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!
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.
