Hi! This is Melissa again! We are almost at the end! This will be the last hour of the art-a-thon. Hope you all have been having fun and enjoying the prompts.
For this hour we decided that there would be no prompt; since its only an hour and not two. This means you can do whatever you like. You could decide to finish up something you started for a previous prompt but were unable to complete, you could create something new or you could just chat away with the other participants and hosts.
My plan is to finish any pieces I started earlier as well as work on my piece for inktober and drawlloween.
If you haven’t done so already you can download the Halloween Activity Book we created and print it out for yourself or your kids. It contains coloring pages and puzzles. Click the image below to download the pdf.
Here is a video of a Halloween song based on “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. ~Melissa
I love the whole idea of this prompt… you can take anything you want from history and anything you want from the real world and cram them together. You can take a literal view and correct some of the worst urban legends or flawed history reports with some accuracy or you can leave them alone.
Washington Irving is famous for two stories most above all others… The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (the text of which can be found here) and Rip Van Winkle. In the interest of playing with classically accepted Halloween themes, I went for Sleepy Hollow. For those of you who are not familiar, long story short, wronged headless guy rides around taking revenge on a scary big horse. Johnny Depp was in a recent movie adaptation.
Queen Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna – better known to most of us as the beheaded Queen Marie Antoinette -is the victim of malicious rumor and has been much misquoted as having said of the poor in France who could not eat bread, “Well, then let them eat brioche.” She is an actual piece of our history that has been badly corrupted over time.
So… what happens when you put the two together? Or when I do?
I believe the proper story from the papers of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker might have told the story of a much misunderstood decapitated Queen who rode around Sleepy Hollow offering treats to anyone who would accept them on the ghost of a pretty golden pony in order to prove that she was in fact a good and heartfull woman who had never maligned the plight of the poor in her country or any other. The Headless Horseman was created out of shame that the villagers were so terrified of a headless woman offering them gorgeous goodies on a miniature equine at any time of day or night.
I’m actually painting this with you today… and sharing my progress while you come up with your own awesome interpretations of this really wide open theme.
Here she is all dollied up and ready for today’s final painting… you get to watch her come to life, so to speak.
“Pro” Polymer Clay Tip: you can fake fabric in clay by rolling the polymer clay out on a textured surface or actual texture mat – I used an Artistcellar stencil – and then gently stretching it with your fingers until it “drapes” over the figure you are trying to enrobe or cloak.
Borrowed “Pro” Undead Painting Tip: (Thank you, Sarah Trumpp) Use purple and green… they are “almost natural” shadows that also give us an uneasy feeling that something isn’t quite right. The photo above only has the purple layer of color, the green will be evident in the first pictures I post for you in the Art-a-thon.
And finally… a freebie… a life tip that the other teachers here have shared with me and that I will freely pass along to you… it is absolutely imperative that you MUST let yourself go. Embrace the weirdo in you that people look at you strangely for. This is a life lesson it has taken me a really long time to “get.” Make yourself laugh at you. Do you suppose those Ancient Aliens guys might be right and aliens taught us how to build the pyramids? Or better, do you think our some dweeb went back in time from our future and pulled the greatest prank in the history of all pranks ever and built them?
I hope you enjoy this one as much as I have.
ttfn
Ruth
My take on this prompt I will be changing fairy tales. I don’t think it follows the prompt 100% but its the first thing that came to mind when Ruth explained it to me. I will specifically be changing the story of Little Red Riding Hood. I plan to rewrite the events that take place in the story and illustrating it. There are several different versions of Little Red Riding Hood though most are quite similar. I plan on using this version.
I am really interested to see what Ruth comes up with for this prompt. I have no idea what it means. I think of possibly some of my old time photos or post cards that I have. Possibly some version of collage where the heads are replaced. My friend Ungala has been replacing heads with cats lately so that comes to mind. Maybe a monster head would be a fun alternative.
My friend Ann is the queen of this prompt. In honor of her awesomeness, I plan to paint a series of presidential zombies.
