Cody Goodin - The artistic and spiritual journey of Cody Goodin

Here are some more of my Ornies that I created this year for the holiday shows.  These were sculpted out of polymer clays over a wooden ball or egg depending on the shape I wanted.  I then added some sort of dangly item to give some more interest.. Of course the goblins were rather offended by my wanting to bling them out like this.  So undignified for them they said.  Too bad, it's the holidays. I have been having fun with the goblins this year and hope to continue with them as an on going character for me.  This upcoming year I  am hoping to branch out into other creatures  though.  So many possibilities out there.  Not to mention ones you can just make up.  But,  myth and legend are a great resource for ideas.  I like the idea of creating hybrids of several different creatures. My version of the goblin is not the traditional one anyway.  I think they are given a bad rap.  They are not all bad.  Just mischievous and love to have fun tricking humans.  Most of mine are of tha...

Cat gooblin commission front view. Cat goblin commission rear view.   See his surprise for the bad puppy? This is Zookie the sock stealer. Well, this has proven to be a busy season even though I swore I would relax.  I have finally gotten some pics of two newer goblins off my partners camera.  These two fellas were debuted at the annual show and sale of the River City Doll Makers.  I belong to this local doll making guild.  The firs one at the bottom is Zookie the Sock Stealer.  The second one is a commission piece for a mean cat goblin.  They are both OOAK made out of polymer clays and other bits, with glass eyes. I am in the midst of creating three new pieces that are gifts for some artist friends.  We are having a handmade art Christmas exchange this year.  I hope to post those after the 4th of January when our gift exchange is taking place.  Don't want to spoil the surprise.   Also, in the new year I will be launching a new blog dedicated to the goblins and other mythical creat...

Here is the first in a series of goblin figure Christmas ornie's I have created for the season this year.  I have sold about half of the ones I have made so far.  I am hopinig to get these up on my Etsy store this weekend.  I actually put one together just not stocked it yet.  That was my goal for this holiday break. It has been a very busy few months for me which is a good thing as the goblins are warming the hearts of those who have adopted them.  I am so greatful for that and know they have all gone to good homes.  Even in these uncertain economic times we all need a little art and love to make us feel more than we are percieving ourselves to be.  I haven't posted here due to the busy schedule and now I am hoping to get it back in gear.  For my goblin fans I am starting a Goblin blog I will unveil at the beginning of 2009.  I am actually working on a story that will feature many of my characters.  Stay tuned.

This one is called Three Sisters and is a poly clay sculpt. This piece is called Mother Nature it is poly clay. This piece is called Green Woman of Clifton and is also poly clay. This is called Green Man of Clifton and is a poly clay sculpt. This piece is called Cuddlefish Man and is a poly clay sculpt as well. Tonight was the big Secret Artworks event here in Cincinnati.  I was thrilled to see all five of my pieces sold which is a first for me.  I have included them all here for you to enjoy.  This is one charity event I like to support.  If you want to see more of the art just go to Artworks  click on the secret artworks button and them on 2008 preview in the menu to the right once you get to the Secret artworks page.

Here are the first two personal goblins I sculpted. A lovely rear view of the first ones. This is the second group I created in the personal goblin series. This is a rear shot of the first group. This is the third in the series of personal goblins. New - Personal Goblins are little guys that you can wear or hang as ornaments.  They are made of polyme clay over a wooden bead.  Some of them are sitting on metal ornaments, or hold a little item.  I hope you enjoy them.

Here is a picture of the brick I sculpted for the local Bricks for Breast Cancer fund raiser.  She is entitled "Divine Mother" and is polymer clay over a clay brick.  I do this charity every year it is held so far.  I feel that I can make a contribution using the creative skills I have.  Creativity is the energy of life which is what this is all about.

Here he is in all his glory.  Autumnmunculas has finally grown out his leaf covering.  This is so he can hide in amongst all those leaf piles we rake up.  I used a nice velvet leaf to make his covering.  His snide smile takes on a new meaning now don't you think? By the way some of the goblins are still available for purchase if anyone is interested.  You can contact me at codyart@fuse.net if you would like information.  I have yet to set up an Etsy shop.  On my long list of things to do.

