Clarisse and Charles 2

Clarisse and Charles

Back in my undergraduate days, as film major, I started taking filmmaking courses. Since I didn't want to have to beg my friends to be in my film projects, I decided to make my characters... I suppose that's when my doll-making days began. After that I just couldn't stop. My first project was called 'A Mild Infatuation', featuring Clarisse and Charles. The assignment was to make a film that had characters and a plot (mine ended up a bit thin on plot, but not worse than those of my classmates), and had to be about obsession and/or revenge. The idea behind my little film was that Clarisse is obsessed with hands, so she kills her boyfriend, Charles, cuts off his hand and preserves it. Then she hangs herself because she can't stand the guilt. The large backdrop painting posted earlier was used in the scene were Clarisse hangs herself. I also used to have a tree made from a tree branch, it cost me a tetanus shot, and had real tiny crab apples glued to its branches. Pretty nifty. It didn't make one of my many dorm-to-dorm moves. I also had a whole room set up for Clarisse, with a window and fake fruit and all that (they're in one of the pictures)... Here we go...

This is a backdrop I painted for a stop motion animation project back in undergrad (2003 to be precise) on my knees in the hallway on Thanksgiving day in 5 hours.  I later glued it onto a piece of fabric using fabric glue to make it more flexible and more durable. The whole thing is about 1.5 meters wide and .9 meters tall so it didn't even fit on the floor of my then dorm room. Now it has become a must of my wall decor wherever I happen to live. I hang it up and it looks like home... Click on the picture to view a larger version.