The Time Frog catches flies from his spot in the pond but they don't die. Instead they make their way to the Frog's belly, where the gears, levers, jewels and such of a clock works operate in him.Readers here have heard me fumble around for years about the Time Frog character. My original vision was certain. He was a frog with one of his eyes a clock face. He will sit quietly in his pond, just down the hill from Rana's cottage and all that we know of as time exists because he exists. He is Time itself. (The origins of a frog with a watch in his eye initially came to my mind as I was working on one of the early Mac desktop computers in 1993. I was rendering a large file for a childrens book and the cursor, happened to be placed over an illustrated frog's eye, as it turned into a watch icon during the Hard Drive's slow operation. One dot led to the other.)
Readers will know that the addition of the Time Flys seemed to flow naturally as things developed here on the blog. I knew I wanted them to buzz around and land in the bejeweled spider webs in the corners and be captured in Rana's sewing pin cushion. But I really groped around for how I could connect the Flies, the Frog, and Time in a way that made really good and fun sense. I wondered if the flies dropped watch parts? or somehow built a clock, nothing really had enough logic to me. Finally, in a flash, I got it yesterday morning as I was waking up.
The dots started flying in my head and rapidly connecting themselves as I came to, until I flew out of bed and started constructing what I imagined. A domed plastic packaging from our recycle bin, watch parts Marcie H.O.N. (Halfland's Official Naturalist) sent next to the puppet's sculpt and mold, to start sketching out how to construct clock works in the Time Frog's belly!
I plan to construct this large pocket watch under glass and animate it with rotating gears and busy flies making it all go, like a small cut away vignette.
Readers here will know how exciting this development in the minor character in the story/play is, and how much I thank them for staying around. Now it flows just right. Just right for Halfland. (Readers here will please refrain from noticing that the date on the previous sketch of the Time Frog was October of 2007.)
28 comments:
Oh! this idea is so engineering :-)
wow, very intricate. I like it
got to get my thesaurus out for "brilliant"
...magnificent, prominent, splendid, superb.
Thanks, Lain, Will, and Rich! Hope this will be as great as I hope.
Great idea, can't wait to see it in action :)
Hooray, thanks, dad-to-be Ubbie!
The genius lies in wait till we are still. Love those early morning creative thoughts...kewl..(hon hug)
:)
Marcie! That's a brilliant line!! OMG! I want to live with that on a t-shirt!
"The genius lies in wait till we are still."
That is all kinds of true. I'm taking that to heart from now on. Thank you so much for saying it.
And, as I think about it, I have you to thank for this happy Time Frog solution. It was YOU who so generously sent me a huge amount of vintage pocket watch parts, along with loads of natural material you collected where you live. Which, as you see, I am also making good use of in Halfland.
I can't possibly thank you enough. But I'll at least say sincerely, Thank You.
I wish the flys we get in the summer were as fun to look at as these little guys are. So great!
m_) Eureka said Archimedes, he was the first of the last./
May ideas always prevail, my friend.
I have a strong disbelief in genius or genioutry --following the branch of that matter, indeed. Indeedn't to believe.
Great new idea for the Time Frog - very steampunk with the clockworks in the belly!
And don't worry about that 2007 date - that's how it works with time flies, and time frogs. When they leap, you never know where - or when - they will land.
Hi, Amy! I'm hopping to post about artist Graham Owen soon. He has inspired me to heights of fly and other insect making that I could never has imagined!
Hi, Dan, what was Archimedes the last of? I believe in genius in the sense of inspired work beyond the norm. In a way as if, some may call it, Divinity, or however that idea is conveyed, creative energy, untainted life energy, etc., has touched down through a person. At least for that moment of expression.
Google nose not your word genioutry and therefore I don't stand under that limb.
Nick! hi! A leap of time! I swear, I hadn't realized that in this metaphor! I'm so glad you pointed it out! Fabulous!
It sure feels that way lately, doesn't it?! The days are like hours, the month's like days, the years like months for me now.
I wonder what frame rate we are being animated at.
PS: re; your mentioning Steam Punk, I am also noticing an increasing amount of organic and inorganic synthesis going on in Halfland as things develop.
The metal watch and the frog, the glass Tudor window panes and the twig and leaf mullions growing through them... Ah, but I haven't posted about that yet!
Shelley, the time frog looks amazing. I love the idea of having the clock inside his belly. That is such a great metaphor. You know Native American's belief... (shamanic belief actually) Everything on the earth has a soul; a stone, you, me, bird, tree, table... and we as humans can connect with the other souls through our belly. I think Carlos Castaneda who wrote about this.. eating mushroom and having this ceremony to connect with the soul of the earth. So, your frog having the clock inside his belly makes a lot of sense from this point of view. By the way the illustrations look very pretty as a frog puppet.
Shelly, I have to write about this.. the video you posted on the right top of your blog.. It is sooo amazing. I have been thinking a lot about the scenario of my film along with reading about "time" in general. Do you know Plato's cave allegory? What he does here in this video is kind of like an illustration of the cave/life. This is exactly what I have been thinking to have in my film. I saw that there are some other videos on youtube. Thanks a lot for posting this video here. Now, I have a chance to see alive what I have been thinking in my mind.
Brilliant!
Btw, the package is going out in the mail this week. My poor new-to-me car died just before I got the flu so I've been house bound for a bit.
x
Yaz! I didn't know about the belly connection, thank you. And I knew that I wanted everything in Halfland to be alive and conscious, just like in our world, only a little more obviously. Now I know why, thank you twice!
And I'm thrilled that Ulla posted that shadow piece too. It rally got me thinking as well. I'm so glad it sparked you and I can't wait to see what you do with the idea!
DJ! No problem. It's so incredibly kind of you to send me these treasures! I know how hard it is to get to a post office. I have things way over due for Yaz and Nick, and Mike, and about 20 other people! Sheesh! Thank you for all the trouble and I hope you and your car are feeling better!
Genius. I just love the way you think.
Why, thank you, Peggy! On one hand it seems so obvious. But on another, I didn't see it for all these many years!
Love the steampunk aesthetic the frog has. Rib-bit.
I can dig it, Mike!
This is so crazy great, you guys! I just realized that I can animate the flies rubbing their hands together before grabbing onto a gear to get to work in the watch. That fly human-like hand-rubbing action was something I always wanted to include in Halfland HA!
couldn't see it any other way ;)
Right on, Mike. So true, now that I can see it!
great concept!! very fun and appealing.
jriggity
Thanks, Justin! I really feel as though the Time Frog concept has fully arrived now.
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