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.