Masks and other Art

[Buster's Uncle]

Well, 3 days in the cold season is a bit short to see a whole county.

Sure - and as I'm sure I mentioned repeatedly, February is the wrong time and we were lucky it was as warm and nice as it was.  You need to be here when the leaves are on the trees to appreciate what beautiful country this is.

[Geo]

April would be a better month?

[Buster's Uncle]

Depends on the weather at the time, and May would be even better, but yes.  This year, any month from April to now would have done nicely if you missed the rainy spells in a wet, cool, summer.

[Buster's Uncle]

She was painting when I got up this morning.


This is new:

That half mask is off The Captain, and was one of the ones that had been going doll face; looks like she's trying something Peking Opera-inspired instead.

[Buster's Uncle]

She tells me she is planning to score some working crackle spray - just decided to do something else with that particular one.

[Buster's Uncle]

She was painting when I woke up yesterday:


-The main new development is that she's clearly adding the gorilla to the Heart of the Jungle series -one of her all-time best motifs- a rich leafy pattern inspired by a specific Frida Kahlo painting - one of them is one of the few we've sold at the gallery, and the other was on my desk awaiting mask repairs, or I bet it would have sold, too...

-That's the crone attached that's been sold, and the monkey we still have.

[Buster's Uncle]

A little practical art in practice story.

Sunday before yeasterday, Momma came home from church to catch a sketchy-looking dude in a pickup truck on our carport.  Claimed he was looking for [some male name we never heard of].

Naw - he was totally caught looking to steal various and sundry item off our carport - lawn mower, generator, an air compressor with a big tank, and maybe even the screen doors propped against the wall for the scrap metal value.  Momma saw a lot of junk in the back of his truck.

Thing is, I think I heard something before she showed up - but the chances are not that great that I would have wrapped up whatever I was doing and gone to investigate in time.  Life is too short to get up every time I hear something going on - nearly 100% of the time it's something mundane that Momma's up to.

The town police are clown college for apes, and at least one person besides me told her to file a report anyway, so everybody please spare me the suggestions about the po-po.  I don't actually know if she did or not.

What she did do for sure was take it pretty seriously.  It's a nasty thing, living somewhere that it's a good bet that you can leave the lawn mower outside and all that comes of it is that it's there when you need it, and some piece of trash ruins that.  A lot less of our stuff is outside now.

-And well, yesterday, she also did this while she was gone to church...













 

That's Carman, who was created in the first place as a ride-along dummy for feminine security purposes, thus his name.  Like a scarecrow, but a scareman.  That's a bb gun in his lap, of course.

Now, if I was a sketchy dude up to no good, I would not get a very good look at that figure; I'd be out of there so fast half my tires would be smeared on the pavement...


She's away all day today, so when I went out to spoil the cats after lunch, I found Carman at his post.  He has been with us for getting on 30 years, and I did not jump in startlement --- but I can surely attest of my own experience that he does have that quality, and has startled many over many years.  He's a real menace to peripheral vision...

[Geo]

She certainly has a dark sense of humor.

Hope someone noticed at least a license plate.

[Buster's Uncle]

I believe she was too alarmed to think of that in time...

[Buster's Uncle]

She had a long painting session yesterday -and another today, but I haven't taken pics yet- where I think she just finished up the Captain halfmask and did something similar with the halfmask I did on my own face.



I don't got a small face myself, so you can tell the original model for The Captain had himself a right big one.


The crackle problem turned out to be that she'd forgotten the specialized crackle base coat - two are now base-coated, and outside drying.

She considers the alien face with the 'tribal' decoration finished, BTW, though I don't notice any new detail today.  More pics later...

[Buster's Uncle]

She considers the two pictured above done, as well as the green chimp, and has set them aside.

Here's where she left it Tuesday:


And here's yesterday:

I guess the crackle surfacing didn't work out after all.

She was at it early again today, but I haven't taken photos - yet...

[Buster's Uncle]

[Buster's Uncle]

[Geo]

This bloke hasn't been bored on its duty sofar?

[Buster's Uncle]

Nossir.  He startled Buster about an hour ago.