Above is the second of the "Will-o-the-Wisp" characters I have made.  This one was finished in the nick of time for my local doll club's Spiderwick challenge.  The first one which is shown in an earlier post sold a few weeks back.  This guy is made of polymer clay over a paper mache sphere.  His wings are made out of hand made paper over a wire armature and then painted and stained.  This little guy will glow if exposed to a good light source than turn out the lights and you will see his faint glow. This is a WIP of a character I am calling Autumnmunculus.  He is a member of the "Roaming Leaf Pile" clan of garden goblins.  His favorite thing to do is to nip at the heels of unsuspecting leaf rakers.  He will eventually have little tufts of leaves all over him.  This is a partial side view. Here is a rear view of him.  He is made of poly clay over a half paper mache egg with wire armatures for the legs.  The paint job is a multi step process. Here we have a nice s...

Halloween is one of those holidays that I love.  I like the theatrics, spookiness and fantasy of it.  It is the one time of year that any of us can revert to our childhood again.  So, in honor of this wonderful fun spirited holiday I am hoping to post a few pics throughout the month.  Here is the first one.  I call it "Ghosts Behind Bars".  I shot this in my neighborhood on a foggy morning. On the first Friday and Saturday of October, the studio complex where I rent had their anniversary show and open house. So, I thought it would be fun to show you all where I do a lot of my creating. Of course it is all cleaned up for this event. I was fortunate to sell three pieces that weekend. Despite the economic situation.

This summer I was asked to come up with an easy project that a group could do that would not involve sewing. So, I came up with small articulated paper dolls. I have posted three here so you can see what I had in mind.

I have completed three new sculpts that were done after the secret postcard entries for Artworks Cincinnati this year. Unfortunately I will have to wait to post those pics until after the event. We are supposed to keep them a secret until then. Anyway this series are really small. Two of them are 4x6 and other is a 5x5 square one. The one on the top is called "Buddha of the Four Directions". The one in the middle is called "House Spirit" and the one at the bottom is entitled "My Muse". The sculpts are made out of Polymer clay over a stretched canvas. I have a bunch of these little canvas' and thought why not cover them with clay. It seems to work just fine on the small ones. I would not attempt anything larger with this process. After the clay was cured, I applied several layers of acrylic paints and glazes to get the finished result. I embedded glass beads prior to baking for added bling. Hope you enjoy.

I have recently completed the next group of goblin characters. Here we have the cat goblin and his friend a little dog fashioned after my own little guy. Then we have the infamous dust bunny. Thirdly we have my version of a will-o-the-wisp, These are all done in polymer clay. Hope you enjoy them.

I recently found myself being tagged. I was really perplexed as to the point. Is this the blog version of those annoying email chain letter things? You know the lists of seemingly unrelated things that are supposed to reveal something new about you. So, not to be a total spoil sport about it, I am acknowledging being tagged by an artist friend Cynjon Noah http://www.cynjonnoah.blogspot.com/ The tag suggests that we list six Quirks about ourselves. Quirks? I think all my odd bits of behavior is absolutely normal, not! So, here goes: 1. I have to sleep with all the lights out and a fan going. 3. I can only drink milk if it ice cold. Otherwise what's the point. 3. I will stop reading a book after just one page if I know I will hate it. 4. When I work a 9-5 shift at work I must eat my lunch at twelve noon. 5. Love the smell of citrus fruit. 6. Hate having dirty hands. Now for the spoiled sport of me, I am not passing this along as my friends whose blogs I know would hate me for...

Well, I have finally completed my "Trees" series of paintings. I am submitting them for an artist grant that is given to individual artists by a local organization here in Cincinnati. I kept the titles simple. They are Tree #1 through #7. This series of paintings were created in acrylics, acrylic mediums and modeling paste. The inspiration for these paintings was that of nature. The tree to me is an iconic symbol of nature. As an artist with a visual impairment, a tactile approach was what I wanted to do. You can touch these paintings and feel the trees and the texture around them. I look at them as a modern fossil. Immortalizing the tree as a special and precious part of the natural world. You may notice that three of them are familiar. I have taken better photos of them and have included them here. I hope you enjoy them.

Here is a close up of Absynth.

Here is my latest house goblin "Absynth". He likes to put that extra something special in your wine glass so you tend to forget what you did the night before.