I don’t know how other people deal with their way of life. I mean, most of us just get up every day and do all the mundane things we have to do, all in the belief that one day life will be more interesting, or fun, or whatever. I’m not good with that, so I had to figure out a way to deal with how my expectations of my life and how my real life didn’t match up - despite much work and stress on my part.
To fill that gap I needed to create some personal magic, so I joined flickr and after looking around at a bunch of groups and figuring out how people took something so huge and made it personal, I figured out where I needed to be. I wasn’t really into photographing myself everyday (and believe me when I say that I was astounded at how many groups were dedicated to just that), but I did want something that would force me to get out the camera every single day.
That led me to the awkwardly named but quirky One Object 365 Days group.
I was amazed by some of the photos. I sort of had an idea, inspired by those folks who uploaded religiously. I even knew what “object” I would use: I’d found this farm animal cow in the parking lot when I was in graduate school.
I knew it was meant to be.
An early depiction of my cow. Not exactly a stellar photo, nor a great outcome for the cow when I wandered off to view the photo on my computer.
So I took a photo. I wasn’t very imaginative, and my photography skills … well, they needed a lot of work. But I had to start somewhere, right?
I did not foresee how curious my dogs would be. Or maybe I meant to say hungry. I still can’t say with any certainty - all I know for sure is that my cow disappeared after this photoshoot. I left the room for a bit, I came back in, and the phone was still there. The cow wasn’t.
I was sad. I was also angry, but this part is harder to explain. I didn’t have a lot invested in the project and I could have started my 365 days over. It was only day 2 when the toy wandered off.
Those who know me can attest to my stubborn nature. If I make my mind up about anything, I will not stop or back down until I am okay with the results. But what could I do without this stupid little toy?
I looked at farm animals and I have to admit something else here. I am cheap. I would not buy all those farm animals for one cow, especially when the cows in that collection didn’t look right. I also had no photo editing skills, so a clone was out as well.
While wandering the toy aisles of Wal-Mart trying to figure out what I should do (please no judgment, Wal-Mart was our ONLY grocery store in our small town), I saw something that changed my life. I figured out right then what I needed to do, if only I could pull it off.
I would make my cow, and within a few hours, she would finally have a name, thanks to my husband.
The birth of Frankencow was fairly quick and painless.
Model Magic air-dry clay and I have been good friends ever since. Frankencow has taken me along on her adventures, far and wide but mostly to the most magical non-places that I could ever hope to go.
I haven’t started at the beginning of her life here because she’s at her best with Bingo, and it took him some time to show up. I guess monkeys don’t normally gravitate to the same pastures as cows, so it’s really no surprise that the two of them hang out elsewhere.
I hope you enjoy the surprises and even the minor mishaps that these two get into, and if you ever want to read their older stuff, it’s on flickr. Write me a comment and I’ll send you a link.