Over a year or so ago, I received a package from a childhood friend with a surprise inside. She told me a story about how her parents wouldn't let her have a pet so she saved up her allowance each week and went to this little store uptown and eventually bought herself a wooden zoo. She felt that her Zoo should move to a place where they would be used more. I inherited these beautiful little animals from her.
I picked up a cheap wooden artist's mannequin last summer on a whim. I wasn't sure what it would be useful for at all. I ended up setting it aside until a two Flickr friends posted photos of their very same mannequins. One was a study of shadows and light in photography. The other one was of the mannequin juggling peas. [He said he used wire and frozen peas and had to edit out the wires!]
With Valentine's Day coming up last week, I thought I'd do a bit of experimenting with light and what else? Hearts!
I learned something. I could work with the mannequin.
And then I thought about it some more and decided that I'd try and do something that had an emotional impact.
I thought the mannequin would be so hard to work with because it has no features. However. Having no features made the positioning and the composition more important than ever.
Joy
[Standing the mannequin on ice with a wind was tricky, but I got it done before it tipped over.]
This was a great exercise in creativity. I may do more.
The weather is predicted to be nasty today. I wonder where my wooden friends will take me next?