Cody Goodin - The artistic and spiritual journey of Cody Goodin

Noe that we are poised to transition into a new year, I am once again lining up my goals. Photography will figure prominently on that list. New classes, to continue to advance my knowledge and also some new topics. Also, to enter more shows. I would hope to actually get into some this year. But, even getting denied is a learning tool. I am exploring ways to actually present my images. It is easy to just send off a Jpeg of an image to a show. But, one thing I have learned is that perhaps they want to see how the image will be presented in addition to the actual image itself. So, that will be my greatest focus this year as I collect images to show. I am giving myself latitudes to present several collections according to my current interests. I am excited about the process of printing and finishing the presentations. One process is that of printing on silk fabric for some of my images. I love the idea and look of this and how it can be presented as a wall hanging rather than a fra...

I wanted to wish everyone out there a happy and creative set of holidays. May your new year ahead bring new adventures. If you are into the creative arts may you find your muse and work him or her to the bone this upcoming year. If you are stuck, may your creative tow truck show up in the nick of time to pull you out of the mire. I for one have a renewed sense of direction and plan on hitting the creative road with both feet running. It is time for me to get my goals in a row and line them up for inspection. That helps me see what worked in the past and try something new for the future. Goals really seem to work for me so that is what I have adopted as my new years ritual. The above image suggests all the colorful options we have. It is up to us to choose the ones that will serve us well in the moment.  Good thing is if you don't like the color you chose, just put it back and pick another. Thank you each and everyone who has followed along here and on Facebook. It is much ...

Well, it seems I can't get myself to post as often as I would like. I lost another follower. But, as my friend Buddha says, change is inevitable. One must embrace change. The world changes every moment whether we acknowledge it or not. I see that reflected in my life through my art, my body, my likes and dislikes. We all evolve which is a form of change. The images included in this post come from one of my photography class in which we were to create a magical feeling with our set of images/ I chose to do still life's from some of my collection of objects. I am really in love with the process of photography. The way in which an image is revealed through the action of taking and then processing the images. It is not unlike that of painting which I also love. I was remarking to my partner about how I missed painting because I love the whole process of discovery in bringing an image to life. So, I think there will be some painting in my future. A great winter creative a...

A happy Halloween out there to all of you who follow and or visit my humble blog. I have been a bit neglectful of late. It seems that life and lack of energy after a full day at the art supply store can really take it out of you. So, for this festive season I offer two recent photos taken for one of my photography class assignments. in the above is a dance of skeletons in a tree. It was hanging in a yard I came across during a neighborhood stroll. I decided on this vintage treatment to make it extra spooky. Lastly, is a fun little decked out yard filled with ghosts and jack-o-lanterns. A little girl lives there so it wasn't meant to be too scary. It was a fun walk through the old neighborhood. I haven't had the time to do that in a few years actually. I used to walk my dog around all the streets. But, now that he is quite elderly and barely able to walk, we don't go far. Hope you have a safe and ghoulishly fun Halloween. Mine will be a quiet night at home watching...

Hello to all of my followers and visitors out there in blog land. I have been absent due to several things. My daytime job has been a bit hectic the past two weeks which gas kept me away. In addition to this, I had a computer melt down which resulted in getting a new one. This time I decided to leave pc's out of the mix. I am now in the Apple cart. So, far I am loving the switch. We will see as time goes on how much I still love the new computer. I do love the touch response of the new keyboard a lot. Now that all of that is behind me I can focus on my art again. So, I thought I'd show you a few images from a recent photo class assignment. Yes, I am taking the class again. This particular assignment was called Shadow Portraits. The premise was to use our interpretation of the theme to create unique images. Here are a few of what I came up with. This image is a stretch for shadow. It is actually the chemical residue from a decaying leaf. So, in essence it is a shadow. Jus...

Hello web travelers. I hope this week is treating you well and not giving you any tricks. Tis the passing between seasons and the beginning of autumn. That also means Halloween is just around the corner. So, today I decided to ponder the symbolic meaning of death and how we use it to describe various stages or events in our lives. Now I am not talking about literal death as in kicking the bucket. I mean the changing of ourselves. Those times in our lives we let go of something. Many times this is through trauma but sometimes it is of our own choosing. As an artist, I have seen myself go through these cycles of life and death within my art. Going from one medium or period of creativity to another. In my case it is my relentless search to try and better myself or find a better outlet for my inner vision. Thus my recent push in photography which has given my inner vision an outer manifestation. But, the other issue for me is that I have been missing the actual making of something wit...

Hello Saturday surfers. Hope your weekend is going well where ever you are today. I have been going to a season full of art openings which I do enjoy. It is nice as it gives me pause to look at the work I have been making over the past year or so. In my last photography class our final assignment was to create a portfolio based on a theme or subject of our own choosing. My final choice was that of trees. But, that is not what this post is about. Instead I thought I'd share a few images from my discarded ideas. One was that of images of dolls in a human environment. I like the idea of these dolls living in an alternate time frame along side of we humans. We don't see or perceive their movements. We are out of time sync with them. I know that sounds very scifi or Dr. Who'ish but, that's my way of looking at them. The above picture is a black and white treatment of one doll I made I call the Prophetess. She is a little touched, whether by God or not remains to be ...

