I’m just taking a break from painting Masks, I have one left to paint for the first order and then – tear – I’ll be sending them out into the world. Bwahboohooohooohoo :, ( My little babies are leaving me. Well I’ll be taking pictures of them all so I can keep track of what I’ve done so far and keep doing what I liked best.
At least there will be a lot more space in the dining room now that they’re going - my parents are great but I think they were getting tired of Masks on the clothesline, on the dining room table, on the picnic table, on the washing machine…
And in other news – the second high school to place an order with me has just announced that she has found more funding and wants to up her order! : D However she would like me to explore using rice paper because she says it makes for a better Mask if a more expensive one. I haven’t ever used it and I’m a bit put off with using a new material. She’s got some that she can give for me to use, and I found a few sheets on my own, but I’d need to find. Chinatown has been suggested to me - any ideas where I can find cheap lowish grade rice paper?
The neat thing about this second order is that I’ve been asked to explore some more female Masks. Commedia dell’Arte is really lopsided with many more male characters, and the few female ones generally not wearing Masks.
I’ve been tinkering and revisiting my Ancient Greek and Roman theatre notes (I hadn’t even fully graduating before I was flipping through old notes : D ) trying to find some good female characters to draw on.
I’ve decided to create a Mask of the Lusty Widow character; with more gold than brains she is constantly seeking out a boy toy. She is mentioned in Moliere’s The Miser in that a Innamorato character is being married to her against his will. At first I was hesitant but then I realised how well she would interact with the more traditional characters. Pantalone could look past her age and try to court her and her money bags and Il Dottore could sell her quack anti-aging cures. And of course she would need a servant. Zanni or Colombina could fit the bill. I can just imagine a scenario where, in order to make herself feel better, the Lusty Widow makes her entire household follow her celery and grapefruit diet. Zanni a perpetually starving servant would go to all kinds of lengths to smuggle proper food into the household, only to have his share devoured as well by the other hungry servants.
I’m also experimenting on a Witty Courtesan character. Something like a prostitute, and something more. I’m modelling her after the high class (and priced) heitaras of Ancient Greece whose profession and be compared to modern Geishas of Japan. For the geeks out there – think the Companions from Firefly. She would be unique in her ability to go and mingle along all social strata. She would be as glib as Brighella but would have charm and charisma where he simply intimidates. She would trail the male characters along as they vie for her favours and even the female characters would be in somewhat awe of her. I’ve found a bunch of paintings of Italian and French courtesans dangling along their suitors that I’ll be looking closely at. Yay for UW library still allowing me access to the journal database!
Now I have to figure out what Masks this teacher should get. When I’m creating a set of Masks, I feel sort of like I’m creating a community, I can’t create a Mask without first understanding how it will react with all the other Masks. It doesn’t do to have too many males or too many females, or too many high status characters or low status ones.
And I guess I’m done blabbing about my Masks – I should probably make a separate tag for Masks I’ve done so many entries about them. : D
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