Cody Goodin - The artistic and spiritual journey of Cody Goodin

Let me introduce to all of my art friends and followers out there, Little Cody.  He has finally made his way home where he belongs and is so loved.  Little Cody is the third installment in my personal healing journey.  In many ways he was one of the hardest.  How does one capture the innocent child before the challenges of growing up come knocking at your bedroom door?  But, for me it was essential to bring him home to live with me again.  You see, Little Cody is where all of my childlike wonder, miracles and magic live.  In the eyes of Little Cody anything is possible.  Even for a kid who is visually challenged climbing a tree is nothing.  Traveling to distant stars is as easy as doing a somersault. Little Cody is a polymer clay sculpt and a wire armature body as seen in previous posts.  He sports his favorite pair of pants and his magic coat.  It is with his magic coat that he can do anything.  His traveling companion is Fred.  Fred is neatly tucked in his arm for safe keep

So, last time I gave you a peek at the sculpts for my Little Cody doll I am working on.  In this episode I wanted you to see him as he has been assembled on a wire armature and his muscle shape and body form filled out with cotton batting.  This is my favorite method for constructing my dolls.  He stands around 17 inches tall at the moment.  His head, hands and feet have been painted and the next step is to put his cloth skin on and give him some hair. On a more spiritual emotional note this little guy has been a difficult doll.  Much different than my abandonment doll Sam.  Little Cody represents my innocent self.  Before all the bad stuff happened and simultaneously afterwards too. My bonding process has been guarded until today.  Once he began to take form, I could feel his presence.  His voice teasing me, coaxing me to play.  I was holding him close to me while wrapping the batting and I heard him whisper in my ear, "you are a great wizard you know." Tears began to f

Wow!  I can't believe I am posting more than once in a week.  I thought I'd give you all a glimpse into what will be going on here in Codyland.  In the previous post I showed you all a photograph that is an experiment in the direction of where I am going creatively this year. It was one of the pieces of my changing puzzle of a life this year.  I have had recent changes in my job, good changes, that have been prophetic in how my life will be evolving this year. Additionally I have just completed a process that was outlined in a book I just finished called The Lotus and The Lily by Janet Conner.  It was a great companion to what I have been doing on my own the past three to four months. So, big changes are being made in my life that reflect where my heart and soul wish to go.  I just announced my departure from my local doll making guild of which I had been a part for about fifteen years.  Many are concerned I am not going to be making dolls anymore.  I want to lay those fea

Hello and happy Saturday to you all out there in blog land.  I wanted to share a preliminary photographic experiment. This is my first attempt at using my figurative work as subjects rather than as an art piece.  In other words this isn't meant to be submitted as a document for the actual sculpture but rather, a rather simple and sparse scene.  This little vignette is called meeting of the minds.  The characters are sculpts I had made during the course of the early part of 2012 and just wasn't sure what to do with them yet.  They are not really in a finished state.  At least there was intentions to do something more with them.  But, alas that inspiration has since moved on. My intent here was to use a dark background and natural side lighting to create a more dramatic effect.  This was one of the techniques the dutch masters used to create drama and the lost edges in their paintings. So, this is my first art piece of the year. However, I am working on a few sculpts or do

Hello to all of my followers here on the Codyland blog.  I wanted to post a Happy New Year to you all.  Also, a big thank you to those who have journeyed with me as I grow and evolve as an artist, as a spiritual being and as a person.  There is something very powerful about publicly affirming positive changes in ones life. There are no pictures of new work to post just yet.  I am really switching things up in the new year as I have decided to follow a heart felt creative path that I have been very tentative about until now.  So, to honor this renewal of the creative spirit I am trying a new way of creating my vision of the world around me.  Photography will be my medium for the most part.  I am going to incorporate dolls I have created and will create in addition to other dolls and toys I may change or adapt to fit the stories I wish to tell or retell depending on the story.  My hope in this new endeavor is to combine my love of story telling, theater, dolls and toys to create someth