Meeting Elmo & Cookie Monster

I've recently had one of the most memorable and special moments of my life!


As you may or may not know... I am... and will always be a HUGE Jim Henson/Muppets fan .... HUGE... MASSIVE!!!


Two days ago I was told that my family and I were going to meet Elmo (Kevin Clash) and Cookie Monster (David Rudman) and I was literally over the moon... more excited than my own kid!!


Thanks to Dad who is the Sesame Street Book Licensing Director for Australia he got us in to the Five Mile Press special appearance for media and buyers at the State Library.  It was presented by The Circle's Gorgi Coghlan.  Gorgi  read one of Five Mile Press' books and then interviewed Elmo and Cookie first... then Kevin and David Second. We then got the fabulous opportunity to talk with them.. get pictures and I even went so far as to get their autographs.  Cause to me this was like meeting rock stars!  I kind of bumbled my attempt at words of admiration to Kevin and David... inside berating myself for not being better prepared in order to get my message across the way I wanted it conveyed!  But all the same I'm still glad I had the guts on the day to talk to them.


And to have the opportunity to see them controlling the muppets in real time... I have to say they are just beyond incredible! It's just a gift to watch their skills. We all so easily forget that Elmo is Kevin or David is Cookie.  And without them, Elmo or Cookie are just a piece a material. The life they bring to those gorgeous pieces of Fur is just masterful... genius!


And you'd think the kids might have been shocked to see Kevin and David... but they didn't even batt an eyelid.... didn't phase them whatsoever... to them Elmo was Elmo and Kevin was just like his mate holding him.  I loved that!!


Sesame Street will always have the most special place in my heart and meeting Cookie, David, Elmo & Kevin was a true highlight in my life!!


And to think...here I am busy saving to get to New York... and just this week New York came to me!!


Watch Cookie and Elmo's special appearance on the 'The Circle' Here
And here's some of the photo's I took on the day...

Here's Kevin and Elmo with my son... you should have seen the excitement in our boy's face after Elmo hugged his head!!  

This is Dad, (Tony Gerard) ... who we have to thank for such a fabulous, memorable day!

 My sweetheart niece meeting Cookie

Kevin signing our book after David...

What a day!!!  One I will never forget!!

PS - Thought I'd add this video to give you a glimpse of what it's like to see a master muppeteer in action!

And this video just cause it's so funny!

Art Journal - My gift to my son

I've been journaling like mad of late. Just can't stop.... have felt so inspired.

It's an amazing feeling to see the book growing and becoming more and more fuller by the week.    It's a whopper of a book now which I began in late 2007!   

I've been so inspired and have been creating so much that I've even started a 2nd journal that I work on simultaneously.

I absolutely adore doing art journalling... it's my most favourite of all arty things to do!  It really is enjoyable cause I get to try all kinds of techniques, styles and formats and can go in any direction I like with every new page that I start.  And the best thing about it is... that it's making me grow, not only by refining my abilities as an artist/designer but also emotionally and as a human being through the actual process of creating and expressing and reflecting my feelings with every page that I make!

I have to admit... when I work on it... I do feel very proud of it.  The best feeling of all is knowing this will be what I'll pass onto my son... to let him keep as glimpses of me... my feelings, my beliefs, my likes, my loves, my fun, my craft.  Something that even after I'm gone he'll be able to look to... to feel my love... to feel me near. It feels so good to have a feeling of control like this... where I can create a gift such as this to pass on to my beautiful boy.  He's the most special thing in my existence and I want to make sure he has this book, filled with glimpses of my passion, the most important parts of me. (second to him) .... which is my art.... my ability to create!

 And I love it cause it's not for commercial gain.. it's an ongoing project that I'm doing for the one I love most... a gift for my son and that just gives me so much pleasure I can't even explain it!

  I reckon I've done at least 20 page spreads in the last fortnight... a lot of it is me delving into more abstract, naive style painting... and I have to admit... I am LOVING it!!

I'll post more photo's soon to show you what I've been up to.

In the meantime... here's one of my new pages... paper collage with acrylic paint.