Who doesn’t like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”? The video below is the full version which includes the “Master of Menace”, Vincent Price’s narration. His narration of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” is awesome. You can check that out here. ~Melissa
There can’t be anything more fun… or terrifying to create… than monsters.
They come in every shape and size and with every meaning from the morose and horrific to the hilariously endearing. Quite literally from that “thing” in The Grudge that still makes me shiver to Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc. From Frankenstein’s tragic creation to the squelchy ugly critters from Labyrinth who were really just grosser than they were anything else.
I have for you some different types… and then we’re going to create some online together… or, well… I’m going to create some and let you see the “how” part by taking pictures along the way.
First… a yarn monster who is sadder than he is scary… my injured decacepholapod… he hasn’t got a name yet. Maybe you can help…
I crocheted this guy with inspiration from a 104 years young woman named Grace Brett who has been yarn bombing Scotland as a member of a group of guerrilla knitters and has become my recently adopted personal Saint. One of the items that was found in Edinburgh this year during the Fringe was an octopus with an amazing face that inspired my unnamed friend here.
My guy has been injured somewhere, we’re not sure where… he is just hoping for an easy life where his only scrapping has to do with paper and scissors and maybe some glue.
I sewed white yarn onto his stumps, added a black yarn eye scar and I think he’s awesome. And yeah, if you lift his legs and violate his privacy a little, he does have a beak because cephalopods have those. This poor guy seems to have bitten off more than he could chew once, though, because his beak has been knocked a little off center. Yep, that’s the story and I’m stickin’ to it.
Second… some silly clay monsters… in all the ways that you can make them, from desk sitters and ornaments to jewelry.
And today… I’ll do some clay crafting and one of you might just win the result… you’ll have to post to the feed during this prompt. Anyone else want a monster pendant? I know I do. And you’re going to decide what it looks like! One eye or two? Should it be a boy or a girl? Lots of choices will be made and lots of creatures will be created!
For this prompt I plan on creating swappable monster parts artist trading cards. I plan on combining 3 cards that create a complete monster. Then I can swap parts with others to create a new monster. This idea is based on a Queen of Hearts atc swap I participated on in atcsforall a few years ago.
Here are some examples.
Before swapping.
After swapping.
In order to make sure everyone’s monster parts align I created a template that you can use. Click the image below to download the template. If you don’t use the template then your parts might not line up with everyone else’s.
All the monsters I create will be up for trade at the end of the art-a-thon. So who will join me?
As a change of pace I’ve decided to crochet a critter or two. I found this yarn that is super soft and has puff balls along it. I will use some kid safe eyes. Normally Cyclops type monsters make for longer lasting eye supplies but this time I’d like to see how many eyes I can get on one creature and have it still look cute or at least cool.
YAY MONSTERS! Monsters are my most favorite thing ever. I have been on a monster mission of late, creating them out of paint, fabric, plaster, polymer clay, and everything in between. I am working on making a monster army, so I’ll be rocking it out with these little guys.
Here is a video of A Nightmare on Elm Street’s “Freddy’s Coming for You”. Growing up I loved the Nightmare on Elm Street series; especially the earlier films in the series. Of all the 80’s horror classic villains Freddy Krueger was my favorite; with his hideous face, razors as fingers and stalking and killing teenagers in their dreams essentially turning them into nightmares. ~Melissa
Hi! Its Melissa again. We are now halfway through the art-a-thon. Hope you are all having fun.
The prompt now is to create a mask or other scary wearable. Humans have worn masks for over 9000 years and quite possibly even much longer than that. Masks can vary in usage. They can be used for ceremonies, rituals, protection, entertainment and disguise. Masks can be very simple or even very elaborate.
Halloween masks and costumes in particular originated centuries ago during the Celtic festival of Samhain. Samhain is a celebration that honors the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. It was believed that, during this period, the veil between the living world and the world of the dead was thin. This allowed the spirits to pass through to our world. Food was left to welcome ancestor’s spirits. Evil spirits also would pass through so the Celts would dress up in costumes and masks to scare away and trick the evil spirits.
