An artist "obsessed with animals" now creates enchanting puppets, performing with her furry friends through the streets of Norwich.

Jodie Smith, 26, from Norwich is head of editions at Moosey Art, while her creative practice sees her create and perform with realistic animal puppets under the name of Animus Puppetry.

Norwich Evening News: Jodie Smith with MaxJodie Smith with Max (Image: Jodie Smith)

On Saturday (December 17), Jodie was seen walking through Norwich with Eliza, her life-sized string puppet.

Many stopped to take in the sight, with some confused dogs in tow.

Norwich Evening News: Jodie Smith's creative practice sees her create and perform with realistic animal puppetsJodie Smith's creative practice sees her create and perform with realistic animal puppets (Image: Jodie Smith)

Jodie said: "There was a really good spirit that day. I hope the puppetry gave people light relief from the stressful Christmas shopping, with no money exchange - just pure entertainment.

"I want to explore the sense of random encounter, with people stopping to double-take. 

"It is a moment of magic you can't quite explain, capturing the moment of encountering an animal.

"You have to understand the animal inside and out."

Norwich Evening News: Jodie Smith's creative practice sees her create and perform with realistic animal puppetsJodie Smith's creative practice sees her create and perform with realistic animal puppets (Image: Jodie Smith)

Her creative practice started out as a painter, but she found it hard to capture the animal's spirit in the two-dimensional medium.

She said: "I was trying to capture the spark of the animal but they were trapped due to the painting's barrier."

Jodie discovered puppetry after making a small Plasticene dinosaur.

While playing with the dinosaur, walking it along the edge of the sofa at a social gathering, she found the room of people falling silent, drawn to the motion of the little plastic animal.

Norwich Evening News: Jodie Smith's creative practice sees her create and perform with realistic animal puppetsJodie Smith's creative practice sees her create and perform with realistic animal puppets (Image: Jodie Smith)

She then moved on to making a papier mâché dinosaur, which was bigger than her and later other string puppets, including Eliza, who is a foam structure using old clothes for decoration.

While she has created puppets for the Puppet Theatre, her main outlet for the puppets is via walkabouts at festivals. She describes the beauty of the "carnival vibe" where visitors are in a relaxed headspace with a "kid's sense of wonder" - open to absorbing the magic of the puppets.

Norwich Evening News: Jodie Smith's creative practice sees her create and perform with realistic animal puppetsJodie Smith's creative practice sees her create and perform with realistic animal puppets (Image: Selene Star Photography)