysteriously peering out of the forest in this old production still I just came across. I love their airs :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Optical Illusions

Dear Reader,

With a cycling motif pervading The Squirrel King, and our own on and off use of forced perspective, I had to share this delightful optical illusion that I came across the other day :)

Bored Panda, where I found this image, also has a slew of other fun optical illusions.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

A Night at the Museum!

Dear Reader,

Life is full of unexpected bonuses! The key to me seems to be to follow your whims, embrace it all and quietly expect that the amazing will unfold :)

Last Friday we spent the night at the Museum of Natural History, which was awesome!


A truly magical night was topped by the carnivorous dinosaur that came to life, delighting everyone - yours truly every bit as much as the Aliens and inspiring me to go extravagantly large on puppets if and when we make season two of The Squirrel King.

But the unexpected bonus was the prize for the scavenger hunt - flashlights! An invaluable aide in reading a bedtime story to the musk-ox, they will reappearance in the coming weeks when we use them to ... double as Paul's headlights in the miniature driving sequence we've been prepping :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS. Kira and Nicholas, thanks so much for the invite!!

More Miniature Landscapes

Dear Reader,

As more miniature quilled trees come together to form another miniature landscape near the town of Nesting, mini-squirrels have moved in en masse to inspect my work.

What a giant presence they are!

Just for fun, count the mini-squirrels in the bird's-eye view :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

More Greyscale Inspiration

Dear Reader,

There must be something in the air. Actually, geodesic clouds are in the air :) Following Monday's post about inspiration from toilet paper, I came across Tomas Saraceno's wonderful application of white paper.

Tomas obviously has a fascination for clouds that runs deep having shown up previously in the form of traversable plastic bubbles too!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Distracted with Squirrely Construction

Dear Reader,

With a promised overhaul of their bedroom long overdue, the Aliens yesterday enlisted the mini-squirrels to help actualize my distracted efforts. And so shelf construction began.

Oh, and there's also a new bed headboard on the way, so that they have something to attach a reading light to :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Nothing but Shower Stalls and Bathtubs

Dear Reader,

I've been reviewing the footage we shot out in Hemet late last year and I came across this one still of bathtubs and shower stalls in the burnt out landscape. With some nifty split-screen action, the final shot will have many more, but you should be able to count three tubs and stalls already :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Inspiration with Toilet Paper

Dear Reader,

Every now and then something tasteful and simple comes from the banal. Sakir Gokcebag has taken the simple whites and shadows of toilet paper and created art!

I'm not sure what it all means, but thanks to the Jeannie Jeannie blog for finding this gem :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Cork Hands Test

Dear Reader,

The glue has dried and Alien One and I have run a test of the cork hands. Obviously we have to put everything in a set and the final take will be a little more frenetic, but I do love the hands ....


I'm now kind of tempted to make a cork body for Alien One to play the evil cork villain from Robin's dream, and then revisit our friend's zip-line ...

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims