Faces of the Olde Country

I just returned from an amazing trip to Central Europe, to do some research on my families history.
While I was there, I did a few caricatures, just informaly, at bars etc. I found that this was a wonderful way for me break the cross cultural ice, and make a human contact at a different level than would have otherwise been possible for me. Indeed, the time spent and attention invested between portrait artist and a 'subject' creates a very special space of intimacy. Perhaps some day I will share some wonderful stories of my mother and mentor, Edie Cohn, and the amazing repository she her and her subjects alike have been suprised to find in this sanctioned space.
For the mean while, please enjoy these few portraits, which for me were a wonderful chance to study up close and personal, the facial features that showcase a kindered gene pool.
 

Painting The Face Of The Great Human Race

Well as much grumbling and griping as I did about this event (due to a miscommunication with my dad, I thought I was going to a freaky Beaver Queen Pageant in a a shady park, instead of a jogging event in parking lot at NorthGate Mall) kids ARE kids, and they seemed vividly drawn to my crittur pitchurs none the less, making it as rewarding time as any. I also had some very enthusiastic booth mates, who rolled up their sleeves, and jumped right in, getting their tattoos, which they seemed to cherish.
I wound up (as usual), with a long line of patiently waiting kids, long after the rest of the festival had cleared out.

As it turned out, it was actually a pretty cool event (much larger than I had comprehended), called the Great Human Race, which I think raised quite a lot of money for such worthy causes as The Humane Society, Dogs off Chains, and of course, The Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association!





Hopefully, some parents spent some time at the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association booth, and will keep us in mind for sponsorship next year!





Besides my crittur pitchurs, there were a few other key items on display, to help visitors recognize the natural assets that the creek provides. One was a beaver pelt, provided by yours truly (with key supportive sponsorship of the tanning stage from my Dad, Steve). You can follow this Beaver's Tale, by click this link.
 Another attraction was this beautiful display of native flowers which can be found along the banks or Ellerbe Creek, assembled and constructed by the lovely Cynthy.

I did paint one non-native critter today- a tiger. I made an exception, because the little girl (and her Mom) already had their 'tiger ears' on, and they there to raise money for the Carnivore Preservation Trust in  GPittsboro. That kid looked pretty fierce when she left my table!

(Hopefully my booth mates will send me their photo of the progress, will post).

A Return to my Roots with ECWA

This coming Saturday morning, I will be embellishing participants at a fundraiser for the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association (ECWA) with some of my River Critter Pictures.

This marks a return of my face painting to ECWA fundraising efforts, from whence they began 8 marvelous years ago!

I first developed River Critter Pictures back in 2004, to paint on kids at an ECWA table at an Earth Day celebration, in Downtown Durham.

Getting my gear set up, as first customer's wait patiently,
and ECWA superstar Jane Finch helps out.
Circa 2004

Back then I did a lot more creepy crawlies, such as mayfly nymphs etc. But I didn’t have many takers on those, so I’ve broadened my pallet, to snakes, snapping turtles, and leaches. Just kidding! Sort of….

My current pantheon is centered around angiosperms, specifically our reptiles and amphibians of the Southeastern US.

These include our magestic Rough Green Snakes, Tree Frogs, Marbled Salamanders, Fiery Red Efts, Striped Skinks, Anoles, yellow-bellied sliders, even an American Alligator or two!

But I am always looking to widen my pallet of critters, and recently, at a Haw River 30^th Anniversery celebration, I did my first snail! It was glorious!

I have also recently added a tiger lilly. and would like to bring in some more riparian flora, such as swamp lily’s, snake grass, maybe a willow tree?

For this event, and the upcoming Beaver Queen Pageant, it looks like I’ll be adding our lady of the lake to the Pantheon. Should be fun!

In case you are wondering about that picture above, that fateful Earth Day in Durham was not just the debut of River Critter Pitchers, but also the debut of my infamous ‘Possum costume, which has sadly since fallen into disrepair life is hard on a 'possum's tail, but was in full effect that Spring day downtown!

Rabbid 'Possom sighting Downtown!

I had also fashioned a pretty good flea mask for fellow ECWA brat, Matt Brockman.

I never did get the rest of the costume together though, and he has grown out of his flea days.

 But, as much fun as I was having, I did not get the last laugh. My co-worker at the time, Terry, The Storyteller, turned the tine on me. What did he give me? True to his storytelling, said the little man with the black hat, I'll never tell!

Here Story Teller Terry turns the brush on me!

