I have researched the city, it's history, art, culture, geography, environmental issues, language, etc... and of course I was drawn towards the carnivale and the elaborate costumes and masks worn by Venetians and visitors every year.
I decided to try my hand at making some mask and decided to use Modroc for this, at it is very easy to model with, dries relatively quick, is strong and light.
Mr H kindly sat still whilst I modelled a total of three masks from his face. I asked him to pull different expressions with each mask, to make the building-up a little easier fo me.
For the first one I exaggerated the prominent features - particularly the nose and chin, just by building up with plaster.
The second mask utilised a 'sad' expression and I exaggerated the contours for a 'tragedy' mask.
The third and final mask uses a smile for a 'comedy' mask.
I cut out the eye and nose holes and painted all three masks with an undercoat of emulsion paint.
Then added a coat of base coat (it is more brown than the photo shows) and areas of gold paint, before coating the whole mask(s) in acrylic crackle medium.
I used a hairdryer to get each layer dry because, this time of year, it's so cold, I could've waited weeks to get them finished and I have a deadline of this Thursday to hang them in the gallery space.
At this stage, they were starting to look like something from an old music hall. I was reminded of wooden masks and puppets from the early 20th century, so I knew I was on my way to creating what I was after.
Thinned 'plaid' colour acrylic paint was added in long sweeping strokes and, with the use of a hair dryer, the cracks started to appear:
With a bit more distressing, just to make them look right, I was ready to tackle the inside.
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