Cody Goodin - The artistic and spiritual journey of Cody Goodin

So, I managed to finish a new piece this past weekend.  At least it is finished for now.  I am not sure if I am going to put anything it the hands.  But, there is a story that goes with it.  So, let me tell you if you don't mind. There was trouble a brewin on that upstart planet called Terra.  The Elders of the Cosmos were getting a bit irritated at the inhabitants. " Humans were beginning to get a bit ahead of themselves." scowled one elder.  Yes indeed those pesky humans were looking elsewhere for their inspirations.  Why they even began to have the nerve to think they were alone in the universe.  So, without too much discussion on the matter they all agreed something was to be done.  One elder put forth a proposal.  "What we need to do is send the humans something really fierce to bow down to."  "yes, exactly." hissed another elder. The cosmic design studio was a bit busy on this d...

I am trying to resurrect my Monday mystery posts for the new year.  Especially since I have been trying to consistently create in the home studio.  So, here is a sneak peek at one I am working on currently.  The piece is polymer clay and apoxy sculpt.  Hopefully he will be finished by weeks end. Have a great Monday everyone.

I have been spending some time in the studio finishing up a few projects.  Two of which were the soul portraits that were a part of my Alchemy class lessons. The premise of the lesson was to create a soul portrait.  Something kind of ethereal or spirit like.  I show my students how to use a variety of acrylic mediums to create texture and stiffen a variety of fabric and paper pieces to create sculptural effects.  So here is soul portrait one. This is a fun technique.  I will be teaching this for the Columbus Ohio doll group Gilded Lilies in March. Here is Soul Portrait two.   I plan on using this technique a bit more for some of my fun fantasy pieces, I have in the works.  The good thing about finishing up loose ends, is I have some new work to show and it clears off my work table to make room for other things.  I have several hanging pieces that I am going to finish in the next few days.  I am still feeling a bit anxious...

Isn't it odd how we can one day be at a difficult place and yet another in the bliss?  I am finding that my spiritual path always likes to present me with interesting challenges.  My art is a fundamental part of my spiritual path as some of you may know.  It is one of the greatest ways I have discovered the universe in all it's wisdom and complexity. The above piece is a great example of the challenges we artists can face creatively.  I have been struggling with this piece for weeks.  It is simple enough.  But, man I could not figure out how to finish her.  Her identity was illusive to me.  After yesterdays post of feeling like I'm in the bardot, it came rushing forth and said I am ready, finish me.  So, her is "The Nature of Mercy" a mixed media piece.  Her head is made of polymer clay, apoxy clay and a resin horn.  Her hands are vinyl doll hands and the body is formed over a fantail willow branch. She had...

Have you ever had one of those days where you reflect on where you have been?  For some odd reason that keeps coming up in my life of late.  Maybe it is because I am going through one of those incubation periods creatively, or just plain burn out.  I do not know.  But, creating anything is like pulling hens teeth.  I am using some of the techniques I teach in my Alchemy class and it is helping.  I thought you'd get a kick out of seeing me in my early days of doll making.  Here is a shot of me working on one of my cloth dolls that I designed myself.  It is taken in my favorite studio space I ever had.  It was the top floor of where the art store that I work at used to be located. Our store moved last year to a space around the corner from the old space.  I still have dreams about working in the old space and being able to go to my studio on my lunch break.  This was twelve years ago believe it or not.  Now I am creating in cl...

This is the second finished sculpt of the new year.  He is a Lucky Kappa even though I incorrectly called him a Tengu.  He is a Japanese goblin that lives in the mountain streams.  He has a depression on the top of his head where there is water.  If you trick him to spill his water he is then rendered immobile.  So, I created this Lucky version for my friend Micha for Christmas.  I couldn't post until we had our exchange today.  He stands about 6-7 inches high and is made of polymer clay.  His head cup is made from an acorn cap. Here is a picture of the depression in the top of his head.  I created the water from a tinted clear tar gel acrylic medium.  This was a fun little piece to make.  I think I may make a few more. Hope your new year is going well so far.  Have a great week ahead.

Hello my fellow artists and followers.  Happy New year to you all and hope this one will bring some great things your war.  I have been busy the last five weeks with my online class and am just about to wrap it up.  I had a blast creating video tutorials for it and man was that a big learning curve.  My students were all great and hope they liked the class.  Below is the final project for the class.  There were a number of smaller projects that lead up to this one.  This is totality or the Alchemy of ME doll.  Below is the one I made along with the class so that the techniques were fresh. Here is a close up of my Alchemy Me.  I am well on my way to making this upcoming year the best ever.  I have set myself some goals that are at least achievable.  I don't like using resolutions as that always makes me feel like I have been bad.  Goals offer a more positive outlook on making changes or improvements in my life.  Well, u...