Paintin River Critter Pitchers, at the Haw River Assembly's 30 Birthday Bash!

This past weekend, I braved some crazy chilly weather, and an impending doozy-of-a-chest-cold, to attend, contribute to, and celebrate a very special event.

And that, friends, was the 30th Birthday Party for our vigilant local 'River Keepers',
the Haw River Assembly.
Since 1982, HRA has been fighting to clean up and protect the our beautiful Haw River, doing so through such innovative educational programs as the Haw River Learning Celebration, and asiduous monitoring of the river's health, and vociferous activism at the state level!

This was to be quite a party indeed, taking place up along the canyonlike banks along the Haw, where it runs through Saxapahaw, in the new, splendid, illustrious Haw River Ballroom!

First, the place was dressed to the '9s'! Using some choice PaperHand Puppet props and creations (such as the 15 foot tall fern fiddle-heads that flanked the stage, Chris Carter and Johnathan Davis had a stayed up the night before transforming the ballroom into a visual fete of verdant green river life.

There were Awesome musical acts. Hindu-Grass, which blends East Indian music with Appalachian music appropriately set the sacremonial scene. Then, after a touching speech by the founder of HRA, and a live auction of some really awesome artwork!

Rootzie, a great  band, layed down an evening full of dance grooves. And then to top it off, none other than DJ Passion Fruit proceeded to break it down for us.

What was my contribution to this celebration? Face Painting!
For the last several years, I have committed to providing face painting to the Haw River Festival.
But not just any face painting- "Haw Rivr Critr Pitchers"- that is body embelishments celebrating the riparian flora and fauna of the South East!

I must admit, that I was a little rusty going into this gig, and it was perhaps not my finest work (without a steady stream of kids, I never really did have the chance to get very well warmed up).

However, I did feel that I was able to match well the artworks with the sitters, which I consider to be an artform in itself, and perhaps the most rewarding aspect of creating customized artwork.


My first brave customer is someone whom I will call Madamoiselle Snail.
And for she, I emblazoned with my first ever snail painting!
This has been an idea, long in the cooker (sorry), but she was the first to take me up on it!
Not only that, she wanted a psychidelic/pop art snail! I am not sure if I delivered in quite that way, but I tried. Moreover, I do feel that we succeeded in the the snail's route, as what is a snail....

with out a snail trail....?

Here's to you, kiddo, my first snail.

Next up, was her compatriot, an equally sporting lasse, who I will refer to here as Madamoiselle Butterfy. Here, my intuitive powers of sense of color leapt into action, culminating in what I take to be a rather inspired butterfly. (in this photo, it is hard to read the teal overtones on the yellow, that really make its irridecence. These were two great sitters to begin with!

My next customer was one half of the stylish couple you see here- none other than Gary and Illana Dubester. Gary and Illana are both fantastic people, each of them, and thus quite a power duo!
This night they were conducting the live auction, but they are both very active in this Chatham County Community!

For all of their style, I just had to give Illana an embelishment, thought in retrospect, I feel that she deserved something much more ornate, alas. Perhaps I could had had the rose emerging from her clenched teeth!?!!...alas...

Still, I do think that purply rose sat rather well her finely rounded cheek.

Next up, was a woman named Eliza, whom I had never met before, but having met her, realized that it was high time that I met her. For Eliza, I chose a rough green snake 'bracelet', which indeed she reported having been lucky enough to be quite familiar with this elusive local creature!

While again, I felt my handedness was sub-par in the execution of this snake, I do feel like it made a good fit. I hope I will get another chance someday.

My next sitter was Eliza's daughter. For her tattoo, she chose an alligator.
While we don't actually have alligator's in the Haw River watershed, I am sure we have some down stream (perhaps along the Cape Fear River?), and moreover, I just love to draw them!

In another burst of inspiration, we curled this beast around her bicep. Her mother reported that her daughter planned to go straight home and photograph it for facebook lol. I think I'll take that as a seal of approval!

I might note, that, inspite of my so-so facepainting that evening,  this event did feature (inadvertantly) some of my better painting work. Some of the lush, green, jumbo sized leaves that lined the edge of the stage I had helped to paint last summer for PaperHand Puppets performance. The leaf on the left is features my painting work.

The Past 3

As I am starting this blog pretty late in the game of this business, I thought I'd leave a few empty spaces, to give some history. I'll come back and fill these in later.

The Past 2

As I am starting this blog pretty late in the game of this business, I thought I'd leave a few empty spaces, to give some history. I'll come back and fill these in later.

The Past 1