craftgrrl | meet the Foonies ... (Reply)

Over the past few months I have been working on creating my Foonie Folk art series. These little foonies are fun to make and they seem to take on a life of their own half-way through the creation process. Once I finish each one, the foonie gets a name and a particular status depending on the 'theme' of the piece eg; Foonie Marvin - 'King of all Things Marvellous'. My foonies are based on fun and having fun, on not being of afraid to show people who you really are, not worrying about what others think, being who you want to be and allowing yourself to be that person even if it is just for a little while.

The name 'Foonie' is a nonsense name made up by me, I was after something a bit quirky and catchy to call this art series of little altered folk. I have also invented a name for the actual art process of creating the Foonie, I like to call this 'foonlage'. See my dictionary definitions below;

foo∙nie - (fōō-nee) n. 1. a fictional character that originates from a vintage portrait. 2. a long forgotten vintage portrait that is given new life to by assuming a new identity through combining various art techniques to the original vintage photograph, the foonie is then appropriately named and given a suitable 'title' once the altering process is complete.

foo∙na∙lage – (fōō-nah-läzh’) n. 1. the artistic process of creating a unique assemblage by combining various elements and techniques in order to alter a vintage portrait, resulting in the creation of a fictional character known as a ‘foonie’. 2. the recycling of a long forgotten vintage photograph creating a new piece of art.