I thought I'd share with you some of the black and white images I have been playing with today. I took some shots of the two sleeping dolls I created out of some Monster High dolls. I love their serene look once they are posed as if taking a cat nap. Here is Katrina above taking a little snooze. I actually converted to a black and white infrared image with a bit of fog tossed in for good measure. It lends itself to the dreamy quality of the image. Here is a close up view of her as she  travels through dream land. Next we have my sleeping princess. Princess Nay Neh is dreaming of her prince to be as she takes a break from her duties. Here again I converted the image using a black and white infrared process. I like the dreamy feel. Finally here she is in a close up. It makes me want to curl up and take a nap too. I was finally able to rehab her dress. I took off the long skirt part and added a lighter flouncy paw print organza. It's all in shades of pink to cont...

Greetings one and all. Sorry for the delay in my weekly postings. I had been out of town for a four day weekend to Washington DC for a friends wedding. I had the opportunity to visit some interesting sights as well as national monuments. This afforded me the chance to take some images I may not get a chance to do again. However that being said, my photographic skills were certainly challenged. I forgot to take a tripod which is essential for night photography. But, despite that I had a great time and came away with some interesting images. Now to the point of this post. I have been wanting to experiment with black and white and the idea of apparitions. I am trying out a technique using a combination of blur and blend modes to give me the effect I am trying to achieve. I wanted the image to be somewhat recognizable. Yet, ethereal in feel. I discovered that this was a great opportunity to use the blurry images that didn't turn out that great for other things. So, you be the judge. ...

Happy Thursday to you all out there in cyberland. I hope you are doing well and are finding some fun and creative things to do with yourselves. I have been immersed in a photography class in the later half of the summer. It has been fun and very challenging thus far. But, well worth the time and effort. One thing I like about these classes is I am challenged to think and find new ways of looking at the world around me. As a budding photographer/artist I am still trying to find my voice or vision so to speak. It is in moments of sheer exhaustion that I realize some nice little insights. Since I started down this rabbit hole of photography, I have been in a big rush. To where you might ask? Well, it is one of those strange things I seem to get myself into. In the back of my mind I hear this voice saying,"Hurry up and develop your style. You need to get noticed and start that career of yours". So, I put a lot of pressure on myself to make everything count as if my artistic ca...

Happy weekend and Saturday to everyone out there who ventures a visit to my blog. Hope you are doing well. This post is dedicated to this weeks photography class assignment of soft focus images. I decided to show just two this time around. Because they really speak to me in a few interesting ways. Both of these images were taken with a piece of hosiery or gauze placed over the lens. This creates a soft focus right in camera. The camera had to be manually focused as the auto focus would focus on the texture of the gauze which I did not want. This first image is one I took of a doll sleeping in a chair. I place her and the chair on my bed because it offered the biggest ground. I love how ghostly she looks in the image. I am very much attracted to the idea of capturing images of ghost or apparitions. There is something so ethereal about that. Once I got the shot I then proceeded to convert the image to black and white. I thought the process was quite successful. In the second im...

As I posted in the last installment, here is the cat girl character in a full pose. You can see the little dress I designed and made for her. I think it suits her. I love these little sleeping characters. My attempt at redoing the faces on both dolls is a bit crude by most artists who do this sort of thing. But, I like them nonetheless. This is a picture above of the sleeping princess character. You can see I used a dress originally made for a Barbie doll and just altered it to fit the monster high body. I am still not sure if I am going to redo the dress totally or make a new  one from scratch. I like the contrast of the pink to her greenish skin tones. Here are a few shots of the dolls I have changed the hair up a bit. The first is bee girls new do and he new antennae. I used a black sheep skin wool for the hair and wire and glass beads to create the antennae. She looks like a wild child and ready for some action.  This is puma boys new hair. I like this...

My first attempts at redoing the faces of little monster high dolls just so happens to be for some sleeping characters. Yes, it might be a cop out from making eyes. But, really I need two sleeping characters. When I saw these little beauties unfinished, they seemed so serene and thought immediately of some sleeping characters. The blond is definitely going to be a princess of some sort. Not sure yet. The other is going to be her friend, they were bewitched and have fallen asleep in the forest. Can't you just see my little Jasper and his lion Ruff coming upon them in the forest on one of their adventures? I sure can and what interesting things would happen? The first image is of the little cat like friend. I gave her really deep red hair and a tiny little black nose. I will post some better pics of the full body later. Her dress was hand made by me but, you can't really see it here. Blondie is the one who will play the part of the princess. I don't have names for e...

