Monsters – Page 4 – Play. Create. Discover…

art, Blog, Crafts, Monster Monday, Monsters

Playful Puppets: Embodying Play

May 4, 2020 Kristy Fae

I often find myself missing my childhood play time— the magic of disappearing into fictitious stories and make-believe worlds; the joy of embodying a character with uninhibited freedom of expression; the escape from the world’s problems into mystery, laughter, romance… the imagination is the limit. That is to say it is unlimited of course.

Play is an incredibly powerful activity and, not just unfortunately— but tragically — is often left in the wake of adulthood. Play allows us to discover more about the world and about ourselves while expressing in ways otherwise inhibited. It is crucial, at any age, in my opinion (and in the opinion of many experts who study play).

Play can take many forms, from art and creative projects, to songwriting, to improv, to sports, to frolicking at the beach or amongst the trees, to laughing and goofing around with friends to — (insert your favourite fun activities here!). If it is coming from a pure, authentic, free place, and eliciting joy, I think it is safe to call it “play” though others may have a different definition.

As many of you know, one of my favourite sources of play is creating monsters— both on paper and off, the “off” part including HAND PUPPETS! Puppets are such fun and create an often immediate bridge of connection with children in different activities and environments as well as reacquainting us “older kids” with our childhood selves. What better than having a ridiculous character attached to your arm to elicit sporadic voices, movements, storytelling, and whatever else may come. I love puppets, and I’ve recently been called to create more of them.

You can make your own simple puppets by using an (old?) sock and some googly-eyes and get creative with other crafting supplies like felt, pipe-cleaners, fabric scraps, buttons, sequins, paper, popsicle sticks… oh how the memories of my childhood are dancing fresh on my mind right now! Perhaps I’ll post some tutorials on puppet-making here in the coming days… anyone interested?

Below are 3 different Monster Puppet designs I’ve created, please help me out by voting for the one you’d most like to see come to life! Option 1, 2 or 3!?

Let the play begin!

Thanks for reading! Also find me @artofnonsense on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest

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Pssst- what I write in this blog is a reflection of my own ideas and experiences and/or interpretations of any referenced material. The content of this blog is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only. I am not an expert or therapist and cannot be held liable for any content provided or how it is used. Please enjoy at your own discretion. I reserve the right to change the content or management of this blog at any time. That said, I hope you enjoy it! © 2020 Kristina Durst All Rights Reserved.

art, Blog, Comics, Monster Monday, Monsters

Your Inner Creative Creature: the Imagination

April 20, 2020 Kristy Fae

Thanks for reading! Also find me @artofnonsense on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest

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art, Blog, Monster Monday, Monsters, Poetry

Yawning Yarnie: Got a case of the Mondays?

April 6, 2020April 6, 2020 Kristy Fae

Happy Monster Monday everyone! If you find it hard to get into the swing of things on Mondays, this one’s for you. Meet Yawning Yarnie: a slumbersome, foot-dragging creature from my upcoming children’s book entitled “My Very Hairy Monster Friends!” This illustration version was a practice run using leftover paint, which came out so vibrant that I suspect it was gouache instead of the anticipated watercolour. When I moved on to try to finish the final version, I ran into issues. I recently invested in new, more expensive watercolours and stocked up on a different kind of paper (finding my usual selection unavailable). Word to the wise— experiment with your new supplies before deciding you’re a master of the medium and don’t expect them to behave exactly like your old ones (temporary grumpy faces and arm-crossing allowed however). I guess this is life’s lesson right now anyways: “Don’t expect life to be the same when the whole world around you has completely dislodged itself from any normalcy.” Hrm?

Well so, the old cheap watercolours seem to be working better (more smooth and vibrant) than my new expensive investment, and I’m not feeling particularly thrilled about that. In any case, practise practise practise is my motto these days. Getting used to using different mediums in new ways can be challenging and tricky— and apparently fun lol— so I’m trying to embrace that and see what happens while stifling my perfectionism en-route (especially tricky). Anyway, I’ll show you Yarnie’s book page when it’s complete, but for now here’s a teaser… I hope you enjoy yawning with Yarnie today!

