The Finished Costume (sort of )

This weekend was the Whyte Avenue Art Walk here in Edmonton and it was the debut of my newest costume:

It was very smokey here in Edmonton due to forest fires. It was a very hot day because of it.

As you can tell from the photos it's a very different look from where I started and that was what i was planning to do from the beginning.

There's actually even more flowers added to the costume, then what is shown, but you get the idea. Now why did I paint it green in the first place if I knew I was going to paint over it? Knowing I was going to be wearing this out in the sun, over time the costume will crack and crumble I wanted the green to come through that damage causing a natural look to the costume. Now did it work? Yes and no. I got the green, I wanted, in areas and not so much at all in others, it will need some repair before Fringe happens in August.

 

 More pictures of my hat and pants in development, I added more flowers and paint but you get the general idea. 

Now what did I not get to do? LOTS of stuff. I wanted bugs on my costume! This was my Bug Collector, I bought butterflies and I made these little gold maggots to be sewn into the costume BUT I was reaching a tad too far with my own skills as a painter/costume maker/performer in the time that I had available to me. Those butter flies where utter garbage, they broke when i tried sawing them on and my maggots just looked terrible. It couldn't be done. (for now)

Another problem: it's just a little too weird and I like my weird. People ask me: why the Copper Cowboy? Honest answer is: it pays the bills. My audience loves seeing a more traditional statue as a apposed to something they don't recognize. I get more audience interaction, the photos happen more often, and the tips are better. I'm not saying don't go out there, because I love going out there, but it really is about me. Its for me when I want moth puppets in my costume, because its cool. My opportunities are limited here in the Great White North so its a give or take when I have available avenues to experiment in.

Progress is here

Yes, it is true! I have have been busy for the last week and made actual progress on my new statue costume for this year. NOT THE FINAL PRODUCT, STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS. Just wanted to get that out there before these pictures are posted, its been a good week, they are far from complete, but I wanted to give an update as to where I am currently doing. As I said in my previous post its currently called the "Bug Collector" and that still the mission but I had some set backs with the puppet i was working on, I found the prototype just too bulky to use and will need to design something much smaller. This will push my timetable too far back to have it time for the Edmonton Arts Walk coming next week, so I intend to have the puppet made in time for the Edmonton Fringe which is in the middle of next month. I WILL HAVE A COSTUME MADE THIS COMING WEEK. I just hope I have great photos to post (and time to post, next festival is immediately after).

So lets start with the basics: the Shirt and Pants

I bought a small surplus of those shirts, this will be third costume using that design. It will look a lot like my previous work, just with a different theme. More colour for sure.

I added Gesso to this costume, and if you been fallowing my work, you probably know that using gesso is not a good idea. Except this one time. Maybe. I hope. Anywho, what I'm going for this time around is that I actually want the costume to crumble a little, what I am aiming for is a weathers/crumbling look and with my movements in the suit. I'm hoping to see it happen naturally on the costume.

the first layer (or two) of paint on the pants and shirt. Is this what they'll look like? Not really. Not even close. this is just the under layer, the top will be, well you'll see.

Before I get the next layer of paint on, I am sawing on flowers to this costume. There will be a LOT of flowers on this costume, sewing them on one by one. this will be the most time I have ever spent on a single costume because of those flowers, I'm not even half done yet. what you are seeing here are flowers I want painted in the same shade as the rest of the costume and the rest will be done in layers as I progress through. Paint will be happening in the morning.

Always wear gloves when working with spray paint, always. This happened two days ago, and I'm still digging paint from under my finger nails.

And that's it! One hint I will say: rainbows, bleeding rainbows. That sounds like too much information to be a small hint but its too late now. I've already typed it.