Last Spring I had wanted to make a video with the mask and the prose poem, but it didn't happen. The video poem is from a 4 min clip of the only usable footage from a shoot in High Park in Toronto yesterday with my daughter sorta on camera, well at a distance from the tripod, but she was affecting things.

It's not too long, 2:37min, and moves quite quickly, and, perhaps it's because I'm a little light-headed after the 18hr stint editing this video, but I find it quite funny, and so it's ok if the photos make you laugh a little too.

(Currently it's uploading to YouTube and Vimeo, but you never know exactly when things will appear. By tomorrow, I expect.)

No, she's not in it. People remain adamant about not appearing in my videos, and so I apologize, it's just me.

A 59 year old woman prancing in the woods? Oh, yes, you bet. Only one jogger about my age jogged by twice, and a fellow on a bike came rather close when I was changing out of my white strapless bra into my black lace one, and if he'd had any untoward thoughts he didn't reveal them (or I'd have smacked him wearing the masque - yes I would.)

Afterwards, on the hot, humid afternoon, we went to the subway and I realized it was rush-hour, when dogs aren't allowed on public transit. So my daughter took the gear underground to the train and my dog and I walked home about 5km, which was fine, except that though I was wearing flat black leather thongs they are not my my old brown hiking sandals and so have a few blisters.

All in the name of art! (Or craziness, sometimes it's hard to distinquish.)

Chthonic goddess of the greening earth. Wrinkled, like tree bark, painted, an exotic glade. Process, the recycling of Nature, life emerging from death. An organic art. The mask's fronds as if growing out of the forest floor in the Spring. Papier-mache, mulch: paper, or leaves. The face as landscape; the face carrying the landscape with it. Flower colours framing her face; the iridescence of insects, sheen of dragonfly. Feathery wings, plumed serpent, vestiges of living vines. A vision of a Nature spirit, Summer Solstice, a Midsummer Night's Dream. Shaman of the forest. Tutelary guide in the rainforest. Jungle of the imagination. Then the Surreality of the sky-blue mask on the greening gold fields of her face: I offer you a masked mask.




Or go to Picasa and see all the photos, and a larger slideshow:

Green Goddess Masque - Process

Above, photos documenting the inception and evolving masque, which were posted at Rubies In Crystal as I did them, now collected in a slideshow. There may be more added depending on when and how photos from the Buddha Groove emerge from various cameras that were flashing that Halloween night.

Below, a slideshow documenting the stages of painting the masque:



Or go to Picasa and see all the photos, and a larger slideshow:

Green Goddess Masque - Paint Sequence

In June 2011, I danced in the woods wearing this masque, and created a video poem:


direct link: "Green Goddess" Masque (a dance in the woods)




          

Despite myself (my perfectionism, desire to always do better), I am delighted with this masque.


(Note: I've uploaded a much larger image this time. If you click on the image and then click again, you can better see some of the detail.)

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*Note: To see the finished masque, as well as two short slideshows of the process of making it, go here: Green Goddess Papier-mache Masque.

I'm still in that stage between painting and seeing what I've done. The foil impression of the face in the painted version is something I am getting used to, though of course I wasn't aiming for a life-like masque. Both images are fairly close to the actual coloration and feel of the masque, though the upper one, originally taken under daylight bulbs, which brightened the colour too much, has been brought to its colours through post-photographic filters, while the lower one wasn't. By the time I realized photographing in natural light gave the truest colours, it was too dark.

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*Note: To see the finished masque, as well as two short slideshows of the process of making it, go here: Green Goddess Papier-mache Masque.

A crisis yesterday - it dried and was too small for my face. From the neck up I split one cheek, taped the mask wider, re-papier-mâchéd it. Naturally, I have spent hours composing this photographic image rather than painting!

Last night I bought a single, large silicon Calla Lily to carry as a wand. When I went searching in Google images for ideas for painting a "Green Goddess" there were many photos of Calla Lilies!

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*Note: To see the finished masque, as well as two short slideshows of the process of making it, go here: Green Goddess Papier-mache Masque.

This evening, after I took the masque out of a warm oven of 200°F, I cut cardboard into the shapes I wanted, added picture wire and taped that as well as the headdress, which is in two parts, to the masque. The fronds on the masque in this photograph of multiples and cut-outs now have a layer of papier-mâché, which is weighing them down, and so the shape is not exactly as pictured here.

I think I am spending as long composing these images for you in Photoshop Elements as I am creating the masque!

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*Note: To see the finished masque, as well as two short slideshows of the process of making it, go here: Green Goddess Papier-mache Masque.

This is a challenging project. Will the masque hold? Each layer needs to dry fully. Will I be able to create enough layers for strength and have it painted by Friday night? And, most importantly, will my cat play with the torn paper, which is one of his favourite activities? Oh, Green Goddess, meow!

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*Note: To see the finished masque, as well as two short slideshows of the process of making it, go here: Green Goddess Papier-mache Masque.