**“Poor Yawning Yarnie”**

Poor Yawning Yarnie
Yawns with such might.
Poor Yawning Yarnie,
Gives herself a good fright!
Poor Yawning Yarnie,
Yawns all the day long.
Poor Yawning Yarnie,
Sometimes yawns out a song!
Poor Yawning Yarnie,
Always yawns out of tune.
Poor Yawning Yarnie,
Yawns as big as the moon.
Poor Yawning Yarnie,
Yawns when she eats.
Poor Yawning Yarnie,
Even yawns when she sleeps!
Poor Yawning Yarnie,
Once yawned in a bird —
Now when she yawns,
A chirping is heard!
Poor Yawning Yarnie,
All she wants is to play.
But poor Yawning Yarnie,
Yawned her friends all away.
Poor Yawning Yarnie…
But there’s one thing to do —
If you want to see Yarnie,
You must start yawning too!
Then make it a game,
And go yawning about,
This could help Yarnie
Yawn ALL her yawns out!

Thanks for reading! Also find @artofnonsense on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest

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art, Blog, Monster Monday, Monsters, Self-Love

“The Self-Love Serpent: Finding Gems in Your Blunders”

March 2, 2020 Kristy Fae

Hey everyone, I’d like you to meet the Self-Love Serpent. Self-Love Serpent, I’d like you to meet the people on the other end of the internets.

This little sweetheart has been a lesson in the making for a few different reasons, which I’d like to tell you about, but first she requires an intro. This slithering slinky is part of a project I recently started called “The Self-Love Deck for Monsters”. “The WHAT?” you ask. Think Tarot Deck, but the inspirational kind instead of traditional Tarot, and where each card features a creature with a hint of wisdom concerning self-love. Within the categories of the deck are the elemental sub-categories fire, water, air, earth, and ether. The card I sat down to work on about a month ago was “Self-Love” itself in the air element. What I first envisioned was something fuzzy and cute, swimming and swooping elegantly through the air, smiling, with a radiant heart.

What came out on paper, though, was somewhat of an unlikely candidate for the job. I was thinking of something like the flying dog from “The Neverending Story” movie, yet what materialized was…a snake? Now there’s nothing wrong with snakes, but they don’t exactly elicit a warm and fuzzy feeling for me, personally. While I don’t always have control over what my pencil does, I’m learning to trust it, so I went with it. In the end, I loved her. She was sweet, interesting, and could wrap her sleek figure around herself in a warm embrace until she had tied herself in knots of love. Her two tails, for me, represented both giving love as well as receiving it (which I’ve come to learn are two very different practices). Her scales would symbolize the multitude of aspects of herself, each which she had learned to love unconditionally. Hence was born the Self-Love Serpent. I couldn’t have planned her this well. Lesson one— trust yourself and your pencil, as strange as either’s guidance may seem at the time.

Okay, so I’m not used to drawing creatures that can pretzelize themselves, and after drawing her and falling for her, I realized (due to the feedback from a close artist friend) that I’d drawn her without much thought and her anatomy made no sense. Her twists and turns didn’t work, her spine was impossible, and her “spikes” were pointing the wrong direction on her tails… in short, she was an anatomical mess. DOH! I so liked how her lines worked as she was! But being the perfectionist that I am, I took to figuring out the puzzle of her serpentine bodice. Well, she became a gruelling group effort involving that same friend, my family and my boyfriend. We became Team-Serpent as I drew, erased, redrew her lines, until finally we got her straightened—or not so straightened— out (thanks team!). Much better! And I needed only to misplace a bit of my sanity and a few too many sleeping hours in the process… ahem. Lesson two— it’s okay to make mistakes, get feedback, and ask for help! Even (especially?) if you have to hear something you don’t like in the process.

Finally, when her lead outlines were exacted in a way that filled me with delight, as interesting lines on paper do, she was ready to paint. This became a whole other undertaking. You’d think I’d never painted before, but I’d just locked down hard on “solidifying my style” and thus was putting a lot of importance on this painting. I’ve been using gouache for a number of years now but when I consulted the aforementioned friend, she informed me that I was using the wrong medium for the style I was trying to achieve. Back I went to watercolour; a medium I’d first started using for my illustrations a decade earlier, and realized it did work better for my desired results! My homework was to play around with painting, doing so more freely and sloppily and even more outside of the lines (sorry Granny!). As someone who despises redoing things, this was tough for me, but I decided to paint multiple versions of the same picture, each as quickly as I could, to practise (see image above). Well, voila, I am getting closer and closer to what I want with my medium, style and speed of painting. Yeah yeah, practise makes perfect, right? But seriously, the slogan warrants some credit. Lesson three— don’t be afraid to break the mould, try something new, and step out of your comfort zones. You never know where it will bring you.

In the end, here she floats in all her grace: The Self-Love Serpent. And along with all her bizarreness, frustrations and imperfections, she loves herself completely— and she inspires me to do the same!

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