Cody Goodin - The artistic and spiritual journey of Cody Goodin

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...

Hello my friends out there in blogland. I hope your week has been going well. It has been warm and rainy here in Southwest Ohio. But, that hasn't stopped me from progressing on my projects both creative and non. I have been going crazy ordering dolls off of Ebay lately for use in my photo illustration projects. Specifically the Monster High dolls. Now, as some of you may realize, these dolls come in a variety of conditions. The purpose for me was to try and rehab them into a usable character. So, let me show you my first ever redo in progress. I am not quite done yet. This poor thing came with her hair cut off to the scalp and missing her lower arms and hands. Not to mention she was not wearing any cloths. I decided to put some extra arms and hands I had left over on her. They aren't really a match for her but, I think this will add a fun element to her back story once I am finished with her. I gave her a bright crimson red head of hair that was made from some fake fur I h...

Today I thought I would show you a few things I am working on. I purchased the above and the below items from Ebay. They are props for my photo illustrations I am working on. As with most manufactured doll size furniture, they are plastic and kind of ugly. I am not a big fan of the color pink. So I took it to task to change things up a bit. I like the shape and structure of both the cafe table set and this little arm chair. So, I dug out my acrylic paints and went to work. The first to get a make over was the cafe table set. I used Liquitex brand Glossies acrylic paints and some metallic acrylics to repaint this set. The Glossies paints give the chairs and table legs a lacquer look and made them really glossy as the name of the paint implies. I also wanted them to be a bit of retro modern. Hence the color scheme. The table top is a mixture of antique silver, graphite and micaceous iron oxide paints. The look achieved also gives the set a bit of an industrial feel. Nex...

On the eve of Mothers day I would like to offer up my adoration for two mothers. Geneva Goodin pictured above in her early 20's. So beautiful and very missed in my life. I remember in my heart the great love she had for her children even as a very young boy. I felt protected and safe with her always at my side. Thank you mamma for giving me life and a chance to discover who I am and what I am to do here on this little planet. She would have been 84 this year. Next is my second mamma Ms.Margaret Bauer. My partner Bucks's mom. She is the most kind and loving person I know. Wouldn't hurt a flea and great lover of nature. She just turned 87 in April. Still lives in her own home, active and very much on top of all the current goings on in the world. I remember the first time she signed a birthday card to me with "Love Mamma Bauer". I knew I had been welcomed into her family with open arms and with such great love and affection. I have had many wonderful visits ...