I will be making 2 masks today. For the first I purchased a skeletal mask that I will paint on and give it a calavera look. For the second mask I purchased a hard mask to use as a mold to create a clay mask using paper clay . I molded the mask a few weeks ago since it would take a couple of weeks to dry. While it dried it cracked in several places however rather than scrapping it and doing a new one I decided to use it as is and just incorporate the cracks in my design.
Below are pictures of the masks I will be painting.
The mask I will paint in a calavera style.
The mask I made using paper clay.
The hard mask I used as a mold.
I believe I will be taking a dummy head and cutting off the face. I want to see if I can create a mask to look like my comic book hero from SUPER! Depending on the success or lack there of I may choose to glue a variety of objects to it as a base. It would be fun to make something I could wear on days other than Halloween or Comic cons. Possibly a monster on a hair clip….
On the wearable scariness front… I have made a number of monsters… and have a few monster related pieces that I will share today in the feed… and this was made to be a prize offering for the winner that will be chosen today. that is my son facing you with the hat on his head but for reasons unknown to me, he pulled his hair over his face like Cousin It first. I promise he was clean… LOL
Warning: This is less scary to wear than to be seen with while someone else wears it. IMO.
I don’t make a lot of wearables in general, but I do love some crazy hats and jewelry. I’ve been wanting to make a bunch of horrifyingly adorable pendants, so I guess it’s time to change that!!
Hello, my name is Sarah, and I’m hooked on Food with a Face.
Seriously, it’s a sickness. If there was a 12-step program, I would be steppin’. If I had a dime every time I thought about, dreamt about, or created something potentially edible, I would have at least 142.83. Don’t ask about the missing 0.07, you don’t want to know.
Anyway! I paint it…
I draw it.
I sculpt it.
And sometimes I draw Sriracha faces on eggs just for fun.
One of my favorite things in the WORLD, though, is something I found on Pinterest in one of my many time-wasting 12-hour binge sessions research periods – brain-shaped cake pops. I made these a few years ago as a gift, and they were easy (sort of), cheap (sort of), and awesome (ABSOLUTELY).
Now I’m going to go eat some pretzels and listen to them scream as I crunch down on them.
I have two things I plan on making for this prompt. The first is to create meatloaf in the shape of a brain. I have a very large brain mold and a smaller one that I will use. I plan on using a lamb, pork and beef mixture that when cooked has a rather pale pink/pale tan color. Since I am not sure if the larger meatloaf will be done by the end of this prompt, I will also be making sugar skulls. I will be following this recipe from the Mexican Sugar Skull Website. Their recipe however is for large quantities so I will be reducing the recipe by a lot as I only plan on making a few.
The concept of edible art is new to me. I am not foreign to the concept of food as art… but most of the creations I’ve seen or made were not designed to be eaten. Can an object be considered “art” if you eat it? For sure the mastery of flavor is an art, but if something only exists to be eaten can it be art?
After reading what some of the others were planning I did realize I have made a jello zombie hand with a mold. I never would have considered it art though. Perhaps in a way they are installation pieces. Temporary life spans for the enjoyment of the audience. The concept of what qualifies as a work of art has been pondered and explored throughout history. In modern times the “readymades” ushered in a whole new discussion about art. This is exemplified in Marchel Duchamp’s “Fountain”. If you haven’t heard of it the story it is worthwhile find.
What do you think?
I am at a complete loss for this one. I don’t actually play with my food… at least not the edible foods. And while I saw some cute things while researching Halloween foods, none of them really looked like something I wanted to fix AND eat. There are a number of eating concerns in the house, so… maybe I’m lazy and maybe I’m practical… I’m feeling lazy.
My son and his girlfriend may actually manage to bail me out on this one as they are frustrated with me for playing dead on this and both have some good ideas… and I plan to be sipping Thai iced tea with black boba and hoping to be inspired by what we’re being taught today! (I have already cheated and seen the meatloaf idea offered above ^^ and so may actually do that.)