I decided to play around with some lighting fun tonight. So, I got out one of the dolls I have in my collection and posed her on my computer station. I have a nice direct light from an LED desk lamp that shines down upon my desk. So, I posed Cyndy Lou on a jar of Golden brand Pumice gel to give her something to sit on. The above image was processed into black and white after uploading it to Adobe Lightroom. Once I cropped and tweaked I sent the picture to On One Perfect B&W to create the image you see here. I love playing with available light as it challenges me to work with what I have on hand. My little pocket Nikon did a pretty good job. For me it's all about the feel of the image and I tend to be very intuitive when I do shoot a picture. Sure I pay attention to the exposure and such. But, I like the unexpected results. Sometimes it's great and sometimes it's a bust. Also, the type of camera is not as important as being free to just let go and have fun. I have l...

It is funny how the tiniest of things can change your perspective on life. For a few years now, I have been on this quest to find myself or should I say find out what I am here on this planet to do. Sure, some of you might think this is an obvious question to answer. But, for someone like me who has through a very complicated life I have lived, learned to question everything even my own soul. My heart or soul whatever you want to call that inner voice kept calling out for me to listen to it. Many times it would act out almost like an angry child. But, finally a few years back I decided to stop and take the time to try and listen. It was really hard at first.Because I had spent so much of my time focusing on the outer world that I could barely hear that inner voice once I decided to try. We spent many long hours meditating, chanting, praying, affirming and making art in the name of self healing together. A long and exhausting process that would have untold benefits. What was surprisin...

Hello my fellow blog explorers and art seekers. I hope your week has been going well. As we head into another holiday weekend I wanted to post a little update. I have been on vacation for over a week now and have made a little bit of progress in the studio. Not as much as I would have liked but, at least it's a start. Above is a picture of the black back drop and staging table I have put together to do most of the photo shoots on. This is what I will build a majority of the sets on. The only time I will not is if the set requires a larger surface. The table is an old paper cutter table that was abandoned in the halls of the Essex oh so many years ago. It has served as our snack table during shows and as a table for classes. Handy little thing I guess you can say. I have placed two 16 x 20 inch hardboard panels on top of the table and a piece of 20 x 30 inch black foam core on that. The black foam core is going to serve as the floor of the bedroom I am going to create for Jaspe...

The newest member of Codyland has arrived. Her name is China Girl and she hails from Oz. She plans on teaching classes in tea appreciation and traveling the countryside. Perhaps she will run into Jasper and Ruff on her adventures. At the moment she is giving me some good advice. Miss China likes my selection of music playing at the moment. It is very meditative and calming. Just what I need in the absence of a good cup of tea. I find her to be quite charming and very bright for such a young person. She told me her friend the wizard said she was wiser than her years. I am sure of that. This little one is quite photogenic and we will probably see more of her in the weeks ahead. I have been dragging my feet these first few days of vacation. Best laid plans of mice and men as they say. But, my sweetie had a wonderful birthday to kick off his 50th year. We ate, laughed spent some money at the slots and even got a bit of art gazing in to boot. Yesterday I helped a coworker photogra...

One of the newest arrivals to Codyland is Beeatrix Honeypot. She is the Codyland spokes person for the plight of the honey bees. Her mission is to tour all of the local farms and educate on the hazards of over using insecticides and herbicides which have been known to cause bee colony collapse. One of her favorite foods is watermelon. She is showing off one of the miniature ones in the kitchen. Beeatrix is anxiously awaiting the cutting open of this delicious little melon so she can have herself a late day snack to cool herself from the summer heat. Beeatrix is a monster add on kit for the monster high dolls. She will probably get a new hairdo as she doesn't really like what the hairdresser did this time around. Stuff and lots of it has been moved to the Essex studio. So work can commence on the photo sets. It is really hot in the studio this time of the year. Even the little ac unit I have is barely able to keep it tolerable. Of course this would hit right in time for my...

I have been working on a bed for my character, Jasper to put in his bedroom set. I wanted it to have a space or astro theme. Here is the bed completed with just the sheets and pillow. Here I have placed his blanket on the bed. The bed is made out of foam core 3/16" and painted with several layers of acrylic paints. I then stamped the images of stars, comets and a ringed planet on the different sides. The final step was antiquing it all with a burnt umber glaze. The mattress was made with a sheet of foam core as the base, 1 inch foam as the core and covered with a layer of muslin. I also  pillow quilted the mattress to give a more realistic touch. A little silly I guess since you can't really see that in the final picture. But, I know it's there. The sheets were a cotton that I then attached by sewing to the foam board backing. The blanket is a piece of polar fleece I had left over from a long ago project. This bed turned out pretty good for what I had in mind. I ...

While life has been throwing a few curve balls, broken molar, my way and a busy work schedule. I thought I would share a few moments that just took my breath away lately. I was walking home from dinner out one night and I looked up to see the sky. Oh what a sky it was in all it's colorful splendor. Lucky for me I have a really good camera on my cell phone. So I snapped off a few pics to remember the glory of the earth that night. Here is another view as I was getting to my neighborhood. I have been exploring photography in so many ways this past year and have to say that I just love it. It helps me to capture so much that I can't in other creative mediums. Luckily I am able to take another class from a really good teacher who helps me to see potential in my images and gives good but gentle critique. I learn a lot from those sessions. I am busy as always with my doll collecting to build up my resources for characters in the photo series I am working on. Here are t...