|
 VENETIAN
MASKS
In
March 2004 I accompanied my husband Chris on his annual painting
trip - this particular year to the magical and entrancing city of
Venice. Each day we breakfasted and then went off in different
directions - Chris with his sketch pad and paints, me with my
tourist guide and shopping list for the children. I wandered in and
out of the Piazza San Marco, found my way to the Rialto bridge and
it's wonderful market, venturing further afield into the
labyrinth of alleyways and canal bridge crossings, dodging the
Gondoliers touting for business and eventually meeting up with Chris
again at a pre-arranged cafe for a well needed rest after so much
walking!
During my wanderings I
was struck by the abundance of mask shops - every alleyway and
street corner revealed more shops full of these exotic and beautiful
masks! I caught glimpses of artisans painting in their workshops -
jokers masks, animals, theatrical characters and indeed some really
scary faces! All jostling for attention, hanging from shop fronts,
crowded onto every inch of available wall space. Inevitably we
succumbed to temptation and on our last day bought a blue & gold
musical joker mask for our dining room at home. It didn't cross my
mind at the time but on returning home and unpacking our souvenirs I
started to examine the mask and realised that perhaps it was the
sort of thing I could decorate in my own particular style.
Our summer show provided
me with the perfect excuse for re-creating a few masks to complement
Chris's paintings. Using my supply of Italian papers - once I had
sourced a supplier of blanks all I had to do was work out how to put
the whole thing together! Each mask is decorated using decoupage
papers and crackle glaze as before. However the face is embellished
with gold relief pen following the contours of the cut-out papers
with gold painted around the eyes to create a mask effect and
finished off with goldfinger paste. The 'hair' is made from card -
each side having been glued with contrasting paper, a 'jingle'
bell and pearl attached to the top and then edged with gold ribbon.
Each piece of 'hair' is then carefully rolled and curled and
attached to the mask using a hot glue gun. The frill is a folded
over piece of paper, edged with gold ribbon, pleated and attached
with the hot glue to the chin. The mask is then finished off with a
gold braid and gimp edging, fitted with a hanger and ribbons for
wearing.
Some of Gills masks at the Summer Show 2004. |
