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I am making aHhorse Head mask to fit over a human head. Note that I am using two colours of clay,

The grey clay to give me guidelines, structure and temporary support under the muzzle, then the red clay to build the animal.

I aim to get a sense of the skeletal structure first after which I search for the animal and the final stage will be to find the character of the creature.

The ears I shall add at the end which may be separate leather ears, likewise, I may make the mane in a similar fashion. Not decided as yet.

The neck has to be thick to fit over the human head but it looks far thicker, at present, than a horse would be, another conundrum to resolve.

What a delightful day.  Dressing up and drawing. Today I learnt that the drawing of masked models di-inhibits. The person being drawn is already more than human, somewhat grotesque and therefore not recognisable as an ordinary person, therefore the people drawing are not hung up on making a realistic ‘portrait’. Already in the realm of exaggeration, beyond human.

Such a l;lovely way to spend a day. Thank you to all who joined in.

Getting ready for the day of ‘Drop-In,  Dress-up  and Draw’ on Wednesday, at City Arts, Nottingham.

Window Display

This new model of a classic Commedia stage will be on display in preparation for

Drop In and Draw   for   International Commedia Dell’Arte Day 2015                                        Drawing Commedia  at

City Arts Building, 11 – 13 Hockley Nottingham NG1 1FH      On Wednesday 25^th February 2015   anytime from 11 a.m. till 6 p.m.

Be part of this world-wide celebration of Commedia Dell’Arte, with events happening in Nottingham and London (U.K.) , Washington DC and Minneapolios (U.S.A.) , Mexico City, Maringa (Brazil), Adelaide (Australia), Madrid (Spain), Tel Aviv (Israel) , Padua and Sienna (Italy) to name just a few.       Draw in the spirit of Commedia dell Arte, Stephen will introduce drawing games and tricks to access anarchy, humour, theatricality and grotesquery.               Come for 20 minutes , an hour or all afternoon if that suit you.

£3.00 drop-in fee , please pay on the door. Basic materials will be provided.

There will be costumes and masks so you can join in by dressing up and posing if drawing is not your thing.

Commedia dell Arte is the classic form of Italian popular theatre which has inspired theatre makers from Shakespeare to Molière, Goldoni to Punch and Judy Brecht and of course British Pantomime. And has been an inspiration to many visual artists from Jaques Callot, Tiepolo, Watteau, Picasso and David Hockney. Composers too, Mozart, Stravinsky, Kurt Weill and Nino Rota.

http://www.commediadellarteday.org

During our first session with the Volunteers at Calke Abbey, we played with some images of horses. We would like to create one or two simple craft activities which we can roll out for visitors to do whilst visiting the Stables. These will probably be for children to do but of course we will never know if those children will be two years old or ninety years old. here are a couple of ideas we have started with,'”Hobby Horses’ and ‘Kirigami Cards’.

Getting back to Drawing with Mono-prints and Lino-cuts.

Stephen Jon Mask-Maker has now joined 3rd Space Studios on Hayden Road. Run out of space in Studio 1 in the garden, so spread out over two spaces.  Lets hope this is a start of new ideas and works and lets us now see if he will be influenced by sharing space with a number of painters?

New place to work…with 3rd Space Studio’s, just ten minutes walk from my front door.

Inspired by a Peruvian Hood Mask, I have been working with cloth again to try out idea’s for new masks.

The Lincolnshire Imp revived.in miniature